World‐class strategies for safety: a Boeing approach

In recent years, many businesses have focused on three priorities: quality, cost and cycle time, in order to become world‐class companies. Despite the fact that many companies have been continuously improving product quality, lowering costs and reducing cycle times, their safety programmes have remained steady. A safety programme is as critical to achieving world‐class business status as quality, cost and time. Workplace injuries in the USA continue to occur at a rate of 8.5 per 100 full‐time workers per year. This phenomenon has a definite impact on product quality and cycle time, and can add millions of dollars to the annual costs of workers’ compensation programmes. For businesses to create an injury‐free workplace, it is necessary to develop strategies that move them towards world‐class safety performance. Proposes a strategic model that captures a transition to world‐class safety performance. The model was developed from the authors’ personal experiences, interviews with the safety, health, and environmental affairs manager of the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, and documents obtained from Boeing and other companies.