Some Lessons Learned When Communicating With the Neighbors

摘要

This paper combines 35 years of direct, plant managerial experience with processes handlinghighly hazardous materials and energies with a subsequent 17 years of consulting and personalreflection to understand how the leadership roles evolved from one of sleepless nights worryingabout the plant into one where sleep came easier knowing that the personnel could be trusted tooperate the plant safely at all times. The changes did not occur overnight. Although the changewas slow, the steps were deliberate, with trust among everyone in the organization built overtime. This paper shares some of the key lessons from my days as one of the plant managersworking with the Kanawha Valley community sharing our core value: "ensuring the safety,health and welfare of our employees and of our surrounding communities". Once we recognizedwhat the community wanted, in the Safety Street effort, we successfully shared our soundhazards analyses, the importance of layers of protection and risk reduction efforts with ourcommunity.