Adopting a safety-first mindset atour offices

Pernod Ricard aims to be at the forefront of our industry in terms of health and safety standards. It is dedicated to improving training at every level of the company, including operators, managers and safety representatives.

Its training not only focuses on safety rules and procedures but it also aims to foster a safety-first culture among its people. This is especially true at the Stockholm office, where it is working hard to change people’s mindsets so they “pause and act” without consciously thinking about it.

“We want our people, even though they are not working with heavy machines, to have a safety-first mindset here in the office,” says Emma Staffansson, Facility, Security and H&S Manager. “We have been focusing on the physical aspects of safety so that everyone feels safe in the event of an emergency, crisis, fire, or accident. The longer-term goal is also to encompass psychological safety (themes such as stress, conviviality and loneliness), issues which are often in the background.”

In 2024, the company undertook a health and safety audit and implemented a LIFE (Life Impacting or Fatal Event) assessment. Subsequently, the health & safety team have been ensuring that all fire equipment is up to standard and that there are enough defibrillators, for instance. Seemingly incidental measures have also been introduced, including providing extra safety ladders to reduce the risk of people using chairs to reach high places. A key aspect of the health and safety focus is providing training; this has included breakfast seminars to update employees and encourage them to suggest ideas to make the office a safer place.

“We want to make it easy for people to come and talk to us; we want to hear their concerns without the drama,” says Emma. “It has led to simple changes such as ensuring that the same flavoured tea is available on all floors to avoid people walking up and down the stairs with a piping hot cup of their favourite tea in their hands.”

At the heart of the health and safety strategy is the Care by Learning programme, which follows three golden rules: for everyone to look out for one another, to stay focused on the task at hand, and to take personal responsibility. It encompasses seven modules, including hazard recognition, near-miss reporting and risk assessment. So far, 99 per cent of its employees have completed the initial modules.

“Care by Learning is our comprehensive training programme for all employees. The first two modules are about risk and what employees can do and the next modules we will include ‘care visits’ to our office to discuss psychological issues such as stress and workload,” says Emma. “This will be challenging as it is easier to spot a loose cable on the floor than to measure stress on workloads.”

We want our people to have a safety-first mindset even though they are not working with heavy machines, here in the office.

Emma Staffansson, Facility, Security and H&S Manager