The Bilfinger Safety Award: New ideas to help us get better

Employees who are directly involved in performing the work are  
frequently the ones who know best where risks can be found and where hazards can emerge, but also how they can be controlled. It i therefore imperative that this knowledge, along with colleagues’ ideas and suggestions for improving occupational safety be systematically collected and shared with everyone in the Bilfinger Group - and that the best solutions be recognized with an award.

There are a lot of internal and external awards in the area of occupational safety. Yet by comparison, there are few awards that focus on new preventive measures and ideas from employees aimed at improving occupational health and safety.

The Bilfinger Safety Award was launched back in 2013. Since that time, it has been recognizing measures and ideas from employees that further improve occupational health and safety at Bilfinger. The result is a sustainable reduction in the number of accidents in recent years. 168 prevention measures and ideas were submitted for the Safety Award 2022. Over the years, there have been more than 1,000 such proposals. This commitment from all employees is the basis for our success and continuous improvement.

The call for submissions, the announcement of the nominated top 10 measures and the presentation of the awards create awareness and several communications events. The presentation of the awards by the Executive Board as part of the Management Days under-scores the importance of the topic within the Group.

Three measures are recognized with the Bilfinger Safety Award (gold, silver and bronze). In addition, a special prize with annually changing criteria is awarded. In addition to bringing together valuable measures and ideas, the Bilfinger Safety Award also serves to address best practice solutions and the subject of occupational health and safety in a general sense within the Group and encourage us to learn from each other. 

It is clearly evident that employees participate in the competition with a great deal of commitment and enjoyment. They now frequently come together in teams to develop measures and ideas jointly.  All Bilfinger units submit proposals on a regular basis. The Bilfinger Safety Award therefore also contributes to team building and cross-departmental exchange. Last but not least, the award is also a strong outward signal. It clearly demonstrates the commitment that Bilfinger employees develop and the potential they have to continuously and sustainably improve occupational safety standards.

Gold: Virtual communication  
SUBMITTED BY: BILFINGER POWER AFRICA
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Digitalization offers new possibilities. With various avatar video clips for smartphones, important occupational safety information from the daily work environment is communicated to employees. All stakeholders, including managers, HSEQ experts and employees, are represented by avatars with humor and lots of great ideas. The clips can be started with any smartphone via QR codes.

Silver: Intelligent gas cylinder technology
SUBMITTED BY: BILFINGER INDUSTRIAL SERVICE INC.
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Smart-Top technology can be used  to simplify the handling of gas cylinders while at the same time reducing risk potential. Because Smart-Top technology has a built-in pressure regulator fitting, assembly of the fitting is eliminated and the gas cylinder head and fitting are protected at all times.

Bronze: Reusable barrier tape
SUBMITTED BY: BILFINGER INDUSTRIAL SERVICES B.V.
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Barrier tape is something that is needed nearly every day on construction sites. A durable and reusable barrier tape in a self-engi-neered roll-off box provides the solution. It reduces environmental impact by cutting down on waste and, thanks to its stability and flexibility, it also improves resistance and durability during use, which makes for greater safety.

Special Recognition
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At Bilfinger Engineering & Maintenance, 4.6 million working hours were completed – without a single lost-time accident. The company received the special prize of the Bilfinger Safety Awards 2022 for this outstanding achievement.

Download Issue 02.2022