Cemex puts spotlight on safety with dedicated week

By |  January 14, 2021
USGS again ranked Cemex’s Balcones Quarry as the top crushed stone-producing operation in the nation. Photo by Kevin Yanik

Cemex USA hosted Safety Week 2021 during the first week of January. Photo: P&Q Staff

Cemex USA began its new year with Safety Week 2021, the annual companywide initiative designed to get employees focused on safety and health.

According to Cemex, Safety Week 2021 began at all Cemex USA plants and facilities on Jan. 4, with safety activities and messages delivered by local leadership to all employees to refocus them on safety as the year begins.

Employees spent additional time in socially distanced or virtual meetings to address the pandemic, reviewing Cemex’s “Behaviors that Save Lives,” protocols focused on identifying and reporting symptoms, safeguarding the health of employees and others, personal hygiene, and physical distancing to help stop the spread of the virus.

Throughout the week, employees participated in exercises that emphasized hazard identifications, impacts and controls to improve risk identification, and assessments.

“At Cemex, we are constantly looking for opportunities to improve the health and safety of all our employees, and these events give us great forums to hold open dialogues to learn from each other, encourage discussion of new safety ideas, and recommit to safety every day,” says Jaime Muguiro, Cemex USA president. “Safety is a team effort, and it requires all of us to look out for one another. We all need to spend extra time to identify and assess hazards, so we can return home to our families each day.”

During Safety Week, employees at each Cemex USA operation were tasked with choosing a work activity, then identifying the top three hazards related to it. During the exercise, they analyzed the hazard impacts, performed risk assessments and developed hazard controls to eliminate or minimize potential risks.

Employees were also encouraged to utilize the tools already offered in Cemex’s Health & Safety Management System, a program based on 15 elements that include safety enhancement items such as leadership, audits and inspections, safe operative practices and risk analysis.

“Our employees are empowered to take action when it comes to safety, and at Cemex, we are working to create a culture where they can quickly access important safety practices and procedures to become safety leaders,” says Alan MacVicar, Cemex USA’s vice president of health and safety. “Our employees are encouraged to closely follow these well-established tools and guidelines in order to create an injury-free workplace for themselves and each other.”

Since 2016, Cemex USA has hosted Safety Week each year during the first week of January to promote a renewed commitment to safety.

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Kevin Yanik

About the Author:

Kevin Yanik is editor-in-chief of Pit & Quarry. He can be reached at 216-706-3724 or kyanik@northcoastmedia.net.

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