At Grands Moulins de Paris, safety is at the heart of our culture and is one of our top priorities.
Find out all about it in this portrait of Sophie Schut, who is responsible for coordinating our safety initiatives.
Sophie, could you introduce yourself and tell us about your career?
I'm safety coordinator at Grands Moulins de Paris, based in Ivry-sur-Seine. I joined the company 12 years ago!
I started out with a Master 1 in QSE (Quality Safety Environment), with two years' work experience as a Quality trainee. After a sabbatical year in Ireland, I resumed my studies at AgroSup Dijon, studying for a Master 2 in Food Industry Management.
I did my end-of-study internship at the Moulin de Bordeaux , whose director was none other than Pierre Garcia 😉 [Editor's note: now General Manager of Grands Moulins de Paris!] My internship was supposed to last 6 months, but I ended up staying for 2 years.
In 2014, after joining the Quality Safety Environment (QSE) department at Ivry, I went back to school again, in addition to my assignments, to obtain a specialized master's degree in Industrial Safety and Risks.
What are your responsibilities as safety coordinator at Grands Moulins de Paris?
I define the roadmap and deploy the CARE approach across the Grands Moulins de Paris perimeter.
I am also involved with the VIVESCIA CARE Excellence Committee, with whom we are building a common safety approach. This committee is made up of QSE and/or HR representatives from VIVESCIA group entities.
I help sites to comply with regulatory requirements. To do this, we work in conjunction with the Milling Technical Department (DTM), based on our safety and environmental reference guide. We also take advantage of this opportunity to align ourselves with our internal requirements, such as the deployment of VIVESCIA CARE standards, taking into account insurance recommendations, etc.
I support the various communication rituals that drive our Safety Culture. In particular, I train our employees in safety dialogues, and share our monthly reports and safety flashes on workplace accidents and best practices.
Every year, in collaboration with our sites, we organize Safety Week . This is an opportunity for all employees to take part in fun workshops that encourage discussion, the sharing of experience and reflection.
What are the most stimulating aspects of your work and the challenges you face on a daily basis?
What stimulates me is the diversity of the missions entrusted to me and the challenges to be met. You can't imagine the number of subjects that can be linked to CARE, a word with which I've come to be closely associated within the company 😉.
The challenges are many. They include :
- Getting everyone on board. It's always a real pleasure when a site or department presents me with safety initiatives or best practices. What's more, it's impossible to achieve visible results without this ownership and commitment on the part of the teams.
- Anticipating risks. Our entire CARE approach and safety culture is based on this principle: act before accidents happen. We meet this challenge thanks to the participation of a large number of employees who report near-accidents and dangerous situations to us. Feedback shared across the VIVESCIA Group is also a great help in identifying and anticipating other risks.
- Continuous improvement: a daily challenge in safety and, above all, in the pursuit of our common goal: "Zero serious or fatal accidents".
- The successful integration of new arrivals, as well as the selection and monitoring of the service providers we work with.
What other departments do you interact with most?
I work closely with the QSE teams at the production sites. Every week, we have the opportunity to meet by videoconference to share current issues, align our knowledge and benefit from each other's feedback.
I also work with the Human Resources and Marketing departments.
Every month, I chair several committees, including the safety steering committee with members of the Grands Moulins de Paris management committee, which enables me to include all departments in the decision-making process.
How do you perceive the evolution of the safety culture at Grands Moulins de Paris since your arrival?
I was lucky enough to contribute to its launch in 2014 at Nutrixo level, accompanied by Dupont de Nemours consultants.
And 10 years on, I can say that we've come a long way and many things are now ingrained! I'm thinking in particular of life-saving rules, safety dialogues, and moments of sharing around safety like Safety Week.
And I'm convinced that CARE will continue to evolve in a positive way, and that we will achieve interdependence (excellence in safety culture according to the Bradley curve).
Can you tell us about a particularly gratifying moment you had as safety coordinator at our company?
For me, it was the adoption of our CARE approach in 2016 by the VIVESCIA Group. Together, we developed a common approach based on the one we had already introduced at GMP.
The creation of the CARE Excellence Committee has been particularly enriching, enabling us to pool our knowledge and diversify the skills required for this approach.
For me, 2016 was tangible proof that CARE is a robust approach, destined to endure both for GMP and for the Group as a whole.
In conclusion, what does working at GMP mean to you?
It's a human company that listens. On a day-to-day basis, I'm lucky enough to work with caring people, with whom I enjoy talking. There's a framework that has been conducive to the emergence of our CARE culture, which everyone can make their own and contribute to at their own level.
