Nutrien wins NSC Safety Innovation Award and celebrates two semi-finalist achievements

At Nutrien, our teams are committed to maintaining the safety of our people, operations and communities, and we’re proud that three of our dedicated safety initiatives have been recognized by the National Safety Council (NSC). The NSC’s Green Cross for Safety awards honor three types of achievements – Safety Advocate, Safety Excellence and Safety Innovation.

“Being celebrated by the NSC for the work we’re doing to prioritize safety is a testament to our people and programs,” says John Horne, Vice President, Safety, Health & Environment (SHE). “We’re grateful to have been recognized in each of these categories and honored to win the Green Cross for Safety Innovation award, and I’m very proud of our dedication to sending everyone home safe, every day.”

Safety Innovation winner: Tele-remote technology in Potash

The implementation of tele-remote technology is a game changer for improving the safety of underground potash mining by significantly reducing the potential for serious injuries or fatalities. We’re honored to be named the winner of the NSC’s Green Cross for Safety Innovation Award in recognition of this project.

Tele-remote technology uses cameras and advanced sensing systems to provide operators with comprehensive information about the mining process and enables remote operation of mining systems. The safety risk to our operations is significantly reduced because operators are physically removed from the active mining area when mining. While the key goal of this project is improving safety by reducing risk exposure, the technology has also positively impacted operational processes, which has led to increased productivity and efficiency.

This technology has exceeded our expectations – not only is it having a positive impact on safety, but it’s also improving operators’ quality of life and wellbeing by creating better working conditions. The tele-remote operating stations enable work to occur away from the noise, heat and dust generated from mining while improving ergonomics and other working conditions for our operators. Operators have also reported improved work-life balance, thanks to having more energy at the end of their shifts.

“As a world leader with 65 years of potash mining experience in Saskatchewan, Nutrien’s innovative transformation in potash extraction is a remarkable safety success story,” says Janelle Appleyard, Director, Safety & Health, Potash. “I’m proud of our potash business unit and everyone’s efforts to implement this innovative solution that’s improving the safety of our people and operations.” 

Safety Advocate semi-finalist: Safe driving technology in Retail

Data from Nutrien’s incident reporting system indicated that driving was our top potential risk across our North American Nutrien Ag Solutions footprint. We maintain a fleet of over 12,000 vehicles that covers more than four million miles annually to deliver products and services to half a million growers. Since we can’t take our drivers off the road, we’re working to reduce the hazards our employees face behind the wheel.

In 2022, we tested the use of Samsara in-cab driving technology and noticed an immediate and significant decrease in unsafe driving behaviors. This technology uses an internal accelerometer and artificial intelligence (AI) to identify poor driving behaviors and prompt the driver to self-correct in real time, thereby creating a safe driving environment for our employees and others on the road. Based on the success of the pilot study, we had this technology installed in all our vehicles by the end of 2023.

“We focused on real-world data to show the significant improvement this technology had on our driving behaviors,” says Kyle Springs, Senior Director, Safety & Health, Retail. “It’s enhancing the safety and integrity of our drivers and fleet, and these benefits extend to every community our drivers operate in.”

Safety Excellence semi-finalist: Global safety culture strategy

The formation of Nutrien in 2018 presented a specific safety challenge: aligning two strong legacy cultures into a unified approach for Nutrien that will stand the test of time. John Horne and his team set out to develop and implement our cornerstone safety strategy, known today as Nutrien’s Culture of Care. "A company can have the best safety programs in place, but without the right culture, those programs won’t be effective,” says John.

The Culture of Care outlines a set of behaviors and actions – lead, collaborate, challenge and trust – that help us achieve our vision of sending everyone home safe, every day. The strategy was launched at a global, week-long virtual summit in 2020, followed by a thoughtful, iterative rollout across the business. The strategy has given Nutrien a unifying, positive vision, shared language and a north star for our safety behaviors.

The following year, we launched our second phase, The Nutrien Way, which is a playbook outlining our key safety programs and practices. This includes the Key Daily Actions, which are the specific actions we take to help our workers stay safe. With this playbook rounding out our plan, the organization has a clear purpose and positive direction for safety.

“Our Culture of Care is world-class. It has had such a powerful and positive impact that has exceeded all our expectations since we launched it four years ago,” says Jessica Lindal, Senior Manager, SHE Global Strategy & Culture. “It has become a beacon to guide how we work and live in safety and beyond, and I see inspiring examples of living our Culture of Care all across our company every day.”