Driven by Standards.

Having a successful safety culture is much like driving a boat. If one is not at the wheel driving the culture to an intentional destination, the culture one wants will never show up. No boat accidentally shows up to its intended destination. Vision of culture must come from the top-down. Diamond B Energy/Salty Dawg Trucking is truly blessed in the fact that Senior Management is not only plugged in to its HSE Department, it is a major driving force. Senior Management and HSE staff meet regularly to establish short & long-term goals. A clear vision is establish and attainable objectives are met!

Policies and procedures set the framework of a company’s safety culture. Policies define what the company’s expectations are. Procedures guarantee the implementation of those expectations. Robust policies and procedures that are based upon experience of success state to all our employees, contractors, clients, stakeholders, and the community that our production is consistent, dependable, and SAFE. Everyone who is involved in our practice, production, or who could be affected by our services are considered. In everything we do, the safety of people, equipment, and the environment is at the core of our policies and procedures.

Training is a very critical component of a company’s safety culture. It is so critical because of how it should function. The key word here is “should.” When a company sees a lack of production consistency and unwanted safety trends, 99% of the time, all one needs to do is look at the quality of training that is present. One may say, “This is a bold statement!” Understanding this, training is meant to function like a bridge. On one side of the bridge, one has company management. On the other side of the bridge, one has employees out in the field pushing and pulling on tools…providing and completing the service sold by company management. Management sells a service with certain expectations knowing they will not be the ones executing that work service. For a company’s training program to be effective, it must equip their craft level employees with the knowledge they need to meet such expectations which is the company’s policies and procedures. If we accomplish this, it doesn’t matter who sold the work, who is executing the work, or where the work is being completed…production is carried out the exact same way every time.

The need for inspections is a component that many companies under-utilized. Absolutely, training is a bridge, and it equips employees in the field to produce consistent quality of work in a safe way, but we cannot forget about the “human factor.” People are not perfect, and there can be any number of reasons why a worker chooses to work in a manner that conflicts with company policy. To ignore the “human factor” is a mistake. Conducting safety inspections in the field guarantees that craft level employees are in fact executing production according to policies and procedures. When there is a deviation found, that provides an opportunity to connect with our employees in a meaningful way. Many employees spend more time with fellow employees than they do with their own families and because of this…there must be meaningful connection, especially when safety concerns are found. Employees at Diamond B Energy/Salty Dawg Trucking are not just workers, we are a team making a difference in each other’s lives….CONNECT-IDENTIFY-KEEP each other safe.

Statistics are a tool. There is no tool that is universal. Because of this, our safety inspections are tailored to capture specific data. The data that we collect is intentional for the purpose of determining contributing factors in safety deviation. We take this data and populate it into a program that not only manages and stores the data, but it also populates the real-time safety trends that our company is experiencing. No company in the world, including Diamond B Energy/Salty Dawg Trucking, will ever arrive at the safety finish line. We will continually have to manage the “Human Factor.” Having impactful statistics that accurately measure our safety trends, helps determine which safety campaigns we need to focus on…short and long term.

Many companies seem to find it perfectly acceptable to stumble their way in business. “Stumble their way…,” is a phrase meant to describe mindset. No matter whether the perspective is from an individual or a group, if development isn’t measured, how does one measure effectiveness and growth. Diamond B Energy/Salty Dawg Trucking is committed to regularly evaluating where we were, where we are, so that we can determine where we need to improve.