Case Study

Sliding Doors

This series of bespoke programmes for the leaders and key influencers in Petrofac’s diverse operations across the world was designed to develop a culture of personal responsibility and to minimise incidents and improve worldwide safety performance.

Challenge

Since 2009 W2 has been delivering a Safety Leadership development programme, and each year we research and review the current strategy and priorities. The challenge is to bring a fresh and dynamic approach to keep the leaders and workforce engaged and to continuously improve their knowledge, skills and tools. 

Solution

W2 designed an intervention programme using a major incident from the rail industry as the backdrop and context, in order to immerse the participants, and provide experiential learning. At its heart, the aims were to:

• Develop confident Senior and Operational Leaders, who are able to evaluate the risks and potential consequences of a situation
• Ensure people choose to do the right thing at “Sliding Doors” moments in safety
• Create a dramatisation of the decisions leading up to the fatal crash using Actor Facilitators from Impromptu
• Allow participants to practise the skills and tools with the Actor Facilitators, to turn back the clock and intervene directly with the actors (in character) and have challenging safety intervention conversations at the critical moments that would have prevented the incident. 

Results

• 100 two-day workshops were delivered globally for 2400 managers and supervisors.
• Operational Managers and Supervisors rated their two-day workshop 5.6 out of 6.
• Sliding Doors Experiential Learning was subsequently adopted by ExxonMobil and Bibby Offshore.

Sponsor’s feedback:

“The challenge is to up our game every year; this is probably the best workshop that we have done to date.”

Participants’ feedback:

Outstanding – one of the best tools we can have to reduce workplace risks.

Excellent idea – a definite ‘concentration’ grabber.

Excellent. Saw one individual really coming out his shell, who was quite intimidated at the thought of intervening – and he did by the end of the workshop.

Everybody’s map of the world is very different, and conversations need to be clarified and clear.

First time I have been involved with role playing – this added more realism in my opinion.

Very effective, as by not participating I don’t feel the difference until the last session. Passionate!

Intervention is essential to a safer world.

Flabbergasted at the outstanding quality of the training.