2009 CEOs Who 'Get It'

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Dan Fulton

President & CEO
Weyerhaeuser Co.

Weyerhaeuser Co. is principally engaged in the growing and harvesting of timber; the manufacture, distribution and sale of forest products; and real estate construction, development and related activities. The company is based in Federal Way, WA, and employs 20,000 workers.

Why is safety a core value at your company?

It is the right thing to do for our employees and for our business. Safety at Weyerhaeuser encompasses a broad approach starting with regulatory compliance as an absolute minimum, building on that with safety management system best practices benchmarked from industry leaders.

What is the biggest obstacle to safety in your workplace, and how do you work to overcome it?

The biggest obstacle is an “unrecognized risk,” whether that is at the individual employee level carrying out work, or whether it is at the project level introducing new processes or equipment. We overcome this with online risk-recognition training and continuing communication on the importance of individual risk recognition for employees, as well as rigorous management of change and pre-startup safety reviews for process and equipment changes.

How does safety “pay” at your company?

Safety is a part of the way we do business. Improved safety leads to motivated, healthier employees; less absenteeism; fewer injury and incident costs; improved process uptime and efficiency; and recognition by industry, contractors, suppliers and customers – all of which impact our bottom line.

How do you measure safety? What are the leading indicators that show you how safe you are, and where do you see room for improvement?

We use a range of leading and lagging indicators company-wide to measure safety progress. Every leader and supervisor has safety indicators included in his or her annual performance plans and evaluations. Leading indicators at the company level include:

Committed Leadership

• Uncompromising safety leadership
• Improved employee health and productivity

• Business leaders complete accountability education
• Safety expectations enforced consistently and equitably among all employees
• 100 percent participation of SMT members in Focus Unit site inspections
• Health and safety leading indicators used at the company, business and unit levels

Employee Driven

• Employees actively engaged in eliminating unsafe conditions and behaviors

• Leaders and employees complete risk recognition training
• Near miss reporting includes corrective actions

Basics Done Well

• Reduced high-severity incidents
• Competent unit resources
• OSHA compliance

• Level 1 and 2 incidents follow-up action completed on time
• Complete implementation of the EHS Competency standard
• Level 1 noncompliance findings mitigated within 90 days

Recognize and Manage Risks

• Zero serious crane and hoist incidents
• Zero contractor fall-from-height incidents

• Guidelines implemented for preventive maintenance on cranes and hoists
• Contractor fall protection requirements implemented