1. www.dekra-insight.com
SAFEALIGN™
& BAPP®
TECHNOLOGY
Leadership development at Montataire, France
CASE STUDY
As a global leader in domestic paints, AkzoNobel
manufactures and distributes a complete range of internal
and external decorating products in France for both
professionals and non-professionals alike. The company
also manufactures and distributes building products,
including paints used to treat wood, primary materials
such as additives, products for treating walls, joints, and
putties as well as decorative coatings.
The Montataire site
Established in 1947 for the production of Astral paints, the
Montataire site is located in Picardy, northern France, in the
department of Oise and is AkzoNobel’s main site in France.
As part of the group’s decorative paints division it
manufactures emulsion, wood stain, and solvent paints.
An industrial site using and storing chemical products and,
given its ICPE Seveso 2 (lower tier) status, it also holds
ISO 9001 certification for quality management. Since
December 2014 the site has also been certified ISO 14001
and OHSAS 18001.
Key facts and figures about Montataire:
• 4 production units across a 23 ha site
• 50 million litres manufactured each year
• 5000 varieties, 34 brands, and delivered to 17 countries
• 660 employees and 70 permanent representatives from
outside companies
“We are committed to taking action to
make workplace safety our number one
strategic priority.”
Leadership Development Charter, Philippe Bellenoue,
Supply Chain Director and 37 Montataire leaders
1
Recordable
injuries per year
Emulsion Paints
Wood Stain Paints
Solvent Paints

2. www.dekra-insight.com 2
Background
Today’s employees consider safety at work to be an
important topic and a key component in developing the
organisation’s culture.
Originally, the idea of safety at work was simply concerned
with employees’ physical safety in the workplace and,
in particular, the control measures put in place to
prevent accidents.
A long-term commitment
In January 2012, employees were invited to take part in
a study regarding their perceptions of the safety culture.
The results of the study show that employees expected to
see progress in terms of the company’s support and the
credibility of management around safety. This led Philippe
Bellenoue, Supply Chain Director and Sylvain Roquigny,
HSE Manager, to implement a process for developing HSE
leadership based on a personal 360° diagnostic safety
tool, a strong and transparent commitment on the part of
the leadership support group, development workshops,
coaching, and a feedback tool.
The second development phase was rolled out in 2013. It
involved implementing a behaviour-based safety process
to improve performance at the operations level within the
company’s supply chain.
From June 2012, 37 members of senior and mid-level
management took part in a twelve-month course
comprising five, one-day training modules. The course
focused on the behavioural foundations required of HSE
leadership, providing feedback and recognition through
safety tours, building credibility, the use of safety briefings
and debriefings, as well as learning how to coach
individuals and groups. With the help of a BST consultant
and two internal facilitators, the leaders carried out a
total of 250 safety tours between them each month and
improved safety performance on the factory floor.
Following the individual 360° safety assessments, each of
the 37 members of the senior and mid-level management
signed the HSE charter and committed to two programmes
aimed at changing observable behaviour:
• A global action plan, based on the application of
AkzoNobel’s eight life-saving rules.
• An individual action plan, tailored to each business area,
according to the particular risks.
Leadership programme to effect cultural change
“Our vision is to establish optimal safety at work. It will be
achieved by credible, sustained leadership. When we work
together using a collaborative system that enables us to
identify at-risk behaviour and by talking to each other, this
vision will become a reality”, says Phillipe Bellenoue,
Supply Chain Europe Director.
Juan Schrantz, Supply Chain France Colorimetry Manager,
says: “Each leader must be visible and available to her or
his work colleagues and must openly communicate the
results of the safety initiative.”
“Focus on positive feedback and recognition, lead by
example and show yourself as credible and efficient in your
behaviour. Sharing information about safety at meetings
In today’s workplace, safety comprises a number
of organisational, technical, psychological, and
pedagogical aspects that touch on health,
ergonomics, environmental protection, and quality
assurance, while maintaining a behavioural and
leadership-based approach.
During safety tours, I always
emphasise the golden rules.
The question “what’s the risk?”
is now second nature.”
Antoine d’Hueppe,
Unit 1 & 4 Manager
• Leadership foundations
• Individual coaching
• Daily safety tour
• In-field dialogue
• Positive feedback
and advice
• Building credibility
• Job Safety Briefings
1st
Semester
Recordable injuries per year

3. www.dekra-insight.com 3
engages and helps the whole team to change their
behaviour”, says Alain Lavigne, Fabrication & Control Unit
2 Middle-Manager.
“People are talking about safety, and that’s a good thing”,
says a workshop operator.
The roll-out of the programme has been led by the support
group and two coaches, who assist the leaders with the
observation and feedback processes. This in turn has
helped improve leadership development.
Leaders have access to Feedback Engine®
, an online
database that makes it easy to share monthly progress
on individual action plans, best practices, and feedback
with other participants. It also improves follow-up with
their line managers and the BST consultant. Since its
implementation twelve months ago, Feedback Engine has
identified and shared more than 2,350 leadership action
points made by 37 leaders.
The observation and feedback process plays a critical
role in promoting better communication about safety
and exposure to risks. It encourages everyone to take
safety seriously. During their safety tour, observation
partners (the person being observed and a leader) watch
one another at work, giving positive feedback where
they see desirable behaviour and making suggestions
for improvement.
On 13 June 2014, Jordi Pineda, Montataire Manufacturing
Unit Manager, received the “Take Care Safety Improvement
Award” for the first time. It related to his management
at the Montataire site and was awarded by AkzoNobel
for his progress and efforts made in terms of safety in
recent years.
FELIX – A behavioural and dialogue-based approach
In September 2013, a new cultural assessment was
initiated immediately following an in-field survey of more
than 15% of the workforce. The cultural diagnostic and
survey showed that there has been real change: the site’s
safety vision is clear and is shared by employees, and the
leadership visibly care more than in the past.
Given the results obtained and the commitment shown by
leaders, management decided in September 2013 to get
all employees involved in the process and to reinforce safe
behaviour by applying the BAPP®
Technology. A steering
group has been set up that comprises six employees from
different departments. Their shared goal is to deploy the
BBS program, named FELIX, where possible.
KEY FIGURES
FELIX 2014
132 observers trained
1528 observations carried out
95% safe behaviours observed
15 mins per observation
99 solved barriers
Dec ‘13
Jan ‘14
Feb ‘14
Mar ‘14
Apr ‘14
May ‘14
June ‘14
July ‘14
Aug ‘14
Sept ‘14
Oct ‘14
Nov ‘14
Dec ‘14
2014 Contact Rate 0.8 Target
The FELIX principle is based on dialogue during
observation in a particular workplace. The observer
and the observed agree on an activity to be observed
for a few minutes. The aim is to exchange views on
behaviour and to disclose any that are potentially
at-risk, as well as to discuss feasible options to
operate differently and in full safety.”
Marc Brondin, facilitator
“

4. www.dekra-insight.com 4
The steering group’s first task was to review the accidents
that occurred between 2011 and 2013 in order to identify
critical behaviours. The 22 retained behaviours were put
into a “dialogue sheet”, which help observers collect
information anonymously.
Dialogue sheets (observation sheets) summarise what
has been observed and emphasise positive feedback,
high-quality dialogue and listening, agreement on risk, and
a commitment to change the person’s at-risk behaviour.
Once processed using the RINCON®
Intranet-based
software, the dialogue sheets are then analysed every two
weeks by the support group appointed to draw up action
plans. Every two weeks, action plans are reviewed by the
steering group.
Results
After 12 months and half the workforce trained as
observers, the first positive result for FELIX showed a
constant reduction in the number of injuries.
The observation strategy implemented by the support
group and the steering group aims to have at least 25%
of employees active as observers. Each observer is
committed to carrying out four observations per month.
Management’s role here is fundamental in consolidating
the results and ensuring participation. The support group
and the facilitator guarantee the necessary resources
for observation objectives, carried out monthly for each
business area.
What’s next?
Despite good results over the last two years, management
at the Montataire site is well aware that they still have to
be careful. Where safety is concerned, there is always an
ongoing risk, which is why management has set three
priorities for their safety development plan:
1) Continue to train new observers;
2) Plan coaching sessions for observers with full
support from leadership;
3) Analyse observation data to eliminate behavioural
barriers and to communicate action plans to all
site employees.
©2016 DEKRA Insight. All rights reserved. All trademarks are owned by DEKRA Insight, reg. U.S. Pat. & Tm. Off.; reg. OHIM and other countries as listed on our website.
“The HSE Leadership programme brought together
37 managers from across the supply chain. They
worked together for 18 months without hierarchical
barriers. The result of their collaborative work was
visible not only in terms of safety, but also in respect
of the factory’s culture. We observed significant
improvements in product quality, especially in
terms of our employees’ commitment to the cause.
It is no coincidence that managers have started
to give positive, clear, and honest feedback to their
employees. The culture on the site has changed
dramatically.”
“Proud of this result, we want to go further and do
more to ensure better levels of safety. The next
steps we take will involve extending the BBS regime
to all services and employees on the Montataire
site, such as to our colleagues in service support
and in corporate. We offer them the chance to share
our experiences and are inviting them to carry out
observations in the factory. I am convinced that our
actions will forge very positive synergies.”
Jordi Pineda, Montataire Manufacturing Unit Manager
The support and steering groups celebrate their
1,000th
observation on 29 September 2014.
Thierry Leverbe, facilitator, carrying out safety
dialogue training.