#  Best in Class Programs

This chapter describes the "Best in Class" safety programs we reviewed.
In our review, we assumed that these other organizations achieve a
performance level that NOAA desires and that they can be copied to
provide similar results. (This chapter also examines these assumptions.)

## National Institute of Standards and Technology

### Background

NIST develops and promotes measurement, standards, and technology to
enhance productivity, facilitate trade, and improve the quality of life.
NIST accomplishes this mission does so in four cooperative programs:

-   Laboratories

-   Baldrige National Quality Program

-   Manufacturing Extension Partnership

-   Advanced Technology Program.

Most employees work at the main campus in Gaithersburg, MD, or at a DOC
facility in Boulder, CO, shared with NOAA. NIST has 3,200 employees and
1,700 guest researchers working in its facilities. NIST does not include
injuries and accidents involving guest researchers in their statistics.

### Safety Culture Change

The existing operating culture is based on a strong understanding of
standards. Since its core business is developing standards, all NIST
employees are particularly familiar with setting and following them.
They also have a strong technical background, so they quickly understand
new concepts and techniques.

The safety culture at NIST is evolving from one driven by the safety
staff within the Directorate of Administration and Finance to one
operated by line managers with safety staff support. The Director of
Administration/Chief Financial Officer (DA/CFO) has been working for the
last year on improving safety organization-wide. All managers working
for the DA/CFO have completed all levels of DuPont training, including
procedures for program audits, and National Safety Council training for
accident investigations. Some have also taken the 40-hour collateral
duty safety manager training. With this training, NIST is shifting
responsibility and activities such as inspections and investigations
from the safety staff to the line managers. The entire
organization---from individual employees and front line supervisors to
directors of the operating units (OUs) and the NIST Director---are
involved.

NIST senior management learned the importance of a safety culture by
attending the 2-day DuPont Management Leadership Course. As a result,
the Director is now including safety in the monthly Senior Management
Board Meetings by opening each meeting with a safety message. One Deputy
Director recently asked the Safety Director what they could do to
improve safety in their directorate.

### Strategy

#### Policy

NIST published its safety policy in Administrative Manual 12.01,
*Occupational Safety and Health Program*
(www.nist.gov/admin/mo/adman/1201.htm)

#### Guidance and Procedures

In addition to this manual, NIST published guidance and procedures in
the following health and safety instructions:

-   *Compliance with Occupational Safety/Health Standard and
    Environmental Regulations*

-   *Chemical Hoods*

-   *Liquid Hydrogen Operations*

-   *Hearing Conservation Program*

-   *Compressed Gas Cylinders*

-   *Recognition and Safe Handling of Peroxidizable Compounds*

-   *Hazard Communication*

-   *Relative Hazards of Organic Solvents*

-   *Work in Confined Spaces*

-   *Carcinogens*

-   *Eye Protection Program*

-   *Foot Protection*

-   *Laser Safety*

-   *Laboratory Vacuum Systems*

-   *Chemical Container Labeling*

-   *Hazardous Chemical Waste Disposal*

-   *Respiratory Protection*

-   *Asbestos-Containing Material*

-   *Biosafety*

-   *Chemical Hygiene*

-   *Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout).*

#### Vision and Strategic Plan

In November 2002, NIST published a safety plan, which establishes the
long-range goal of zero lost-time accidents in a culture of sustained
performance excellence. To achieve this goal, management and staff must
create a culture in which attention to safety is the only way of doing
business. The safety plan and action plans for FY03−04 included the
following objectives and actions:

-   *Commitment*. Obtain and maintain senior management's commitment to
    develop and maintain a culture of safety for all NIST facilities.

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-   Incorporate a safety component in all performance plans in FY2003,
    with safety as a critical component in all supervisory plans.

-   Use reinforcement and appropriate personnel actions to create a
    lasting culture of safety.

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-   *Known policies*. Ensure that all policies and procedures are
    current, readily available, and clearly known and understood by all
    employees and associates.

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-   Create well-organized web resources with one point of entry for all
    NIST safety activities.

-   Update and implement the NIST Laboratory Safety Manual in FY 2003.

-   Develop and implement a companion Office Safety Manual in FY 2003.

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-   *Training.* All employees and associates will be trained in the
    skills required to understand and comply with all safety policies
    and requirements applicable to their daily activities.

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-   Train NIST employees and associates (including students) in NIST
    safety policies, practices, and procedures (routine and emergency),
    with additional training for new employees and associates.

-   NIST Safety Council will recommend a suite of suitable training
    materials appropriate for different work environments.

-   Ensure that all students and associates receive appropriate
    supervision in safety procedures.

-   Develop incident investigation procedures for NIST and train
    supervisors in their use.

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-   *Hazard minimization*. NIST will conduct periodic safety inspections
    and audits, correct unsafe conditions and minimize hazards promptly,
    conduct root cause analyses of accidents and near misses, and direct
    necessary funding to improve the safety of the NIST work
    environment.

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-   Identify potential safety hazards at NIST by conducting routine
    safety inspections of all areas of NIST and root cause analyses of
    accidents and near misses.

-   Create an audit program that identifies the number and type of
    audits each supervisor and manager is to perform. The program will
    target specific types of audits required for the different types of
    space maintained by NIST, including laboratories, offices,
    production and shipping facilities, warehouses, etc. Train
    supervisors and managers in appropriate safety auditing procedures.

-   Ensure that each operating unit addresses all deficiencies that are
    identified in the audits.

-   Provide necessary funds to mitigate hazards and improve safety in
    the NIST work environment.

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-   *Communication.* Safety a visible part of all activities:

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-   Expect all employees to report incidents, accidents, and unsafe
    conditions.

-   Have senior management to regularly communicates (at least
    quarterly) and emphasize the priority of safety.

-   Have management communicate all accidents, near misses, and root
    causes organization-wide.

-   Establish a web space with one easily found link to a safety
    homepage for access to all data, policy statements, regulations,
    hazard reporting forms, and other safety information.

-   senior management regularly communicates (at least quarterly) and
    emphasize the priority of safety.

-   Publish and distribute monthly incidence rates for NIST staff and
    associates.

-   Post safety information in prominent places, such as the lobbies of
    all buildings, NIST web space, etc.

-   For all lost time incidences occurring at NIST, publish and
    distribute the causes of the incident and actions needed to prevent
    a recurrence.

-   Provide feedback on actions taken to minimize hazards and respond to
    employee suggestions.

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-   *Recognition*. NIST will reward safe behavior. Unsafe behavior will
    be corrected promptly.

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-   Use and publicize the NIST awards system, including
    cash-in-your-account awards, for safe behaviors.

-   Revise NIST administrative manual to increase consequences for
    unsafe conduct and behavior.

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-   *Improvement*. NIST will examine and implement best practices in
    industry and government to improve its existing policies and
    procedures.

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-   Benchmark safety management capabilities of one or more OU's against
    a comparable institution.

-   Follow through on recommended improvements.

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-   *Vigorous safety program*. NIST will work to strengthen the
    functions of the Occupational Health and Safety Division (OHSD) in
    Gaithersburg and the Safety Office in Boulder.

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-   Coordinate safety-related activities of the Occupational Health and
    Safety Division, Plant, Security, Facilities Service (including
    Janitorial), Fire Department, and individual OU initiatives.

-   Serve as the point of contact for safety issues at NIST.

#### Goals and Performance Measures

In FY03, the OHSD tracked the following metrics as part of the action
plan:

-   Reduce the lost workday incidence rate (LWIR) by 25 percent of the
    preceding five-year average of the LWIR by the end of FY03.

-   All employees have safety as a component in their All employees
    receive at least 4 hours of safety training in FY03.

-   Safety information is actively communicated to NIST staff and
    visitors through means such as posters placed in NIST building
    lobbies at least four times a year.

-   Determine the best way of including associates (i.e., non-NIST
    researchers in NIST facilities) in the LWIR metrics by the end of
    FY03.

-   All NIST workspace shall be inspected by March 31, 2003 by the OU
    Deputies and/or directors, division chiefs and the OHSD in
    Gaithersburg or the Boulder Safety Office.

### Resources

#### Professional Safety Staffing

NIST has 3 positions in OHSD for safety and industrial hygiene, 1 for
fire protection services, 17 for health physics, 2 for environmental
compliance, and 4 contractors providing occupational medicine clinical
services.

NOAA regional safety managers at the administrative support centers
provide safety services to operations at the Boulder facility.

#### Organization

The NIST safety staff is in the OHSD under the DA/CFO (Figure 3-1). The
OHSD includes a Safety Office, Health Physics Group, Environmental
Compliance Group, and Contract Health Unit (Figure 3-2).

Figure 3‑1. NIST Organizational Structure

![](media/image1.png){width="5.495138888888889in"
height="4.184722222222222in"}

Figure 3‑2. Occupational Health and Safety Division

![](media/image2.wmf)

Each OU and division has a safety representative. The safety
representative for each OU is usually the deputy director.

#### Budget

OHSD develops an annual budget for its safety activities as part of the
NIST overhead budget. It receives a relatively lean budget to accomplish
only essential and predictable activities. It receives mid-year funding
to accomplish unforeseen essential requirements.

Funding for the safety activities of the OUs are included in their costs
and not reviewed by OHSD.

### Execution

#### Injury Reporting

NIST discovered a number of problems with using workers compensation
claims as accident reports. DOC receives the claims directly from the
contract claims processor and relies on them to monitor NIST accident
rates. However, the OHSD director found problems with claims processing,
underreporting of accidents when relying only on claims, and claims
assigned to the wrong organization. The director is starting a major
initiative to increase reporting and improve understanding of the
sources of accidents.

NIST is asking injured employees to report first to the Health Unit
before seeking medical care from their personal health care provider.
The Health Unit has an on-site emergency medical technician and
ambulance for transporting employees to a local hospital for more
extensive care when needed. When employees report to the Health Unit,
they fill out a workers compensation claim form and a CD-137 *Accident
Report*. The Health Unit sends a copy of the CD-137 to the injured
employee's supervisor and the Safety Office to collect additional
information on the accident. For employees not using the Health Unit,
NIST also provides a copy of the workers compensation claim forms and
CD-137 on the NIST intranet website. As a quality control check, the
Safety Office reviews all workers compensation claims provided by DOC to
make sure it has accident reports for all injuries. OHSD summarizes the
accident data and sends the OU directors monthly reports of injuries.

The OHSD director says that the new process with employees reporting to
the Health Unit first is improving injury reporting. Since instituting
the new procedures, the accident rates increased in 2003. The director
expects the accident rates to decrease in 2003 as the improved accident
reporting provides information to prevent accidents.

In addition to this traditional accident tracking and analysis by OHSD,
the supervisory chain performs direct verbal notification of accidents
from the supervisor to the line manager to the OU director and to the
NIST Director and Public Relations Office.

#### Operational Risk Management

NIST laboratories extensively use radiation to perform testing. The
radiation health program has a very robust system for evaluating and
controlling risk from radiation exposure with a built-in quality
oversight.

Senior management views the new lab space being built for fire research
as having a high risk of accidents and injuries. Safety features are
being built into the design of the new facility and into operational
plans for its use.

#### Training

OHSD currently provides a 5-minute introduction to safety during new
employee training. In addition, supervisors use a standard form to train
new employees. The Safety Office recognizes the difficulty of providing
new employees training in safe work procedures.

OHSD is providing task-specific safety training to NIST employees and
records a matrix of training completed for each employee. It is
considering using Training and Education in the 21st Century, Inc., to
provide employees task-specific safety training.

OHSD plans to complete accident investigation training for managers in
the supervisory chain, from OU directors to division chiefs. After 2004,
the Safety Office plans to train supervisors subordinate to division
chiefs. The Chair of the Safety Council introduces each accident
investigation training class to demonstrate that accident investigation
is a management responsibility, not a safety staff task.

Senior management attended the 2-day DuPont Management Leadership
Course, which the DuPont safety director introduced. Attendees included
the NIST Director, OU directors, deputy directors, and division chiefs
(typically GS-15 level). NIST managers took three field trips to the
DuPont research facility and met with senior management. These trips
gave them insight into how safety is integrated into the daily
operations for a major research operation similar to NIST. After the
field trips, NIST managers identified best practices it needs to follow
to instill a safety culture in its operations. DuPont benchmarked the
Chemical Science and Technology Laboratory and the Electronics and
Electrical Engineering Laboratory and found the need to increase the
safety culture in these operations.

### Outreach

#### Safety Web Page

The NIST intranet main page provides a direct link to a safety web page
maintained by OHSD. OHSD posts safety messages, training materials, and
a summary of recordable injuries for all NIST employees to view.

#### Staff Forum

The NIST intranet main page provides a direct link to a "Staff Forum"
where employees can provide feedback, suggestions, or other comments on
operations, including reporting hazards and improving safety. Employees
can submit comments anonymously or identify themselves for direct
follow-up. The NIST Director's "Program Office" is the executive-level
office directly supporting the NIST Director. It monitors employee
submissions and refers comments to staff offices to provide responses.
The Program Office sends employee comments about safety, including
reported safety hazards, to OHSD for review and response. The Program
Office provides staff office responses with the name and phone number of
the staff office on the website with the original comment for all
employees to view.

### Evaluation

#### Performance Appraisals

Performance appraisals include safety as a critical element. Since NIST
uses pay banding, employees receive pay for performance. Safety is
typically 15 percent of the total performance points. The Safety Office
is considering a proposal to increase the percentage of safety included
in supervisors' performance.

#### Evaluations

In 2002, NIST surveyed employees organization-wide, including questions
about employee safety. The safety office is tracking changes resulting
from the survey.

## National Aeronautics and Space Administration

### Safety Leadership

NASA owes its current safety performance to its Administrator. NASA has
always had a good program, but, when Daniel Goldin arrived in 1991, he
further questioned the organization's safety. And, in 1998, after a
period of operations streamlining, civil service downsizing, and
contracting out, he expressed a concern that the agency was out of
control. He pressed everyone to improve safety, telling them not to "do
anything stupid." He insisted on stopping operations when a safety
concerns arise.

The Administrator knew he needed full management involvement in safety.
Safety as a culture starts at the top and includes all management to
ensure it gets to the frontline worker. NASA had DuPont show senior
management its safety culture. From this initial orientation, the
Administrator personally presided over an all-hands meeting with top
management. Realizing rhetoric alone would not keep safety going, he
asked the safety office to establish a program to keep safety in front
of management at all times.

### Agency Safety Initiative

The safety staff developed the Agency Safety Initiative (ASI) to provide
a full-time program for management focus
(http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/safety/index.htm). Daniel Goldin
reviewed the progress of the ASI and kept sending it back to the safety
office for improvement. He saw that the Centers would need a goal to
achieve---a level of certification. The safety office proposed using the
Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) to establish a goal and
certification.

The Administrator approved the approach and directed the Centers to
pursue VPP certification. Johnson Space Center had been pursuing it for
years and was happy to have the Administrator's support for this
approach. Other Centers wanted to seem responsive and tried to go in
quick. Some succeeded, but others rushed through the process faster than
was reasonable for their capability. This upset middle management
because it appeared to be an attempt for quick turnaround to satisfy the
boss, check the box, and get the award. Coming on the heels of a massive
effort by the entire Agency to achieve ISO 9000 certification, some
middle managers suffered from "initiative overload" and said that, like
TQM and other previous initiatives, this would pass and decided to
appear cooperative until the passions subsided.

A lesson-learned from the NASA experience is that a leader intending to
change organizational culture must understand and recognize that some
organizations can make the change quickly. You cannot set an expectation
that it will happen quickly. NASA knew it would take 5 years to get a
good start. If you try a pace at which your organization cannot change,
there is a danger of overdoing the change and burning people out.

### Voluntary Protection Program

VPP starts with management commitment and employee involvement. A good
system without management commitment, including middle management
acceptance and endorsement, does not achieve world class. Middle
management could see safety as just another box to check off to make
upper management happy.

The ASI also focuses on the VPP areas of hazard identification and
control. NASA has procedures to aggressively identify and tackle
hazards. After the Columbia shuttle tragedy, one of the focus items over
the last several months has been for employees to identify hazards and
for management to fix them. In addition to the regular hazard-reporting
system, NASA also has an anonymous reporting system. People reporting a
hazard who have fear of retribution can elevate the report to a higher
management level. If they do not trust NASA, they have the opportunity
to report it to OSHA. Each of the Centers' websites provides access to
the hazard-reporting system.

The last element from VPP at the high level is the education and
continuing awareness that everyone has a role to play and that everyone
knows the performance requirements. This awareness starts with the
frontline workers knowing why they should follow procedures and wear
protective gear and extends to those making budget decisions.

### Performance Evaluation Profile

NASA has used the Performance Evaluation Profile (PEP) to improve its
injury and accident prevention efforts. The PEP was a survey of managers
and employees that assessed attitudes and knowledge about the Agency's
safety efforts. It was patterned after the OSHA survey used to determine
organizational readiness for VPP and tailored to reflect NASA policies
and operations. The PEP served multiple purposes:

-   Established a baseline of where the Agency stood. All managers and
    employees took the survey. Raw total scores showed the maturity of
    the safety effort at each NASA Center.

-   Showed disconnects in perception or practice by comparing manager
    and employee responses, highlighting where individual managers
    needed to focus attention.

-   Showed where and how much each Center was improving. Analysis of the
    overall results and trends accurately indicated future performance.

-   Served, through the questions, as an effective instrument of
    educating the entire Agency in safety requirements and expectations.

-   Reinforced management's commitment and encouraged improvement.

-   Acted as a key element in many Centers' pursuit of VPP.

### Goal of Zero Mishaps

Like other world-class organizations, NASA adopted a goal of zero
mishaps, reflecting a belief that all mishaps are preventable. Some
organizations mistakenly believe that "accidents happen," causing them
to tolerate minor injuries and incidents and focus on preventing more
serious harm. NASA recognized that the same hazards and behaviors that
cause minor incidents cause major mishaps, with the outcome often being
a matter of luck.

Organizations with high levels of safety continually achieve the goal of
zero mishaps. Small organizations easily achieve a goal of zero for long
periods. Large organizations achieve zero for shorter periods. Zero
mishaps is the normal state: the mishap is the aberration. The more
processes and behaviors improve, the longer an organization continues to
achieve zero mishaps. Selecting an ultimate goal other than zero sends
the message that mishaps are an expected outcome and will be tolerated
at an approved level---the only unknown being whom and when the expected
harm will hit. This attitude creates a cultural (albeit unspoken)
perception that a certain level of unsafe conditions and behaviors must
also be officially tolerable. Therefore, any policy other than zero
mishaps is detrimental to an organization.

### Close Call Reporting

NASA policy requires close calls to be reported and investigated as
though they had actually been mishaps. A formal mishap investigation
board may even be established to investigate a close call that could
have caused death or over a million dollars damage. Several of the NASA
Centers have very active close call reporting, with large numbers of
reports. Since close calls continually occur in all work environments,
the observation and reporting of large or increasing numbers of close
calls is a direct measure of *safety awareness*---people are alert for
and recognize the threats to their safety, the safety of their
coworkers, and the safety of the mission. This activity is also a
leading indicator of *safe performance*---Centers with the highest rates
of close call reporting generally have the lowest (or fastest declining)
mishap rates.

NASA is in the process of requiring that risk assessment code (RAC) 1,
2, and 3 safety hazards and violations be classified as close calls and
investigated accordingly. In addition to the fact that these conditions
may have lead to a mishap, it instills a discipline within the safety
community to do more than compliance checks during inspections and other
workplace visits. This "root cause" approach is expected to identify and
fix the systemic problems that may have lead to the creation of the
problem.

### Current State

NASA has had good results from the ASI, achieving significant reduction
in mishap rates over the last 4 or 5 years of the initiative. NASA
understands its model for improving safety, but realizes it needs to
keep working. To keep improving, it needs to improve infiltration of
program acceptance by middle management. One of the basic tenets of NASA
safety continues to be that "all accidents are preventable."

When ASI started, the safety office revamped the safety manual to align
with VPP concepts. With the lessons-learned from implementing the ASI,
the safety office will probably be updating the NASA safety manual
again.

### Future State

With a new administrator starting in 2001, there has been concern about
being able to maintain the momentum in safety. The Columbia tragedy was
a tragic emotional event that hit everyone hard and demonstrates NASA
can still do better in safety.

### Strategy

#### Policy

NASA published its safety policy in NASA Policy Directive 8710.2,
*Safety and Health Program*
(www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/doctree/87102.htm).

#### Guidance and Procedures

NASA published and makes available guidance and procedures online in its
Safety, Reliability, Maintainability, and Quality Document Tree at
www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/doctree/safeheal.htm). The tree contains
directives (policy directives and procedures and guidelines documents)
and active standards prepared by the Office of Safety and Mission
Assurance as well as top-level directives that influence safety and
mission assurance policy.

#### Vision and Strategic Plan

NASA's 2003 Strategic Plan states:

Ensure that all NASA work environments, on earth and in space, are safe,
healthy, environmentally sound, and secure. NASA boasts some of the most
challenging work environments ever known. Protecting our home planet is
part of NASA's Mission. NASA programs and operations rely on unique
facilities and require careful planning and constant vigilance to be
conducted safely and in an environmentally friendly manner. Our managers
and employees are committed to making NASA work environments safe and
secure, both on Earth and in space. This commitment to protect the
public, the NASA work force, and the assets under NASA's charge is
deliberately reflected in the Agency's decision-making processes. The
framework for mission success starts with a solid foundation of safety.
By focusing on safety, we also will improve quality and decrease costs
and schedules in the long run. We will keep safety and security
considerations foremost when we develop, operate, and manage NASA
facilities and high-value equipment. Health and Medical Officer's
responsibility to evaluate, monitor, and improve the occupational health
of the NASA workforce; it is the responsibility of the Assistant
Administrator for Management Systems to study and monitor all
environmental issues and to implement innovative processes to improve
the environment at NASA facilities.[^1]

#### Goals and Performance Measures

NASA's goal is to be a world leader in safety. The key performance
measures include continuous reduction of injury rates from their already
very low levels, continued improvement in PEP scores, and eventual 100
percent certification of its Centers by the Occupational Safety and
Health Administration.

### Resources

#### Professional Safety Staffing

NASA had 11 safety professionals in its corporate Safety and Risk
Management Division, including the division director. An ongoing
reorganization is moving several of these professionals to a newly
created division that will focus on independent assessments and process
verifications.

#### Organization

The NASA safety staff is in the Safety and Assurance Requirements
Division under the Associate Administrator for Safety and Mission
Success (http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/codeq/qorg.htm). The occupational
health staff is assigned to the chief health and medical officer.

Each Center has a large safety and mission assurance staff office,
generally headed by an SES-level executive reporting directly to the
Center director.

#### Budget

Funding for safety is quite generous---a reflection of the importance
senior managers place on reducing already low mishap rates.

### Execution

#### Injury Reporting

NASA has a mature injury reporting process that has been in place for
many years. This automated process is being modified for a web-based
platform. Safety and health professionals crosscheck the mishaps
reported in this in-house Incident Reporting Information System (IRIS)
with activity reported in the workers compensation claims process.

#### Operational Risk Management

NASA applies system safety to its complex facilities and laboratories as
part of its operational risk management program. This includes hazard
analyses, operational readiness reviews, and human factors safeguards.

#### Training

NASA provides an exhaustive array of safety training, from
instructor-based training at central locations and instructor visits to
Centers to on-line courses at its "Site for Online Learning And
Resources"(SOLAR) at
https://solar.msfc.nasa.gov:443/solar/delivery/public/html/newindex.htm.

### Outreach

NASA Headquarters and the Centers extensively use websites as virtual
on-line safety offices, with substantial safety-related content. NASA is
currently putting in a new on-line system for incident reporting and
corrective actions.

### Evaluation

#### Performance Appraisals

At many Centers, NASA performance appraisals include safety as a
critical element. At the Kennedy Space Center, the safety efforts of
managers are coupled to performance goals and verified by managers
logging safety activities on the Center's intranet.

#### Evaluations

NASA uses the PEP survey instrument to follow the progress of safety and
health efforts, monitoring how the Agency is progressing, as well as how
each Center is performing.

NASA Headquarters conducts process verification visits, reviewing each
Center and selected programs every two years. NASA recently streamlined
this process and created a new Headquarters division to manage these
evaluations.

## Cabot

### Background

Cabot Corporation, a \$1.5 billion specialty chemicals company, has its
headquarters in Boston. It employs more than 4,000 people at 45
manufacturing plants and offices in 23 countries.

Cabot includes safety in both its vision and value statements:

Vision---\
Cabot will be a great company...the best company in all markets that we
serve, best particularly in safety, quality and innovation; employee,
customer and community satisfaction; and shareholder return.

Values---**\
**As Cabot employees...\
We value Integrity: We demand adherence to the highest ethical
standards. We demand personal integrity, compliance with all laws and
regulations, unwavering efforts toward the highest quality in all areas,
and indisputable respect for safety, health and the environment.

### Strategy

#### Policy

Cabot includes its safety, health, and environmental policy on its
Internet site, and it is signed by Kenneth F. Burnes, Chairman and CEO,
and Karen M. Morrissey, Vice President, Safety, Health and Environmental
(SH&E) (w1.cabot-corp.com/controller.jsp?N=25+4294966529).

#### Guidance and Procedures

The Cabot safety statements from the CEO and VP for SH&E are as follows:

At Cabot, we describe what we do as "creating what matters." What does
this mean in terms of our safety, health and environmental (SH&E)
performance? In a word, everything. Since our founding in 1882, we have
created products that are an essential part of people's lives. In our
early years, it was carbon black for tire and rubber applications. In
the mid-1900s, it was fumed silica for construction, cosmetic and
pharmaceutical applications.

And in the new millennium, it's carbon black for inkjet printers, fumed
silica for integrated circuits, tantalum for electronic chips, aerogels
for insulation... the new-applications list continues to grow. In the
process of creating and manufacturing these products, Cabot has
established a strong tradition of:

\- manufacturing their products in a safe manner;\
- protecting the health of their employees, customers and communities;
and\
- respecting the environment we share.

In all aspects of our performance, we are guided by our values of
integrity, respect, innovation and competitiveness. We understand the
individual responsibility we bear for applying the letter, as well as
the spirit, of our values to everything we do. We are committed to
protecting the legacy we inherited from Godfrey and Tom Cabot, who set
the standard in SH&E responsibility so many decades ago.

---Kennett F. Burnes, Chairman and CEO

Improving Our Performance: A Message from SH&E Leadership

We are proud of the progress we have made in recent years in improving
our SH&E performance, but have no intention of easing up on our
expectations.

Our commitment to SH&E means that we manage our SH&E responsibilities as
rigorously as we do our other business responsibilities. We pursue
continuous improvement, informed decision-making and collaborative
relationships. We dedicate the financial and human resources we need to
achieve higher standards. And we communicate with employees regularly
about the importance of strengthening our performance.

We're pleased that you are visiting the SH&E area of our website and
invite you to explore the many initiatives in which our employees are
engaged."

---Karen M. Morrissey, VP, Safety, Health and Environment

#### Goals and Performance Measures

Cabot is committed to identifying and executing opportunities to improve
the safety program. Its website discusses incident and severity rates as
two critical measures of safety performance and presents an incident
rate chart for 1998-2002, which shows a better than industry record and
continuing improvement (Figure 3‑3).

![](media/image3.wmf){width="3.68125in" height="2.375in"}Figure 3-3.
Cabot Incident Rate

> Incident Rate = Number of incidents per 100 workers.

The site contains the following statement concerning safety
performance's reflection on all program elements---strategy, resources,
execution, evaluation and culture:

We are particularly pleased since our standards are rigorous and our
numbers include not only employees but also contractors. The inclusion
of contractors distinguishes us from other companies, whose policy of
noninclusion suggests a "hierarchy" of workers' importance to which we
don't subscribe. Contractors working on Cabot sites---whether in Bombay,
India, or Boyertown, Pennsylvania---are expected to abide by the same
rules and regulations that govern our employees, and all violations are
addressed quickly and rigorously.

We believe that our safety performance progress in recent years has been
driven by improvements in several areas:

Higher visibility: our 4,200 employees hear about safety every day from
every level of management;

Defined expectations: managers better understand their responsibilities
and accountabilities for safety performance;

Actionable information: managers are more knowledgeable about our safety
record and ways to improve it;

Allocated resources: we are better targeting our resources, both staff
and financial, to our safety initiatives; and

Dedicated specialists: we are staffed by a team of safety professionals,
who are committed to setting a new standard in SH&E performance.

Today, each of our facilities sets its own safety goals. We require
those goals to reflect continuous improvement and the existence of
safety programs adequate to achieve them. Every month, facility managers
receive a report detailing their performance, as well as the performance
of every other facility in our global manufacturing network. This
approach ensures that accountability for safety performance lies at the
source: our facilities.

### Resources

Cabot's website describes a regional network of SH&E professionals
located at facilities all over the world. The corporate SH&E department
sets global strategy and standards, communicates policy, monitors
performance, identifies issues, and conducts program audits.

### Evaluation

Cabot includes safety in a safety, health, and environment management
system, which

-   integrates the best company practices with the best practices of the
    industry, and

-   shares safety, health, and environment responsibility and
    accountability between corporate and operating facilities.

Cabot describes its management system as a blend of its own program
thinking with the best chemical industry programs, such as Responsible
Care and ISO 14000. Its facilities develop, implement, and maintain
management systems of their own design, as long as they achieve
corporate objectives. It believes this produces a robust system, rooted
in principles, but realistic enough to be executed. This system moves
the management system off paper and onto the facility floor.

Cabot describes a company-wide standard audit, performed on a 3-year
schedule, covering employee and contractor safety, loss prevention,
emergency response, fire safety, industrial hygiene, occupational noise,
and other topics. This audit

-   provides an objective evaluation of performance,

-   encourages continual improvement in SH&E,

-   assesses SH&E systems,

-   identifies SH&E risks and hazards, and

-   facilitates sharing of best practices.

## Summary

Directly copying a "Best in Class" safety program, "baselining," or
otherwise comparing one's own organization with another organization
limits the potential safety performance of one's own organization.
Extracting positive and negative lessons-learned from other
organizations provides potential strategies and initiatives for
achieving the best possible performance on the basis of an
organization's mission, external environment, and expected level of
performance.

The three programs examined provided valuable lessons that apply to
NOAA's safety program:

-   *Culture*. An organization's safety culture is the greatest
    determinant of safety performance. Safety culture results from a
    common set of beliefs and expectations of senior leadership, middle
    management, and frontline employees. If senior leadership constantly
    delivers a safety message and takes action over time, with
    consistent follow-up, it will instill a safety culture that survives
    subsequent changes in leadership.

-   *All accidents are unacceptable*. An organization with people who
    judge accidents as unacceptable approaches all unsafe conditions and
    acts with a different attitude. Accidents, near misses, and serious
    hazards are reported and investigated to find and eliminate the root
    cause.

-   *Measuring performance*. An organization continuously improves its
    safety program by applying a performance measurement system across
    the entire organization. Subordinate organizations attempt to
    improve their own performance over time, driven by competition with
    their peers. The performance measurement system sustains improvement
    beyond the tenure of any one leader.

[^1]: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, *2003 Strategic
    Plan*, p. 41. Available online at
    http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/1968main_strategi.pdf.