When it comes to employee safety at Amgen, one size does not necessarily fit all scenarios. After all, some employees spend their days in laboratories. Some are at manufacturing facilities. And others, who interact with members of the healthcare community, spend much of their time driving. That’s why Amgen’s annual Safety Summit, held at the company’s headquarters in Thousand Oaks, Calif., brings together executive leaders from across the business.
The theme of this year’s summit: actively caring. It was a call to action for Amgen staff around the world to speak up when they see unsafe behavior and to offer recognition and support for staff when they do the right thing.
“Actively caring means supporting each other and being willing to say ‘watch out’ when we see a colleague doing something unsafe,” said Esteban Santos, executive vice president, Operations, who was accompanied by Murdo Gordon, executive vice president, Global Commercial Operations, and David Reese, executive vice president, Research and Development on stage.
“When we compare our Amgen safety performance relative to our competition and other large multinational companies with leading safety performance,” Santos noted, “we find ourselves among the top quartile."
It was also pointed out that the number of serious accidents had decreased by approximately 68% in 2019 to date compared to the company’s five-year average. However, to sustain a culture of safety, positive numbers like this are never enough to stop being vigilant. “Safety,” said Santos, “is a never-ending journey.”