Safety Champion
Harold Brooks
Citgo, Lake Charles

Our First Safety Champion!

Hello. My name is Harold Brooks. I have been an operator at the Citgo Lake Charles Manufacturing Complex for 26 years. My family has seen me enter and depart my work environment for all these years without a serious injury. I am truly thankful for that, but I cannot take all the credit. This is due in part to Citgo's commitment to making safety our # 1 priority. [Note: see Rixio Medina's presentation at the Behavioral Safety Now conference.]

In August 1994, Citgo began implementing a behavioral safety approach known as the Values-Based Safety^™ (we call it VBSP). We have seen great improvements in the number of people consistently working safely, lost time and recordable incidents, as well as workers' compensation costs. Our new safety culture did not come without some reluctance. Change is always hard. But we have achieved broad-based acceptance due to our persistence.

I am not the only Champion of the Values-Based Safety^™. VBSP provides everyone with the opportunity to be a Safety Champion. The more people you have working for safety, the safer the work environment. I am proud to be called a Safety Champion at Citgo.

My philosophy on being a VBSP leader is that, if I take the first step, behavioral safety can become a way of life for everyone at Citgo. Leaders emerge because people follow each other's example. Once the leadership stride is going, you hear the footsteps of other emerging leaders joining you. Before you know it, you can surround yourself with Safety Champions. What a wonderful work environment that will be.

My father once told me to find a job you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. I have found that job here at Citgo. It is multi-faceted – I am operator, a Safety Champion, and a VBSP leader. Always remember that leaders are ordinary people with extraordinary determination.