Roseburg: A Tale of Strength through Adversity

On April 28th we honor those who have lost their lives, fallen ill, and have been injured due to a workplace incident. This is a day to pledge our commitment to strengthening safety culture, and the heroic team at Roseburg understands the significance.

Roseburg, a proud customer since 2016, has felt the impact of losing team members due to workplace incidents, as they belong to one of the most high-risk industries: Forestry Products. We want to shed light on the efforts their management team has taken to ensure a safer environment where front-line workers return home safely to their loved ones every single day.

We had the opportunity to speak to Cassandra Crosier, Environmental Health and Safety Coordinator at Roseburg. She shared her thoughts on The National Day of Mourning and important improvements that have helped reduce their injury record:

Dina: What does the National Day of Mourning mean to Roseburg?

Cassandra: This is a day to reflect not only on the lives of team members we have lost and their families. It’s also a day for us to check our own attitudes and complacency to situations by reflecting on those things. It is a day to remind us we are not superhuman. It is a day to reset and recommit to protecting not only ourselves but our team members.

Dina: Before using eCompliance (or any tracking method) how heavily influenced was Roseburg (or you specifically) by the number of incidents, injuries, and losses within the organization?

Cassandra: When I started 10 years ago, we only had visibility on the injuries that resulted in a worker’s compensation claim. About 6 years ago the company got a system that was very cumbersome to fill out, so still maybe only an eighth of injuries were reported.

Once we implemented eCompliance, we not only got injuries reported but changed the reporting from reporting reactively with injuries, to proactively with having more BBS and hazards reported than injuries. Because of this, we started to change the mindset to prevention rather than cleanup. Before eCompliance, the company really didn’t have any visibility on the injuries that didn’t result in a claim to really pay attention to them and try to prevent them. Today we are heavily influenced by the numbers because we care.

Dina: How has Roseburg transformed its safety culture to show commitment to getting workers home safely every single day?

Cassandra: Roseburg’s commitment is not only reflected in our safety strategy, “Zero to the Core”, but we have recently included “Safe to the Core” as a core value, which didn’t happen until as a company we could prove we meant it with our results. “Zero to the Core” states we hold not only ourselves accountable but our team members accountable because we care, which makes us focus on the details 24/7.

We are happy to say that in 2019, one of Roseburg’s many plants ended the year with a DART rate (Days Away, Restricted or Transferred) of 0 and was presented with the Safety Excellence Award for the Western Region. This achievement not only speaks to the commitment of the front-line workforce to keep themselves and each other safe, but to leadership for putting them first. Roseburg exemplifies what it means to be a safety champion, as they have elevated their safety culture and done everything in their power to protect their front-line.

From our team to yours, we salute you!