The Health & Safety Initiative at Imdaad, branded STARRT (Safety Task Analysis Risk Reduction Talk), was introduced in 2018 to minimize employee accidents and incidents while working in high-risk areas. Given the complex portfolio of clients and locations that Imdaad caters to (e.g. ports, lakes, high-rise towers, etc.), employees are exposed to high-risk areas such as heights, roads, and near water works.
Recognizing the crucial role that supervisors / mid-level managers play in achieving Imdaad’s strategic objective of ‘Institutionalizing EHS’, Imdaad tapped this group of middle management for the STARRT initiative. Their ability to effectively assess workplace health and safety conditions was given a stronger focus through the initiative.
STARRT covers three activities:
1. Identifying and Controlling Workplace Risks / Hazards– In keeping with the objective of reducing risks and accidents in high-risk areas, 261 client sites were identified. 121 supervisors based in these sites were trained by EHS Team Experts/Specialists on risk identification. A STARRT Form was especially developed and rolled out to facilitate risk identification by the supervisors with the involvement of field-level employees performing activities in high-risk areas. The goal was for supervisors / mid-level managers to develop an ‘ownership’ mindset while helping ensure that activities are safe for employees.
2. Determining Suitable Control Measures– To reduce the likelihood / frequency of accidents, the second main activity of STARRT is to determine control actions. This is done by filling the Comments/Feedback section in the STARRT Form after performing a 360-degree analysis of risks associated with the activity. Supervisors and employees sign the form signifying their personal commitment to safety.
3. Communicating Identified Hazards– Imdaad recognizes that the aforementioned activities should be reinforced through effective communication. Hence, weekly site meetings are conducted to increase awareness of the STARRT analysis among all employees. Moreover, the STARRT Form is displayed on site for reference / guidance of all employees. With every change in work activity, the form is reviewed, and STARRT is repeated.
Imdaad effectively carries out the ‘Safety Task Analysis Risk Reduction Talk’ among employees prior to the start of any project. This effective implementation of the STARRT initiative has helped to ensure that all heights, roads and near water work activities are safe for the entire workforce.
Another key success of the initiative is the development of a comprehensive list of risks and control measures in high-risk areas. This list is circulated to all sites for quick reference and acts as a checklist before any activity is performed in such areas.
The main objective of the initiative was to minimize the number of accidents / incidents while working in high-risk areas. Thus, impact was measured through a set of lagging indicators such as near misses, first-aid cases, lost time accidents (LTA), lost time accident frequency rate (LTAFR) and LTA to employee ratio.
These indicators are collated, measured and analyzed monthly by Imdaad’s EHS Department for all the business units and relevant departments within the company. These metrics are then validated by the Strategic Planning and Corporate Performance team via Imdaad’s Balanced Scorecard Framework. Results are reported to Imdaad’s top management on a monthly basis and to the Board of Directors on a quarterly basis.
Since the implementation of STARRT, the program was effectively communicated to more than 1,800 employees assigned to sites identified as high-risk areas. Moreover, there has been no recorded Lost Time Accident (LTA) at Imdaad sites while working from heights or near road works or water. This achievement has been made possible mainly due to the adoption of STARRT as a regular review and assessment tool during weekly Tool Box Talks given by the supervisors.
