Have you heard the story of Paul O'Neill, former-CEO of Alcoa…?

He increased profit at his company by 7X, through safety.

O'Neill took over as CEO in 1987, following some depressed performance under the previous management team

But the new appointment nearly fell off the rails as soon as he opened his mouth...

His opening line at a shareholder meeting:

"I want to talk to you about worker safety"

Not what investors were expecting, or used to hearing from CEOs

But what happened?

Over his tenure, he focussed relentlessly on safety management

This was his – and the company's – sole focus

Over 15 years, days of work lost due to staff injuries fell by 90%

Many see safety as a cost

But O'Neill proved it is an investment

Net profit increased from $200m to $1.48bn. Profit up 7X!!!

The lesson?

Proactive safety & risk management powers business performance

As O'Neill himself said: "safety is not a priority, it's a precondition"

Listen in to a clip from a speech O'Neill gave and get a sense for his philosophy on this special, festive edition of the Safety And Risk Success Podcast with Christian Harris.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas!

#safety #insurance #riskmanagement #podcast