Reinventing Safety Communication for a Global Energy Company

For global energy companies operating in high-risk environments, safety isn’t just a value—it’s a constant, complex challenge. Despite longstanding safety programs and strong leadership commitment, safety communication can become fragmented.

That’s where this story begins. In 2023, a leading international oil and gas company realized that while safety remained a top priority, the way it was being communicated wasn’t keeping pace with the needs of its workforce. Their senior safety leader recognized the need for a more unified, emotionally resonant approach to safety communication—one that could cut through the noise, drive consistent messaging across all levels of the business, and reconnect employees with the purpose behind safety: protecting lives.

What they needed wasn’t more communication. They needed more clarity. More consistency. More humanity. And they needed a partner who could operate at both the strategic and tactical levels to make that happen.

As a strategic communication partner, we partnered directly with the company’s senior safety executive to provide oversight of safety communication as an embedded member of his leadership team. We were responsible for designing and executing a safety communication strategy that would reach every corner of the global organization—operational sites, corporate offices, business units, and regional teams.

We collaborated closely with the company’s internal safety communications specialist and members of the global communications team, overseeing the development of key content and reviewing all messaging—internal and external—related to safety performance.

To guide our approach, we used the ACE framework:

• Align: We ensured all messaging supported the company’s three core safety programs and was aligned to group, entity, and local messaging, eliminating noise and reinforcing shared goals across the company.
• Connect: We created content that was emotive, thought-provoking, and transparent, using storytelling to not only inform but inspire.
• Enable: We equipped leaders with tools, language, and guidance to help them communicate confidently and consistently about safety in every setting.

Throughout 2024, we launched a cohesive, multi-channel strategy that brought safety into sharper focus:

• A powerful kickoff: The CEO-led all-staff webcast reached over 10,000 employees—up 43% from the previous year—and introduced Safety Matters, a communications framework for leaders used company-wide.
• Monthly themes that mattered: Each month focused on a core safety topic, delivered through discussion packs, presentation decks, facility-ready visuals, and digital screen content.
• Put psychological safety at the center: Recognizing its proven link to safer workplaces, we elevated psychological safety as a core theme—sharing video interviews with renowned expert Amy Edmondson and integrating her insights into leader seminars, team discussions, and communications across the company.
• Leadership in action: We developed a company-wide safety seminar attracting more than 7,000 participants and explored how leaders could model safety behaviors, build psychological safety, and learn from everyday work.
• Equipped leaders with storytelling skills: Developed and delivered a tailored training program to help safety leaders use storytelling as a tool to make their messages more impactful, relatable, and memorable, turning safety data and directives into personal, human-centered narratives that resonate.
• Office safety, reimagined: A global campaign brought safety principles into every office through signage, visuals, and storytelling tailored to non-operational environments.
• Emotionally grounded content: We produced videos to commemorate safety incident anniversaries, honoring those lost and highlighting progress since. These weren’t just reflections; they were calls to action.
• Recognition that reinforced values: We managed quarterly Safety Leadership Awards and integrated them into the company’s recognition platform, highlighting winners in global communications.
• Responsive support: When the business faced cost-cutting pressures, we delivered targeted messaging on how to safely remove cost, reinforcing the importance of maintaining safe behaviors, even under stress.
• Unified messaging: A new safety newsletter gave safety leaders consistent, clear guidance and timely resources to share with their teams.

By year’s end, the results were impossible to ignore. The 2024 annual global employee survey showed:

• The Safety & Risk Index across the global employee population climbed to 81%, building on already-strong scores.
• Psychological Safety scores reached 72%, five points above the industry benchmark.
• Among frontline workers, safety scores rose significantly:
  • The Safety & Risk Index increased by 4 points to 77%.
  • Agreement with “Where I work, we put safety above all other business objectives” jumped 7 points to 87%.
  • In several previously underperforming regions, scores improved by as much as 13 percentage points over the previous year.

Because we didn’t just deliver a campaign—we built a coalition.

This work succeeded because it was never siloed. From day one, we partnered deeply with the company’s safety organization, working directly with the safety executive and his leadership team to shape a clear, strategic direction. But we didn’t stop there.

We engaged business leaders across functions to ensure safety communication was relevant, prioritized, and aligned with frontline realities. And just as critically, we collaborated with the company’s global communication network, bringing in communicators from regions, business units, and operational teams to help localize messaging and amplify it through trusted voices.

By connecting strategy with execution and aligning central messaging with local needs, we created a unified voice on safety that employees could see, hear, and trust—no matter where they worked.

And because leaders were enabled, not just informed, they became powerful advocates, helping to turn safety from a corporate priority into a cultural movement.