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06 November 2008
U.S. Lumber Company Helps Boost Safety Standards in Uruguay
Weyerhaeuser's rules help prevent worker accidents, serve as model
Washington — Weyerhaeuser, the second largest forest products company in the world, is expanding in Uruguay, where it sends a message that safe operating procedures are a fundamental part of all operations.
In its forestry and mill operations, the company expects workers to stay on top of safety practices; employee committees review every accident.
Weyerhaeuser in Uruguay was one of 11 finalists selected for the U.S. secretary of state’s 2008 Award for Corporate Excellence. It is recognized for supporting social and charitable programs that benefit local communities, for providing safety and injury prevention training, and for protecting the local environment with green energy generation.
“We are changing the meaning of safety and what it means to be an employee. We have raised the bar for policies for worker safety. It did not exist in private industry or government," said Andres Villegas, head of Weyerhaeuser’s South America Industry Development unit in Montevideo, Uruguay.
About 1,650 workers, including 1,200 contract workers in Weyerhaeuser forestry and mill operations, are trained to meet higher safety standards than those required by other companies in the region. The standards help Weyerhaeuser attract and retain workers at its plywood manufacturing facility in Tacuarembo and in its operations in 140,000 hectares of land where pine, eucalyptus and poplar are planted. Villegas said workers “live” and “breathe” safety every day.
The company’s Uruguay operation has several safety-training programs — computer training, safety videos and committees that audit mill practices and recommend changes in procedures, down to the level of where fire extinguishers are located. When there is an incident that potentially endangers workers, a review committee investigates what happened and why. If additional training is needed, the safety committee makes sure it takes place and covers in detail how to avoid the problem in the future.
Workers must wear protection for their hands, eyes and heads. They are required to update their safety training yearly. New employees are trained for a minimum of one week before being allowed to run a machine. Weyerhaeuser’s production teams spend the first five minutes before the start of every shift discussing safety, according to Ray Risco, managing director of South America Weyerhaeuser Company.
“The primary challenge that we face is complacency. Once a task or operation becomes routine, it is common to see an employee let down his or her guard and not pay as much attention to safety risk. This is part of human nature that we have to be alert and correct immediately,” Risco said.
But, according to Villegas, employees are constantly in communication and are aware of their surroundings. “One of the things we see is that employees tend to correct each other,” he said.
The risk is highest on the forestry side of operations, according to the company, because the work involves repetition, which can lull workers into complacency as they move around 30-meter-tall trees. Weyerhaeuser just celebrated three years with no unsafe incident or accident in its forestry operations.
