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A safety team member hands an employee a pin reflecting a safety-culture belief at the first Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant safety fair. The pin is part of a new campaign to focus attention on eight work-related beliefs.

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A project culture campaign pin, card and flyer are displayed on a table at an April 12 safety fair at the Blue Grass Chemical Agent-Destruction Pilot Plant.

Blue Grass employees are participating in a new campaign designed to increase their awareness of specific work-related beliefs and foster increased interaction with their coworkers.

“We’ve created a campaign, Embrace Our BGCAPP Culture, based around eight beliefs we feel are important to instill in the workforce,” said Candace Chanakira, project controls engineer, Bechtel Parsons Blue Grass. “Our goals are to increase consciousness of these beliefs, raise awareness of our safety process and, most of all, be safe in the destruction of the chemical weapons.”

The campaign works in two ways, Chanakira said. Each month employees will initiate a conversation with others on that month’s theme, giving feedback and sharing an observation of that belief in action on the project. The conversation reinforces that belief and also creates an opportunity to engage coworkers with whom they normally may not work.

“Our sister site in Pueblo, Colorado, implemented a similar campaign about four years ago,” Chanakira said. “They saw great results, so we worked with them to develop our campaign. We are able to use a lot of lessons learned from their experiences.”

Each employee who fulfills the task of having a conversation with three coworkers on each belief each month will receive a pin reflecting that theme. Workers can wear the pins to show their participation.