As we heard from our CEO Fernando Gonzalez last week, June has been a terrible and sad time in terms of health and safety performance across CEMEX globally, with the deaths of 9 people as a result of 8 incidents.

Fernando highlighted that, whilst the investigations into these incidents might conclude some were not caused by the actions of people working for the business, it is apparent that this is not the case with several of them.

With one of our new corporate values as ensuring safety, nothing is more important to our global business than keeping people safe.

He stressed that, as we have seen all too often, the fatalities relate to either road traffic collisions or contractor activities, most often both, and asked all operations to focus on three specific areas in order to stop this tragic pattern of incidents:

• Review control measures for contractor management and road transportation activities, referring to the requirements in the CEMEX Health and Safety Management System.
(To find this system, copy and paste the following link into your browser: http://cdm.cemex.com/sites/UK_Health_Safety/default.aspx?RootFolder=%2fsites%2fUK%5fHealth%5fSafety%2fCEMEX%2018001%20SMS%2fCEMEX%20Global%20HSMS&View=%7b1D9DCB37%2d077E%2d4C35%2dA078%2d7F366B3BB6A7%7d)
• Where gaps are identified in control measures, formalised plans should be developed to address the shortfalls, with weekly updates being provided to line managers.
• Regularly recognise good performance, but also hold people accountable for any substandard health and safety performance, including contractors.

Fernando Gonzalez added, “The health and safety of our employees, contractors and others who we interact with is our number 1 priority. There is nothing more important than preserving the lives and integrity of people and I expect you all to ensure lives are preserved, not lost, within your area of responsibility.”