Safer Together: Owens Corning’s Bold Leap in Safety Transformation

Challenge

Owens Corning, a Fortune 500 global leader in building and construction materials, employs over 25,000 including both employees and contractors. As a major manufacturer of residential and commercial building products, the company held a position many would envy. In 2002 injury rate had dropped from nearly six to less than one by 2008—outperforming the industry average— but that wasn’t enough for the long term. As a result, despite having a robust safety program in place, Owens Corning’s safety performance had plateaued.

Leadership was concerned with the plateaued performance and recognized the need to strengthen its overall culture, even though they had a well-established safety management system in place. Although their injury rate was below 0.6 - they were determined to push for even greater improvement.

dss⁺ Approach

dss⁺ worked with Owens Corning’s leadership to help redefine their approach to safety -not just as a priority but as a core value woven into the company’s culture. This shift required leadership to go beyond focusing on reducing injury rates by cultivating a deep, organization-wide commitment to enhance safety leadership.

Achieving this transformation involved a three-pronged strategy: aligning leadership at all levels to a shared cultural baseline across all sites, reinforcing a renewed commitment to safety excellence at all levels within the organization, and equipping teams with new skills and capabilities to improve the presence of safety through improved safety leadership.

By conducting a safety perception survey and establishing a standard, dss⁺ then developed and implemented a new safety identity, “Safer Together,” which generated momentum and helped the organization renew its focus on safety. Owens Corning’s CEO launched Safer Together at their global town hall followed by site level rollouts across more than 120 locations throughout the world. Finally, dss⁺ conducted safety leadership training for all site-level leaders, equipping them to drive the change from within.

Assignment

To improve performance levels by strengthening the company’s safety culture.

Offering

Safety Perception Survey, Communications and Branding; Safety Excellence Leadership Development

Impact

• A 31% year-over-year reduction in recordable injuries (2023-2024).
• A 55% reduction in both SIF and SIF potential incidents (2023-2024).
• 100% participation across the company in the newly implemented “Safer Together” brand launch.
• Feedback from post-launch surveys, the “Safer Together” digital site, and anecdotal reports all indicated that the efforts significantly enhanced Owens Corning’s safety culture.