The Safety Innovation Award goes to…SOL Group!

The Safety Innovation Award was obtained by SOL Group for the application of the Behavior Based Safety (B-BS) Protocol to pre-filling operations of cylinders and cylinder packs, the associated manual handling of containers and the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) provided for the filling stages.

The risks of filling cylinders are mainly due to the physicochemical properties of gases and pressure; pre-fill checks include, as examples, operations to check the threading of connections, check the condition of seals (O-rings).

B-BS is a protocol that aims to reduce unsafe worker behavior leading to a consequent reduction in workplace accidents and injuries. Implementation of the protocol involves observation of workers' behaviors in the field and related recording on special checklists. The execution of the observation is carried out by trained and qualified personnel, the so called "Observers," on the correct ways in which to perform the activity, the filling of the checklist and, most importantly, how to deliver the correct feedback to the worker who is performing the activity. However, the importance of feedback is mutual: in addition to returning feedback to operators to reduce unsafe behaviors, it is equally central to receive feedback from operators to continuously improve the management system.

As a result, through the application of this protocol, it was possible to significantly reduce unsafe behaviors in all SOL Group territorial units, both Italian and foreign, that participated in the project.