Testimonials

In 2007, British Columbia Ferry Services Inc. and the BC Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union (BCFMWU) embarked on a journey towards creating a world-class safety management system, with the hope of establishing what we call today a ‘just’ safety culture. To achieve this, both organizations agreed to utilize the expertise and the experience of WrightWay (WWL) in conjunction with Force Technology of Denmark.
From the very start, John Wright and his team brought their enthusiasm and commitment to the table, understanding the complex issues we were dealing with and assisted us to define a clear plan to fulfil the mandate of BC Ferries and its partner in safety, the BCFMWU.

WWL met the challenges of working with us within the context of having a labour agreement in place and the significant organisational changes that take place on an on-going basis in a dynamic company such as BC Ferries. Through developing strong, respectful relationships with the participants, John and his team established an effective partnership with management, the trade union and our employees. This in turn helped us to launch our program for change (SailSafe), effectively dispensing with past contentious history and materially improving both safety and efficiency at BC Ferries. As a result, hundreds of our employees over the years have been saved from having an injury and just days ago, BC Ferries received notice from WorkSafeBC that our annual premiums for 2017 would be decreased, saving us approximately two million dollars per year. This serves to prove that safety and efficiency are two sides of the same coin.

I have no hesitation in providing a reference for WWL to any company looking to establish a world-class safety culture. Feel free to contact me directly for more information relating to the work provided by John Wright and his team.

Download the PDF here

WrightWay (WWL) has been assisting Irish Ferries through its appointed ship management company, Matrix Ship Management, from March 2012 to date. In this time WWL has delivered Human Element, Leadership & Management (HELM) training for the vast majority of our officers, superintendents and wider shore management team. This training has been supported by HELM initiative mentors chosen from our officers and trained by WWL, so they were able to validate the training on board and ensure permanently changed behaviours onboard. This process has proved to be very successful and when coupled with our ‘Moving Matrix’ culture change process, which was also introduced by WWL, has been instrumental in materially improving both safety and efficiency.

A brief summary of key benefits attributed to the HELM & Moving Matrix initiatives developed and delivered by WWL are;

Significant improvements in crew retention: Rank retention increases of 15% to 25%across all ranks from 2013 through year-end 2015, with average rank retention of over 85%. The Moving Matrix initiative allowed ship’s staff to be involved in the culture change at all levels, which has positively influenced crew satisfaction and internal promotions and in turn directly improved crew retention. Significant savings have been enjoyed on recruitment, training and crew familiarization costs.

Significant improvements in both occupational and operational safety: Improvements from 2013 through year-end 2015 include a 20% reduction in crew accidents, a 15% reduction in ship reported incidents and a 28% reduction in passenger accidents. Crew safety awareness and accident prevention was noted to be significantly more vigorous, with crew participation in fleet wide safety initiatives roundly welcomed. Internal and external ISM & navigation audits noted significant improvements in the effective use of bridge and ECR procedures from 2013 through year-end 2015. Significant savings have been enjoyed on crew medical bills, crew legal claims, passenger legal claims, ship repair bills and a strengthening of position has been seen in insurance negotiations.

Significant improvements in Port State Control performance: Improvement of our deficiency per inspection ratio was noted from 2013 through year-end 2015. Matrix DIR= 1.5, as compared with 2015 Matrix DIR= 1.31. Note: The 2015 Paris MOU Average DIR= 3.08

Significant improvements in the relationship between ship’s staff and shore management, leading to increased efficiency, performance, profitability and customer service gains: The mentor programme, developed in conjunction with WWL, allowed massively improved feedback between the ship’s staff and office personnel. Unexpected benefits and significant savings were experienced in budget management improvements, purchasing efficiencies in all departments, onboard services profitability and efficiency improvements, due to staff initiatives being implemented and a reduction in passenger complaints – priceless.

I would have no hesitation in recommending WWL to any company that has the ambition, stamina and
foresight to strive towards world-class safety and business excellence.

To download and read the testimonial in PDF format, click here.

We have come a long way for sure and after nine weeks this year, our time loss injuries are down 47 percent compared to last year.

“BC Ferries began working with WrightWay Training and Force Technology (WrightForce) approximately six years ago with the formulation of the joint-Union/Management initiative called SailSafe, which is fundamentally aimed at improving our overall safety culture. Since the inception of SailSafe, we have seen our Time Loss injuries drop significantly (2006 – 357, 2012 – 157), with an associated decrease in claims costs (2006 – $3.5M, 2012 – $800K).

Though these numbers reflect dramatic and positive impacts to our bottom line, what is even more exciting is how the level of engagement has also radically improved, due in large part to the expertise and patient counsel of WrightWay and Force Technology.”

I can attest and fully support to the approach of ‘Managing Safety and Business’ that John Wright has formulated and presents in his business/safety model.