Our employees are active stakeholders in the organization and its success -- and we encourage their participation in bringing innovative solutions to the business. In that spirit, a number of our sites are engaged in behavior-based safety (BBS) programs. This is an emerging area that allows companies to identify and eliminate root causes of at-risk behaviors that are precursors to accidents. In other words, we are engaged in preventing "accidents waiting to happen."

Eight Seagate manufacturing sites are currently operating or implementing a behavior-based safety process, including AMK and Woodlands (Singapore), Limavady and Springtown (Northern Ireland), Milpitas (California, USA), Normandale (Minnesota, USA), the Penang (Malaysia) slider plant, and Wuxi (China). The company plans to build on the success of those programs and implement BBS tools and training later this year at Korat and Teparuk (Thailand) Senai (Malaysia), and Fremont (California, USA).

Nearly 900 employees currently serve as BBS observers, recording their observations and making recommendations for reducing at-risk behaviors, and additional observers are being trained.

With the knowledge and agreement of their co-workers, BBS observers openly observe various site-specific critical behaviors and provide direct feedback to their colleagues who have been observed. Those behaviors include: body location (keeping your eyes on your work, for example); body use (such as how you lower or lift an object); tools and equipment (which covers the condition of tools and how equipment is used); and procedures (including procedures for chemical use and disposal).

Thanks to online systems and software, the data and results collected by observers can be efficiently captured and shared with different production sites.