Making sure people are safe on the job—and are doing all they can to keep clients, guests, and other customers safe—is not just the right thing to do. At Aramark, it is a business imperative, embedded in company culture and throughout operations.
While safety is firmly a part of Aramark’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitment, safety is also reinforced in every employee training initiative, every purchase, every team meeting, and every strategic partnership.
This successful integration is due not only to the company’s knowledgeable Safety and Risk Solutions (S&RS) team, which oversees practices and standards throughout Aramark global operations.
It is due, in large part, to the company’s Safety Leader Program, a network of about 400 Aramark employees who are the voice of safety across every region and every line of business in the United States.
Creating a Culture of Safety
“The Safety Leader Program has become essential to sustaining the strong organizational safety culture at Aramark—and has helped us improve many of our key safety metrics,” said Allan Fernandes, Vice President, Aramark Global S&RS. “In addition, it offers an opportunity to grow the company’s pipeline of emerging leaders.”
Comprising Aramark field operators who are innately qualified to stand up for safety, Aramark Safety Leaders promote safety throughout the enterprise, one district or region at a time.
While Safety Leaders could certainly be called “safety champions,” the Aramark model is more formal and rigorous than a traditional workplace champion program.
Each Safety Leader is the go-to safety person for the entire district or region in their line of business for a two-year term. They support, facilitate, and coordinate core safety processes, bridging the gap between corporate policies and protocols and everyday behaviors in the field.
Safety Leaders keep their regular jobs while forming a dotted line relationship to the corresponding business leader. Safety Leaders are trained during onboarding and on an ongoing basis in the technical aspects of safety and leadership skills that will help them be most effective.
The program helps cultivate future leaders with enhanced opportunities to hone professional skills such as public speaking and interfacing with business leaders.
The rewards are so great that filling open Safety Leader positions has become highly competitive. Several former Safety Leaders have even gone on to leadership roles with the Aramark S&RS team and operations.
Weekly SAFE Review Calls
A hallmark of the Safety Leader Program is the SAFE Review Call, held weekly in each district and region.
Led by the Safety Leader, calls are attended by dozens of operations managers, the District Manager and/or Regional Vice President, and a member of the S&RS team.
Teams use the time to review occupational, food, allergen, and environmental safety incidents from the past week and discuss future prevention.
The teams also share best practices, as well as recent wins and recognitions, highlighting preventative measures being taken, target metrics being achieved, and employees going above and beyond.
The calls are known for their high value and engagement, with Safety Leaders striving to make the content as relevant as possible to their audience.
“The Safety Leader Program exemplifies the broader safety principles that shape everyday behaviors at Aramark,” said Frank Chapa, Director, Aramark S&RS and Lead for the Safety Leader Program. “We will continue to water and feed the program, adding skills to every Safety Leader’s toolbelt, recognizing them for their contributions, and giving them opportunities to shine.”
Achieving Outcomes
By cultivating leaders and increasing employee engagement around safety, Aramark has been able to yield extraordinary business results in the realms of safety, talent management, and beyond.
Since the Aramark Safety Leader Program was started in 2008, the company’s safety metrics have improved for 14 consecutive years (graph). That is just the beginning of the transformative results that can be attributed to the Safety Leader Program.
Because of the grassroots nature of the Safety Leader Program, today safety is viewed as a core, integrated business function at Aramark—right alongside sales or finance.
Since the Safety Leader Program was launched, Aramark’s total injury frequency rate has improved by 68%.
“The Safety Leader Program is a powerful differentiator,” said Fernandes. “With our years of experience and suite of safety resources, clients can count on us to bring safety to the forefront of their operations.”
