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Executive Search Candidate Transforms Safety Culture Following Two Fatalities

  • Publish Date: Posted over 1 year ago

​Our expert established a comprehensive serious injury and fatality (SIF) program; reorganized the company’s EHS team to improve communication; and refreshed training to generate accountability throughout the organization.

The Challenge

After experiencing two fatalities in under a year, a $10B agribusiness was shaken into recognizing the human cost that can be inflicted by a poorly managed safety program. The singular use of lagging indicators as evidence for performance had papered over cracks in the company’s culture that a decentralized safety team was ill-equipped to address. Executive leadership determined the need to establish a corporate safety function and turned to Shirley Parsons to identify the EHS Director who would be tasked with spearheading change across the business.

Our Approach

Utilizing our knowledge of how comparable businesses have executed similar transformations, we partnered with the Talent Acquisition team to develop a job description for the role and define the profile of candidates with the ability to deliver success. We undertook a comprehensive executive search process, identifying hundreds of candidates and interviewing more than 50 EHS leaders, including two internal candidates seeking promotion.

The Result

Within 2 months of beginning the search, an offer had been accepted by an external candidate with a track record of success and a proactive approach to safety management. They quickly established a comprehensive serious injury and fatality (SIF) program; reorganized the company’s EHS team to improve communication; and refreshed training to generate accountability throughout the organization. There is still a long way to go, but there are early signs of improvement – in the last year, SIFs have decreased to zero and the OSHA recordable rate has been reduced by more than 70%.

For further information, please contact Sam Chappell, US Director - East Coast