Zoom on safety at the Oleon Port Klang site

Oleon Port Klang in Malaysia, with its 161 employees, made good its wager by revolutionizing the way it manages risks in less than a year and created a real collective success story.
“Play Safe” became “Power to Act”, a safety management project capable of changing attitudes whilst taking different cultures into consideration.
The lessons learned through this experience continue to serve as models of inspiration.

Oleon Port Klang, proud of the successful changes initiated, celebrated 500 incident-free days this February. Following the two work-related accidents which occurred in December 2022, the 161 employees, however, remain on their guard. “It opened our eyes!”, declares Dayalen Raman, Site Director, who immediately declared a state of emergency. “The victims weren’t new hires. Because they were familiar with their environment, and used to it, they were off their guard.”
“All our employees realized that it could have happened to them personally, and this paved the way for change”, pursues Nor Abidah Abdullah, HSE Manager. “In our culture, it’s not well seen to talk about negative subjects or meddle with what others are doing. And, an oil leak that’s liable to turn the ground into an ice rink is considered as normal.”

It statistically shows the relationship between the increase in high-risk practices and the occurrence of a serious accident. The emergency meant convincing all the employees to report the slightest malfunctioning, to avoid an upcoming accident.

In 2020, Avril launched its “Play Safe” training program and, in October 2022, 30 managers in Malaysia had been trained. “This three-day training totally changed our view of managing risks”, states Dayalen Raman. “Safety became everyone’s business and, here in Port Klang, we decided to share the responsibility.” To do this, every employee had to play an active role in managing risks. Today, everyone has the right to stop an activity or to request that an activity be stopped if it appears to pose a hazard, whether it concerns working conditions or behavior. But, given cultural particularities, how can you engage people in this sort of (r)evolution?

The answer was found in the field through the “Power to Act” program, a condensed version of “Play Safe” delivered in Malay to all the employees. In turn, the trainees become trainers for this half-day initiation that changes attitudes.
And, the results were soon to be seen!
In 2023, 1,027 risk alert forms were dropped into the dedicated boxes on the site, i.e. 33% of the alerts of all Oleon business units. The movement grew to such an extent, up by 345% versus the previous year, that the process had to be digitized.
Risks are reported, issues are resolved, and Oleon Port Klang is about to celebrate its 600 incident-free days, without ever dropping its guard.