Managers' Roundtable

Q: Why is it important to put People First?

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Shane: I think that people really are the foundation, so nothing gets done without them. They’re the most important thing and they make everything possible. Putting People First is recognizing that value and ensuring that our decisions and our actions reflect that.

Gunjan: It’s important because people are the building blocks and foundation for any organization. At Wabtec, we care about relationships and we believe in doing the right thing. And when people are valued, they’ve got an intrinsic motivation and a greater level of engagement, so they can contribute more to the organization.

Nathaniel: For me, our people are our greatest asset. I think that’s probably what differentiates us from our competition more than anything else.

Q: How does safety factor in our People First value?

Shane: Once we recognize the People First value, we can commit to prioritizing the well-being of our employees and begin to create a work environment that supports their health and safety. Safety is really everyone’s responsibility, and we all need to be watching out for each other. When people are empowered, they can stop work or raise EHS concerns. If you see something, say something, do something, it could very well make an impact. Calling out risks and hazards can and will prevent incidents and injuries.

Gunjan: When we say People First, we mean that our first priority is their safety and creating a safe working environment for them. It’s all about making sure that they go home unharmed, because their families are waiting for them. Safety is a critical piece in the People First value and it extends beyond the shop floor to the customer sites, as well, where our products are being used. It’s our responsibility to ensure that everyone who’s engaged in our services at Wabtec stays safe: our employees, customers, and suppliers.

Nathaniel: There’s nothing more important than putting people’s safety first. The foundation of any high-achieving team has got to be a culture and an environment where they feel safe.

Q: How can employees and managers take more responsibility for safety?

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Shane: First, by making sure that they understand all the potential hazards in their area, then ensuring that everyone is educated and trained on safety protocols, PPE, and best practices. Once all of that is identified, we can start working together on how we mitigate risk and make improvements.

Gunjan: Safety is everyone’s responsibility, and that becomes even more evident for managers and supervisors as we’re not only responsible for our own actions, we’re responsible for the actions of our teams. Therefore, it’s critical for supervisors to continuously look for risks that may impact the health and working environment of the workplace. It is important to look at risk assessments to continuously work on bringing the intensity of the risk down.

On the employee side, it is very important to be present. An aware employee can mitigate risks in the workplace better than a person who is not attentive, and the degree of risks fall significantly when attentive employees are the ones complying with requirements on the shop floor.

Nathaniel: It’s important to have regular safety dialogues that are meaningful with people, following up with them when they have concerns, and then just challenging ourselves and our teams to think and act proactively about safety. We can’t sit by and wait for safety concerns or unsafe things to happen to our teams or hear about them in other areas. We have to be out there on a day-to-day basis looking for them, thinking about the worst-case scenarios, and trying to prevent those before they happen.

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