The message is getting out:  A commitment to safety, health, and the environment is not peripheral to corporate success; it is central. As we’ve learned at ExxonMobil, when you focus on the well-being of workers, customers, communities and the environment, the business results follow.

To help spread this message, we are proud to be the founding supporter of the National Safety Council’s annual Robert W. Campbell Award for excellence in safety, health and environmental performance.  This year we congratulate The Dow Chemical Company for being selected by the Council to receive the award.

Named for a pioneer in the field of workplace safety, the award recognizes companies that have successfully incorporated safety, health, and environmental management into their operations — and improved their business as a result.  We helped create the Campbell Award in 2003, and we have continued to support it to share our success and that of others in building a corporate culture of safety, health, and environmental excellence.

A key contributor to Dow’s success has been its “Drive to Zero” campaign. Begun in 1996, the campaign set a bold goal: zero workplace injuries and illnesses, zero safety incidents and zero environmental harm.  More importantly, it created the right conditions to put that commitment into action by creating a culture of safety from managers to employees. Dow estimates its commitment to safety has helped avoid nearly 13,000 worker injuries in the past five years.

To help pass down the message of safety to the next generation of business leaders, Dow’s story will be developed into a case study for use by top business and engineering schools worldwide.

Andy Swiger, ExxonMobil’s senior vice president, presented the award to Dow today and also participated in the National Safety Council’s first-ever Executive Summit, held Sunday in San Diego.

“At ExxonMobil, we are always eager to hear how other people make their commitment to safety work,” Andy said at the summit. “We want to hear how their organizations have figured out ways to make it an intrinsic value and how it is reflected in the success of their enterprise.”

In business, Dow is a competitor of ours; but in safety, we’re on the same team.