America's Safest Companies: Raytheon Co.

The largest of the 2013 America's Safest Companies, Raytheon Co. specializes in defense and aerospace systems for the defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. Raytheon employs 68,000 people at 150 sites worldwide, all of whom are encouraged to participate in the safety process via safety committees, reviews of safety alerts, participation on emergency response teams, attendance at safety fairs and participation in OSHA's Voluntary Protection Program.

"EHS is a value at Raytheon. Our focus is absolute in this regard. Our employees not only own the program, they are the EHS program," says Paul Zybert, senior manager, Raytheon Corporate EHS.

In 2009, the Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems (IDS) business rolled out an employee engagement program titled, "Why I Work Safe" (WIWS). The program featured employee badges and employee-made videos. 

For the WIWS badge program, employees received a badge with the following message on the back: "Look at the front of this card. There is no task so important that you cannot take the time to do it safely." On the front side of the badge was a blank photo holder with the heading "Why I Work Safe." Employees inserted photos of their children, spouses, pets, homes, cars and boats. More than 10,000 badges have been issued to Raytheon employees since the program's inception. 

The second part of the IDS WIWS program was employee-made videos. Employees were encouraged to submit a one-minute video from home explaining or showing why they work safe; could be family members, objects or activities. Each of the 39 employees who submitted a video received a promotional safety T-shirt and entry into a gift card raffle. Additionally, video cameras were set up in cafeterias during lunch at several IDS facilities to allow employees to briefly state why they worked safe.

"We are able to offer our customers superior value, low-risk, cutting-edge solutions because our people are there to ensure that happens. Powerful employee-run EHS programs equals unparalleled mission assurance for our customers," says J.A. Rodriguez Jr., senior manager, Intelligence, Information and Services EHS.