Cemex USA promotes safety with dedicated week

Cemex USA focused Safety Week 2020 on the concept of safety through leadership. Photo courtesy of Cemex USA

Cemex USA kicked off the new year by hosting its annual company-wide Safety Week 2020, an initiative focused on one of the company’s core values: health and safety.

According to Cemex USA, this year’s theme – “Safety Through Leadership” – empowers supervisors and others in leadership roles to actively lead their teams to success by utilizing the tools the company provides to nourish a strong and supportive safety culture.

To begin the event, operations at all Cemex USA plants and facilities stopped for 60 to 90 minutes Jan. 6 so employees could participate in safety stand downs. During this time, meetings were held to review safety initiatives from 2019 and discuss potential improvements, helping workers refocus on taking a more active role in their personal commitments to safety.

“At Cemex, we take the health and safety of all our employees extremely seriously by not only constantly reinforcing safety messages at all Cemex operations, but also living those messages through a culture where everyone looks after one another, steps in when they see risks, and celebrates when they share success,” says Jaime Muguiro, Cemex USA president. “Events like these remind us that we need to put our safety first every single day so our employees can get home to their families.”

During this year’s safety stand downs, Cemex employees were encouraged to utilize the tools already offered to them in Cemex’s Health & Safety Management System, a program based on 14 different elements that include safety enhancement items such as leadership, audits and inspections, safe operative practices and risk analysis.

“At Cemex, we empower our employees to be champions of their safety by providing them with a program that they can easily reference for important safety practices and procedures,” says Alan MacVicar, Cemex USA’s vice president of health and safety. “By following these tools and guidelines, they can help ensure that the best safety practices are being implemented on the job at all times.”

In addition, Cemex USA operations held various activities throughout the week, including specialized trainings to increase safety awareness.