Owens Corning’s bold leap in safety transformation

Challenge

In 2002, Owens Corning’s injury rate had dropped from nearly six to less than one by 2008 – outperforming the industry average. But despite having a robust safety program in place, leadership recognised the need to strengthen their culture, even though they had a well-established safety management system in place. The company embarked on a bold safety transformation journey, aimed not just to improve that injury rate, but to also boost performance and strengthen workplace culture.

dss⁺ Approach

dss⁺ worked with leadership to help redefine their approach to safety, not just as a priority but as a core value woven into the company’s culture. Achieving this transformation meant aligning leadership at all levels with a shared cultural baseline across all sites, reinforcing a renewed commitment to safety excellence at all levels, and equipping teams with new skills and capabilities to improve the presence of safety.

By conducting a safety perception survey and establishing a standard, dss⁺ then developed and implemented “Safer Together,” a branded safety identity which generated momentum and helped the organisation renew its focus on safety. Site rollouts included 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.

Impact on the ground

The inflection point

Despite an injury rate that kept dropping, safety performance needed a serious tune-up. dss⁺ helped the organisation to recognise that reducing injuries is not the goal, but was necessary to transform culture to ensure every leader, worker, and contractor did their job through a safety mindset.

 - Matt Baker, Industrial & Manufacturing Lead, North America