WORK SAFE – HOME SAFE
GUIDE TO OUR LIFESAVING ICONS AND BEHAVIOURS
At McAsphalt, safety is at the core of who we are and is at the heart of everything we do. While we continue to make significant headway in the field of safety each year, there is always room for improvement.
This is why the McAsphalt Goal Zero Lifesaving Behaviours and Icons were created. They give everyone at all Colas companies, regardless of position, role or geographical location, a common safety framework and help ensure we all have a safe working environment.
We must all adopt a Goal Zero attitude and integrate the Lifesaving Behaviours into our day to day activities, and call out and stop any unsafe actions when we witness them. By working together, we can create a safe working environment and reach Goal Zero!
Safety Week 2020 introduced 8 Core Lifesaving Behaviours and Icons supported by 5 Supplementary Lifesaving Behaviours and Icons, intended to reduce risk situations by implementing them based on risks associated with work, activities and operations. These rules require that McAsphalt employees remain constantly vigilant about their own safety and that of their colleagues, interrupt and cease all activity in the event of imminent risk thus maintaining a resilient culture of shared responsibility.
These cross-disciplinary behavioural rules are a prerequisite to all stakeholders at McAsphalt, which concern the compulsory compliance all Lifesaving Icons to secure our journey to a Living Goal Zero mindset. The Lifesaving Behaviours, the meaning of each of the Icons and how each describe existing requirements and actions aims to prevent a serious injury or a fatality.
Rules shared across the Group
Designed to be shared and applied across all Colas business units around the world, the Group Safety Rules aim to prevent the major risks that are encountered in the Group’s business segments. The goal is to remind employees that they must make these rules their own, intervene if the rules are not being followed, and ensure that the rules serve as a reference framework for audits, management site safety visits and safety discussions.
Continuous improvement, an essential issue
In order to ensure the sustainability of the process, employees are strongly encouraged to actively report information to identify situations where it is difficult to apply the rules. In some cases, the feedback could be used to readjust the rules in light of the issues encountered in the field.
Safety remains an essential issue at McAsphalt. People have always been at the core of the Group’s concerns, and the employees’ physical integrity and health have always been a priority. Every year, significant headway is made in safety, but there is still great potential for improvement.
“McAsphalt must take a new step forward with the development of a genuine Safety culture throughout the Group. The teams have defined a set of common rules applicable to all McAsphalt units, regardless of their location, based on feedback from around the world. The safety of Group employees is an ongoing battle, the effectiveness of which depends on the exemplary behaviour of managers and on the involvement of each employee.
Ron Vertz, President, McAsphalt Industries Limited
By adopting all Lifesaving Behaviours, you help us eliminate the
risk of serious injury and help us prevent work-related fatalities
and reach Goal Zero
OUR LIFESAVING ICONS
HAZARD CONTROL
HAZARD CONTROL
Identify, evaluate and control hazards before starting work.
A suitable plan must be in place that controls potential hazards in the workplace and the required controls must be communicated to each member of the workforce. Potential hazards and controls must be reviewed each day or for each new task to identify new or unforeseen hazards and amended controls must be agreed and authorized.
FALL PREVENTION
FALL PREVENTION
Protect yourself from falls.
Avoid working at height or use collective protection such as barriers or guardrails where possible. Work within a protective environment such as scaffold, man-lift or elevated platform or use fall protection equipment when working at heights. Always use three points of contact when accessing equipment, vehicles, and ladders. Fall hazards include elevated work, getting into or out of vehicles, working near exposed edges or around voids or fragile surfaces.
ROAD SAFETY
ROAD SAFETY
Drive and operate equipment safely.
This includes being qualified and authorized to drive a company vehicle on the highway, operating equipment on site, always wearing your seat belt, properly inspecting vehicles or equipment before use, obeying posted speed limits, and never driving or operating a vehicle or equipment while distracted.
Road safety hazards include driving on the highway, on a work site and includes on-road and off-road vehicles.
ENERGY ISOLATION
ENERGY ISOLATION
Verify Zero Energy before work begins and use specified lock-out/tag-out equipment where required.
COMPETENCY
COMPETENCY
You must be adequately trained, experienced and authorized to complete work tasks, or to operate equipment in the workplace.
HEALTH HAZARDS
HEALTH HAZARDS
Protect yourself from health hazards.
These include exposure to materials, substances or environments that may cause life-altering injuries or conditions. Potential Health Hazards in our business can come from many sources, through inhalation, ingestion, contact, and from the environment. They can cause skin sensitizing/irritating, heat-related illness, and allergic reactions.
IMPAIRMENT
IMPAIRMENT
Never work or operate equipment while impaired.
Using alcohol or illegal drugs, or misusing legal drugs or other substances, will reduce your ability to do your job safely. A tired or fatigued worker may also be considered impaired.
LINE OF FIRE
LINE OF FIRE
Stay out of danger zones.
SUPPLEMENTARY ICONS
EXCAVATION
EXCAVATION
Before starting trenching and excavation work, ensure that authorization has taken place and that competent persons are in charge and responsible for operations.
Trenching and excavation may contain underground utility hazards, potential confined spaces, and have the potential for collapse of earthen walls and excavated materials.
CONFINED SPACES
CONFINED SPACES
Follow the confined space entry procedures before entering a confined space.
SAFE LIFTING
SAFE LIFTING
Lifting activities must be planned, supervised and carried out by competent people.
Lifting equipment and accessories must be certified and used in the manner for which they were designed. Hazards include failure or collapse of lifting equipment, loss of the load, which can fall on people nearby, or being trapped and crushed by parts of the lifting equipment or load.
OVERHEAD POWER LINES
OVERHEAD POWER LINES
Work activities must be planned to ensure equipment, objects or personnel do not enter the Minimum Approach Distance around any energized overhead line.
WORKING OVER WATER
WORKING OVER WATER
Personal flotation devices should always be worn when there is a danger of falling into water.
When working near, or on water, wearing a personal flotation device (e.g. life jackets or buoyancy aids) protects you from drowning.
