ABB praised by U.K. commission for health and safety

In 2002, ExxonMobil hired ABB to manage a long-term program to demolish unused gas stations in the U.K. and Ireland. Teams of contractors and environmental consultants have been clearing the sites of hazardous materials in preparation for their commercial sale, at a cost of more than $170 million.

The work was carried out with the utmost care and attention to safety issues as both ABB and ExxonMobil have very clear policies on health and safety. These policies aim to eliminate accidents by creating a workplace culture in which safety has the highest priority and all involved are aware of their responsibilities, both to themselves and to their fellow workers.

To help ensure the involvement of all workers on the Exxon project, ABB has held biannual safety days to support the standard workplace processes required for top safety performance.

On these days, staff ranging from managing directors to site workers, gather to review safety performance and suggest improvements. The considerable cost of organizing the events, borne by ExxonMobil, reflects the importance of health and safety to the companies involved.

It was while attending one of these safety days, after visiting a demolition site in Oxfordshire, that Judith Hackitt, chair of the U.K. government’s Health and Safety Executive, praised ABB for its attention to health and safety issues.

“The approach I saw being taken by ABB to dealing with health and safety issues in demolition and remediation was impressive,” said Hackitt to an audience of ABB, ExxonMobil and contractor employees. “Not only was the site a first class example of safe demolition, it was also clear that the work was being done more efficiently because of the way it had been organized.”

In her speech, Hackitt also quoted workers she had met on her site visit who had been "won over" by ABB’s approach to health and safety. Hackitt was awarded a CBE (Commander of the British Empire), one of the U.K.’s top honors, in June 2006 for her services to health and safety in the workplace.

"This is the result we are looking for," said Senior Project Manager, Steve Andrews, the safety day’s organizer. "The whole aim is to instill a culture of safety and responsibility that workers will implement in all their projects."

ExxonMobil’s global remediation manager, John DiTullio, said “It was an honour to participate in ABB's safety day. It reaffirmed that we have the people, process and full engagement of folk on the front line on the critical issue of health and safety,"

Over the course of the ExxonMobil project, ABB’s team has been recognized with a number of awards from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), including a Gold Award in 2007 for fulfilling various high-level criteria, including no major injuries or fatalities.

The project is scheduled for completion in 2010.

For a further details of Judith Hackitt’s speech see: Speech transcript