Cofely Services provides services in energy and environmental efficiency, by offering solutions to companies and local authorities to make better use of energy and reduce their environmental impact.
In France, Cofely Services has a headcount of 12,000 and posted a turnover of €2.6 billion in 2013. Cofely Services is part of GDF SUEZ Energie Services, Europe’s leading multi-technique services provider, with sales of €14.7 billion in 2013 and 78,000 employees.
The safety project at Cofely Services
Yves Reymond took over as the Director of Health and Safety at Cofely Services at the end of 2007. He quickly submitted his report to the management committee.
The most advanced regions in terms of health and safety management were failing to make the progress that the company’s ambitions demanded. They were experiencing difficulty in reducing their frequency rate to less than 10/12. They could only make durable progress if management added a strong new impetus.
He was convinced that the company was ready to address the human factors of risks and to adopt a rational approach to the behavioural causes of accidents.
So Cofely Services turned to ETSCAF, which proposed an original set of field safety tools
The meeting marked an important change in the health and safety culture at Cofely Services.
Today, safety actions in the field have become exemplary and fundamental management practices that aim to make employees take safety onboard by encouraging individual initiatives.
An introduction to the approach and a meeting with one man sealed management commitment
Yves Reymond chose ETSCAF for two reasons: the pragmatism of the training in the use of the field safety tools, and the force of persuasion of top manager, Gilles Rabergeau.
Yves Reymond points out:
No man is a prophet in his own country. It is relatively easy to convince a management committee when you have a good product. What is more difficult, is getting all the members of the committee to take action and to commit personally. Gilles has this capacity to convince senior managers.
In 2007, 250 managers in the South-East region were trained by ETSCAF.
The results came thick and fast: in two years, the South-East region’s frequency rate was almost halved, between the end of 2006 and the end of 2008, dropping from 20 to 12!
Today, the company’s 8,000 technicians are familiar with ETSCAF’s tools and method.
ETSCAF hopes to offer Cofely Services long-term support in the development of its safety culture
Thanks to the input from ETSCAF, the field action tools formed an important step in the change in the safety culture, by opening up new horizons for the development of managerial leadership and reinforcing the employees’ adherence to the company’s health and safety rules and values.
Cofely Services is taking a close look at the other behavioural tools on offer from ETSCAF that, in the future, will help to bring about a shift from a culture based on obedience, to one of adherence® to safety, amongst all the employees at Cofely Services.
Cofely Services’ field action tools are now part of the Group’s best practices.
