1. © 2005 San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Gas Company. All copyright and trademark rights reserved
Sempra Energy Case Study:
Reducing Office-Based Injuries & Costs
National Ergonomics Conference
Las Vegas, NV
November 28 – December 1, 2006
Elizabeth Kihm, MS
2
Objectives
• Understanding SoCalGas and SDG&E
–Company Facts
–Ergonomic Program: Historical Context
• Identifying a New Approach
• Three Pillars of Success
–Proactive
–Management Buy-in
–Data-Based Decision Making: Enables Action and
Measurement
• Learnings
3
SoCalGas and SDG&E: Sempra Energy
utilities
$11.7B Annually
14,000 employees worldwide
Sempra “… recognizes that people are its greatest resource and the key to its success.” (1)
• 3.4M consumers
• 4,100 square miles
• 19.8 M consumers
• 20K square miles
(1) Sempra Website: 2006 4
Staffing the Injury Prevention Efforts
•A Centralized Department:
•Approximately 30 FTEs for 12,000 employees
34 Employees
Field Safety Advisors (FSAs)
Safety Business Advisors
Industrial Hygienists
Ergonomist
Occupational Nurses
1 Director
3 Managers
5
Ergonomic Injury Prevention:
“Yesterday”
Program Components
• Information available but
action taken only when
someone asked for help
• In-person evaluations, when
requested by employee
• Classroom training by
Safety and Health staff
• Lagging indicators
Results
• Reactive
• Time-intensive
• Inefficient
• Inconsistent
• High injury rates, lost time
rate, and workers comp $
6
Is there a better way?
“When something isn’t working and you don’t
change the way you’re doing it, you can’t
expect different results.”

2. 7
Identifying A New Approach
Program Components
• Leverage technology
-Convenient for mgmt. and
employees
-Empowering
-Data oriented
• Involve supervisors from the start
• Hands-on expertise/resources
only where needed most
• Leading Indicators
Results
•Proactive
•Early awareness; early
identification of problems
•Efficient
•Consistent
•Impacting injury rates, lost
time, and workers comp $
8
Identifying a New Approach
The decision . . .
To utilize a web-based assessment and
training tool to maximize effectiveness
and efficiency of the ergonomics
program and resources
9
Approach
•Conducted a pilot study
•Did an initial rollout with upper
management to gain additional buy-in
•Rolled out to interested organizations
•Expanding to other interested
organizations
•Continuing to monitor approach and
revise accordingly to maximize
effectiveness of program
10
Approach
•Program is not mandatory
•Participation is charged back to a
department’s cost center
11
Program Elements
Web-based
assessment
and training
Company
Intranet
Handbook
and
Solutions Guide
Escalation
Process
Try Before
You Buy
Program
Stretching
Reminder
Supervisor
Training
ERGONOMICS
PROGRAM
12
Three Pillars of Success
Management Support
• Philosophy
• Business case
Data-Based Actions & Decision Making
• Issue/Risk Identification
• Leading Indicators
• Metric Measurement
Proactive
• Reach broad base
leveraging technology /
automation
• Give employees info.
before they ask for it
• Hands-on follow-up
where appropriate

3. 13
Three Pillars of Success
Proactive
• Reach broad base
leveraging technology /
automation
• Give employees info.
before they ask for it
• Hands-on follow-up
where appropriate
14
Proactive Nature: Utilize Technology
•Web-based system
•Email used to invite people into the
process
•Automated communications enable
efficient action and consistent messages
• Invitation Emails
• Profile Completion Reminders
• Feedback Summary
• Follow-ups: 30-day, 60-day, 6 month
• Customized emails
15
Proactive Nature: Give Employees
Information Before They Ask
Source: Remedy Interactive’s OES
16
Proactive Nature: Hands-On Follow-Up Often
BEFORE Employee Would Have Asked
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
Employee Engages in OES
Supervisor Review
Field Safety Advisor Review
Ergonomist Support
Proactive
approach
enables ID of
need for further
attention
Hands-on
nature of action
increases with
each step.
Using data,
efforts can be
applied where
needed most.
17
Participant Feedback
•"The program is an excellent and valuable ergonomics training
tool. I recommend the program be rolled out to others in my
organization."
•"I was able to complete the evaluation at my home workstation. I
was able to make useful adjustments and will apply them when I
return to the office."
•"The tool was simple to use and very user friendly.“
•"The Micro-Break section with the various stretches was very
helpful."
•"Thanks should go to you and your folks for looking out for us."
18
Three Pillars of Success
Management Support
• Philosophy
• Business case

4. 19
Management Support: Philosophy and
Business Case
•Upper management philosophy
–Support of safety efforts
–Financial support
–Communicating support through
organization
•Business Case
–The numbers tell the story
20
Three Pillars of Success
Data-Based Actions & Decision Making
• Proactive Issue/Risk Identification
• Leading Indicators
• Metric Measurement
21
Data-Based Actions & Decision Making:
Issue & Risk Identification
Obtaining
Data
Employees
provide
information
about work
habits and
position
Source: Remedy Interactive’s OES
22
Data-Based Actions & Decision Making: Using Leading
Indicators to Determine Highest Priorities
Source: Remedy Interactive’s OES
23
Data-Based Actions & Decision Making:
Benchmarking
Source: Remedy Interactive’s OES
24
Data-Based & Decision Making: Enables
Measurement of Progress
Outcome
Metrics
Enabled
through
Process
Metrics
• Decrease in “high risk”
population
• Increase in “low risk”
population
• Improvement in
discomfort levels
• Decrease in direct
workers’ comp costs
• Decrease in LWDs
• Invitation emails sent
• Participants in OES

5. 25
Data-Based Actions & Decision Making:
Enables Measurement of Progress
Source: Remedy Interactive’s OES
26
•Injury rates and severity become one of
several measures we look at.
•Leading indicators help us determine if we
are headed in the right direction.
•Lagging indicators will show how well it
worked over time.
Data-Based Actions & Decision Making:
Measuring Injury Rate/Injury Severity Reduction
27
Learnings
• Employee feedback
• Participation rollout/involvement strategy
• Supervisor involvement
–Supervisor guide
–Supervisor training
–Supervisor access to information
• Safety Advisor access to information
• Reporting tools
© 2005 San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Gas Company. All copyright and trademark rights reserved
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