In the mining and mineral processing industry, a strong safety culture is essential to ensuring safe and sustainable operations. Through a guest lecture at the Faculty of Public Health, Universitas Indonesia (UI), Harita Nickel shared insights on the role of leadership in fostering a strong workplace safety culture.
The lecture, part of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Leadership course titled “OHS Leadership: Building an Excellent Safety Culture,” featured Harita Nickel’s Vice President of OHS & Management System, Supriyanto Suwarno The session provided students with a practical understanding of how occupational health and safety principles are implemented in high-risk industries.
Supriyanto explained that a strong safety culture cannot be built through procedures and supervision alone. Instead, safety must stem from each individual’s awareness of workplace risks and a consistent commitment to safe behavior.
“The goal is to shift the mindset from simple monitoring to voluntary compliance, where every individual understands the risks associated with their work,” said Supriyanto.
He emphasized that leadership plays a critical role in shaping safety behavior within the workplace. Effective leaders set the standard through their decisions, communication, and daily actions, consistently placing safety as a top priority.
Harita Nickel applies this approach through its Behavior-Based Safety (BBS) strategy, which encourages employees to proactively identify potential hazards, remind colleagues when they observe unsafe behavior, and report risks before they develop into incidents.
“A safety culture cannot be built overnight. Consistency and leadership by example are essential to making safety an integral part of workplace culture,” he said.
According to Supriyanto, occupational health and safety should also be viewed as a long-term investment that supports productivity, operational reliability, and business sustainability. Strengthening safety culture is therefore a key component of responsible and effective operations.
For UI students, the session offered an opportunity to see how concepts learned in the classroom are applied in industrial operations. The discussion was highly interactive, with students exploring the challenges of building a strong safety culture and implementing OHS practices in the workplace.
Through this initiative, Harita Nickel also aims to strengthen collaboration between academia and industry while promoting greater awareness among young people about the importance of workplace safety. The company believes that introducing OHS principles early can help prepare future professionals who possess not only technical expertise but also a strong commitment to safety and sustainability.
Harita Nickel remains committed to strengthening its safety culture, both across its operations and through partnerships with educational institutions. The company believes that a strong safety culture is fundamental to protecting employees, maintaining operational reliability, and supporting sustainable growth.