Xylem receives 42 prestigious RoSPA Awards for workplace health and safety

Globally renowned recognition reinforces Xylem’s commitment to protecting employees and driving a culture of care and well-being.

Xylem received 42 Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Awards for 2024 – triple the number from last year. This recognition from RoSPA reflects Xylem’s dedication to promoting workplace health and safety to protect our employees and advance our work to solve water for our customers and their communities.

RoSPA is the largest and longest-running health and safety program in the U.K. and one of the world's most sought-after recognitions, with nearly 2,000 entrants from 50 countries annually. Making Waves spoke with Autumn Crum, Director, Environment, Health, Safety and Operational Sustainability (EHSS), about the RoSPA honors and Xylem's health and safety initiatives:

Q: What does RoSPA recognition mean for Xylem and our customers?

Autumn Crum: The RoSPA Awards symbolize the highest health and safety performance standards across various industries. We are thrilled with our recognition for 2023 – Xylem was honored with 42 awards, a testament to the hard work of over 10,000 of our colleagues spanning 18 countries.

These results highlight our resolve for health and safety, and reassure our customers that they are partnering with a company that cares for their well-being.

RoSPA's criteria encompass a comprehensive assessment of health and safety management systems, leadership, employee engagement, risk assessment and continuous improvement initiatives. Participating in the program is an invaluable opportunity for us to benchmark our health and safety performance against industry best practices, learn from leading safety practitioners, identify areas for improvement, and amplify our efforts to create a safe and healthy work environment for our colleagues.

Q: What is Xylem's approach to building a health and safety culture?

Crum: We are committed to the safety of our employees, customers, communities, users of our products and the environment. We promote this through continued investment in safety programs and risk mitigation initiatives, leadership training and communication – all vital levers to promoting a safe work environment and a zero-harm, high-impact culture. We are also focused on fostering a culture of care. We encourage empathy, psychological safety, support and collaboration among colleagues to prioritize their safety, health and well-being.

Q: How is Xylem turning its EHS (Environmental, Health, and Safety) commitment and program into day-to-day practices?

Crum: Our environmental, health and safety (EHS) program and three-year strategy clearly sets our expectations and goals. At Xylem, everyone has a role in EHS and can make a difference. Our initiatives include:

• Enhancing EHS leadership capabilities through our leadership safety training program. We focus on tracking leadership engagements on the shop floor and in the field, and our new Active Caring Safety-365 program provides more ways for leaders to engage employees around safety improvements daily.
  
  
• Modernizing and simplifying our EHS data management system to gather insights and better track performance.
  
  
• Prioritizing regular reporting of safety and operational sustainability measures to promote transparency and accountability through our continuous improvement process.
  
  
• Engaging employees through our health and safety training program and events like Xylem Safety Week and our CEO Safety Excellence Awards.
  
  
• Promoting contractor safety at our sites through comprehensive policies and practices, including regular training and performance evaluations.

Q: Can you share some of the specific health and safety success stories recognized by RoSPA?

Crum: In 2023, our second year participating in RoSPA, we were honored to receive 22 Gold Awards, 17 Silver Awards, and 1 Bronze Award for our sites around the globe.

In addition, our Anadolu Flygt Manufacturing site in Turkey was recognized with RoSPA's Health and Safety Beyond the Workplace Trophy, highlighting the site's efforts to promote health and safety beyond its immediate operations. One example: after last year’s devastating earthquake in southeastern Turkey, near the Syrian border, our Anadolu team quickly mobilized to aid recovery efforts.

As part of our Xylem Watermark humanitarian disaster response program, they deployed 12 Aquablock water filtration units, each providing clean drinking water access to 9,000 people, as well as pumps and support. Our colleagues in Turkey and around the world also donated hygiene items and clothing.

We are also proud of our Uniontown, Pennsylvania, site, which won the Most Improved Entry Award – International. This honor recognizes the location's efforts in 2023 to improve health and safety, including enhancing fall protection measures, limiting or eliminating the use of powered industrial vehicle (forklift) traffic in high pedestrian traffic areas, advancing risk assessment processes, and providing First Aid/CPR/Automated External Defibrillator (AED) training to colleagues.

Q: Final thoughts to share?

Crum: Health and safety are not just values we uphold at Xylem. They are the very foundation of our high-impact culture. Our commitment to creating a healthy and safe work environment ensures our colleagues can thrive and bring their best to all we serve.

It is a positive, reinforcing cycle – by building a culture of health and safety, we are not just making our company stronger and more sustainable, we are also ensuring our colleagues feel safe and cared for in their work environment.

This, in turn, helps us create value for our customers and their communities. Our dedication to solving water-related challenges is driven by our desire to build a better, more sustainable future for everyone.

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List of Xylem 2024 RoSPA Award Recipients

22 Gold Awards:
Anadolu Flygt, Turkey; Auburn, NY, USA; Bridgeport, NJ, USA; Calamba, Philippines; Cape Town, South Africa; Cegled, Hungary; Chihuahua, Mexico; Dubai, UAE; Dubois, PA, USA; Emmaboda, Sweden; Fleet USA; Holland, MI, USA; Lubbock, TX, USA; Mississauga, ON, Canada; Montecchio, Italy; Quenington, UK; Sanford, FL, USA; Shenyang, China; Sydney, Australia; Uniontown, PA, USA; Vadodara, India; Yellow Springs, OH, USA

17 Silver Awards:
Durham, NC, USA; Caldicot, Wales, UK; Edmonton, ON, Canada; Evansville, IN, USA; Herford, Germany; Houston, TX, USA; Laatzen, Germany; Leetsdale, PA, USA; Lima, Peru;  Ludwigshafen, Germany; Morton Grove, IL, USA; Nanjing, China; Portland, OR, USA; Queretaro, Mexico; Stara Tura, Slovakia; Strzelin, Poland; Texarkana, AR, USA

1 Bronze Award:
Ashland, VA, USA

1 Most Improved Entry Award:
Uniontown, PA, USA

1 Health and Safety Beyond the Workplace Trophy:
Anadolu Flygt Manufacturing, Turkey

Read more about Xylem’s commitment to operational health and safety.