Vision 250 lives: Suva doubles efforts
Suva's "Vision 250 Lives" campaign is already at the halfway point. But so far, the number of fatal occupational accidents has not been significantly reduced.
The "Vision 250 Lives" campaign launched by Suva in 2010 aims to prevent 250 deaths from occupational accidents in Switzerland by 2020. Half of the campaign period is now over - time for a first conclusion.
This turns out to be somewhat less positive than had been hoped: although the number of occupational accidents as a whole is declining year by year, the number of fatal accidents is still stagnating. However, Suva does not attribute this to the nature of the campaign itself, but to the inadequate instruction of the Vital rules in the plants.
These rules, now available for 19 different occupations, outline simple principles of behavior that can save lives - for example, that fall edges must be secured above a fall height of 2 meters. Suva research shows that consistent adherence to Rules 60% of fatal occupational accidents could be prevented. But why is this not happening?
Suva cites time pressure, other priorities and lack of instruction as the main reasons. Explaining the rules once is not enough; they must be firmly anchored in the minds of employees and also supervisors.
But even that alone is not enough: If one of the rules is violated, the employee must say stop, work must be interrupted, and work may not continue until the hazard has been eliminated. But this often takes a lot of courage on the part of the employees - especially if there is a high time pressure and the safety culture is not given the highest priority by superiors.
Strengthen safety culture
SR Technics shows what a positive safety culture can look like in reality. It is one of 1250 companies that have signed up to the campaign's Security Charter has signed. The charter is binding for the entire company - i.e. also for the subsidiaries in other countries.
Employees are instructed from day one and encouraged and empowered to stop a work process at any time if it could lead to an unsafe situation. And with success: not only have employees' attitudes toward safety improved, but the number of accidents has also decreased by 14%.
