GE CitizenshipUniversal Studios Building EHS-Oriented Culture
Behind the scenes at Universal Studios Hollywood, a cultural shift to protect the environment and the health and safety of guests and employees in a proactive rather than reactive manner is taking root and starting to deliver results.
Integrating EHS into the theme park’s culture following its 2004 acquisition by GE was a top priority for Michael Taylor, senior vice president and general manager of Universal Studios Hollywood. The sheer size of the park — spread over 419 acres (170 hectares) with hundreds of buildings — and a large and seasonal workforce presented a unique set of challenges not faced by other GE locations. One strong advantage was a younger workforce with greater awareness of, and personal investment in, a greener future.
Supported by a strong EHS team and the slogans “EHS — Everyone Has a Stake” and “Green Is Universal,” Taylor began integrating EHS into every aspect of the park’s operation, from the top down.
Reducing the injury and illness rate is now a key objective in the park’s business strategy. An effort to educate the workforce on the importance of reporting near-miss events has resulted in hundreds, rather than the historic handfuls, being reported and resolved annually. A plant manager inspection process, where Taylor and members from several departments tour a specific area of the park every other week to uncover EHS issues, spawned the voluntary formation of sub-teams that perform their own inspections in their respective areas.
One initiative in 2008 focused on the House of Horrors attraction, which had an average of 60 injuries involving employees and patrons annually. The installation of video cameras and two-way communication throughout the facility now permits the ride’s operators to see potential safety issues and communicate immediately with staff and guests. Employees also underwent retraining on the attraction, and the combined effort resulted in zero injuries through the end of 2008 and into 2009.
In March 2008, more than 50 GE, NBC Universal and other employees participated in a “treasure hunt” event to analyze energy and water use in the theme park’s operations. The participants, who also included representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Innovation Lean Initiative, identified more than U.S. $1 million in potential energy savings and 6,000 metric tons of potential GHG savings that have been, or are planned to be, captured. The hunt also underscored the progress already made on the EHS front.
The culture building will continue in 2009. Planned initiatives include forming injury and illness teams within each department and in-depth studies of the ergonomic issues involved with employees wearing character costumes.