Page 31 - Suncor 360 - September 2014 - English

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Listen to your parents!

You’ve gotta give ’em credit: your parents weren’t totally lame. Among all their advice and

admonitions, there were some pearly words of wisdom.

Look before you leap. Play by the rules. At the heart of these words is a plea to be In a world and an industry that’s

Leave no stone unturned. Two heads are fully aware of what you’re doing and the increasingly complex and constantly
better than one. You’d better be ready to risks associated with doing it.and to changing, operational discipline is the very

face the music!
proceed in a way that doesn’t endanger thing that will help keep you and your
you, your friends, the living room furniture co-workers safe.
If you were like most kids, these wise words
or the neighbours’ dog. And when it comes
went largely unheeded. (“In one ear and right down to it, that’s what operational Through our Operational Excellence
out the other,” they’d probably say with a Management System (OEMS), we’re
discipline is all about, too.
inger-wag when you came home with getting much better at managing the risks
all around us. We’re intelligently adapting
bruised knees or bloodied elbows.) But Situational awareness. Being relentlessly
their advice had your best interests at aware of risks and changing conditions. and proactively responding. But the simple

heart. It was geared toward keeping you And developing the behaviours required to fact is that risks will always exist. There’s no
safe and helping you adapt to the safely adapt.
such thing as a risk-free workplace.

conditions you encountered as you sought
adventures with your friends.
As kids, most of us tended to pick and But there is such a thing as an incident-free
choose which advice we’d follow. workplace. And while our world and our

Though you didn’t know it at the time, Sometimes we looked, and sometimes we industry will never stand still, one thing that
your parents’ adages were actually simply leapt. Sometimes we played by the will never change – ever – is our

precursors to something that’s become a rules but usually we didn’t.
commitment to safety. We will never ease
pretty big deal here at Suncor.
up on our Journey to Zero.

We may have survived our childhoods
Operational discipline.
despite this ‘selective hearing,’ but the risks If you’re able, give your folks a jingle and

of our industry are far less forgiving. To tell them they were right. Tell them they
Think about it. “Look before you leap” realize the beneits of operational were pioneers of operational discipline.
encourages you to use a questioning
discipline, we need to apply all ive And tell them that even if you disregarded
attitude to surface problems. “Play by the behaviours to every situation.
it at the time, you’re totally on board now
rules” is all about adhering to procedure.
with their great advice.
“Two heads are better than one”
underscores the value of collaboration.

“Leave no stone unturned” was your

parents’ way of saying “seek knowledge
and understanding.” And “facing the

music” is all about holding yourself –
and others – accountable.