Employee safety is of utmost importance at CEMEX. We are committed to identifying and reducing any safety risks associated with our operations by improving how we reinforce safe behaviors with our employees and strengthening the accountability of management for ensuring safe behavior. A flagship safety leadership program called LEGACY was designed and developed in 2009 to equip managers at all levels within CEMEX with the tools, skills, and behaviors they need to lead safer, more efficient operations. The objective of LEGACY is to promote a cultural change in the way we currently operate, moving from “production” to “safe production” to help us achieve our global, long-term goal of zero incidents.

LEGACY is the foundation for a new global safety leadership course, which all leaders, from executives to front-line supervisors, are required to complete. The two-day course, designed and developed by CEMEX, is based on seven behaviors of effective safety leadership and covers themes such as leading by example, understanding processes and people, communication, and motivation and accountability. The global safety course complements behavior-based safety programs previously established in some of our countries of operation.

In addition to LEGACY, we have developed a root-cause investigation tool to improve the quality of incident investigations in the company. This process enables us to better understand the true root causes of safety incidents and those aspects of our safety management system that we must strengthen in order to prevent injuries. In addition, we have developed a root-cause analysis training course to improve the quality of incident investigation.

Driving is the activity that leads to the majority of fatalities in our industry. In addition, approximately 60 percent of all fatalities in the CSI database are related to contractor activities. At CEMEX, we believe that greater industry collaboration on driving- and contractor-safety initiatives that address the causes of these fatalities is necessary to prevent additional loss of life. That is why we led the Driving Safety Working Group in developing consistent, industry-wide practices for reporting safety performance and evaluating progress in reducing incidents and injuries over time. The CSI document, entitled Recommended Good Practice for Driving Safety, outlines practices for drivers, their managers, and transport management contractors. A similarly titled document, Recommended Good Practice for Contractor Safety, outlines safety practices for both contractors and subcontractors.

The CEOs of all 21 CSI member companies approved these practices in October 2009, and all CSI companies are expected to implement the practices in their operations within 5 years. CEMEX is committed to implementing these practices and to prioritizing actions to improve performance. Ultimately, these efforts will help to eliminate driving- and contractor-related injuries and fatalities.

In addition to our CSI-related efforts, we at CEMEX are developing internal driving safety and contractor safety plans to demonstrate our continued leadership in these areas.

Case: Promoting Road Safety for all >>

Based on the work of our global health council and other feedback, we have established Health Essentials, a global health campaign designed to reduce the prevalence of health risks associated with our operations and encourage employees to live a healthy lifestyle both inside and outside the workplace. The campaign’s objectives are to unify all of our health efforts worldwide and to align all occupational and preventive health programs, both current and developing, at all levels of the company. The program formalizes and strengthens our knowledge base for the different aspects of CEMEX's Health Management System. The program also establishes guidelines to guarantee that all business units act upon the same health standards, reducing cost and minimizing employee health risk and inefficiencies.

The Health Essentials initiative aligns all current and developing CEMEX health programs, occupational as well as preventive, at the local, national, and regional levels. It is divided into twelve different health promotion topics and aims to cover the most important issues our people face every day in both occupational and preventative health. Topics such as Lung Power and Safeguard Your Back directly touch upon the occupational risks our employees may face on the job. Topics including Healthy Heart and Vaccines aim to promote a healthier culture within CEMEX, increase our employees’ quality of life, and reduce the number of days lost due to illness. This campaign has built awareness of health issues, encouraged employees to undertake preventive healthcare, and ultimately helped to create a healthier culture within CEMEX. In addition, the program builds trust, motivates employees, and reduces healthcare costs.

The campaign features easy-to-understand materials that are distributed to CEMEX employees worldwide, as well as a system for global knowledge-sharing and standardized guidelines to promote health and safety within operations around the world. Materials such as presentations, brochures, flyers, bilingual posters, and self-evaluation tests, as well as activities related to the prevention issues, are ready for use.

Since 2000, the annual CEMEX Safety Award has promoted excellence in safety and health at our operations worldwide. Sites are judged on performance, safety leadership, risk management, incident investigation, analysis, and follow-up. The award is given to the best performing and most improved facility in each business segment.

The 2008 CEMEX Safety Award Winners were: