Building a “circle of confidence” with employees and customers

Trust and confidence are vital to the water sector, where so many different stakeholders come together to deliver a life-sustaining resource to the public. One important way to build trust with employees and customers is through health and safety programs that protect and empower workers, while continuously improving processes, accountability and performance. 

In 2022, Xylem launched a three-year environmental, health and safety plan with ambitious goals to strengthen our EHS program. Since that time, we’ve worked across the organization and with customers to reduce our Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) by more than 18%.i This has led to considerable reductions in the cost of injuries (COI) across the organization.ii These improvements have not gone unnoticed. Xylem has been recognized with numerous national and international safety awards 

• Highwire, a leading contractor success platform honored Xylem’s Evoqua business with a Platinum Safety Award.
• At the 2025 Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Awards, 210 Xylem sites earned a total of 52 top honors.
• A leading agriculture fertilizer producer, The Mosaic Company, recognized Xylem with its 2024 Contractor Safety Leader award. 

Xylem’s Dr. Jay Harf, Vice President, Global Environment, Health, and Safety shares why building a robust EHS program is directly linked to employee well-being and creating customer value.

Q: What is Xylem’s approach to health and safety? 

A: Xylem is deeply committed to the safety of our employees, customers, communities and the environment. We believe that it is a fundamental human right to work at a safe workplace. Our strategy focuses on three pillars: people, process and performance. When talented, informed people follow good processes, you'll have good performance. 

On the people side, our safety management program is embedded in our operational excellence process and engages our colleagues through safety communication, task specific risk assessments and trainings, leadership development and continuous engagements through our active caring safety program. On the process side, we concentrate on risk mitigation, continuous improvement, and tracking and measuring safety results to increase accountability and improve performance. Root cause analysis, countermeasures, and continuous improvement also serve as the engine for our improvements. These are all key factors in creating a safe work environment and high-impact culture of caring.

Q: How does having a health and safety culture deliver value for customers?  

A: Having a health and safety mindset and culture creates what I call a Circle of Confidence with employees and customers. When employees feel safe, informed and supported, they are more motivated to perform at their best. 

This confidence extends to our customers, who trust that they’re working with professionals who are not only well-trained, but also deeply committed to protecting themselves and everyone on site. This trust transforms a service provider into a long-term partner. 

A great example of this is our partnership with The Mosaic Company, a global leader in crop nutrition and food security. Mosaic relies on Xylem’s expertise to manage pond water treatment systems at their Green Bay and Bartow facilities. These critical operations involve advanced processes like reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, and ion exchange to treat byproducts from fertilizer production. 

Recently, Mosaic honored Xylem’s Green Bay Field Services team with its highest safety recognition — the Safety Leadership Award — for the second year in a row. This award is especially meaningful because it comes directly from our customer. 

The Circle of Confidence creates the ultimate customer relationship. It’s a mutually beneficial dynamic focused on strengthening our processes and continuously improving the value we deliver to customers.

Q: What does recognition from leading safety institutions mean for Xylem and our customers? 

A: We’re incredibly proud to be recognized by multiple respected organizations for our safety leadership. One recognition stated that we’ve done “a remarkable job implementing a strong safety management system resulting in exceptional safety performance and results.” I told my team to frame that quote! 

These honors, which are based on both our past results and current safety performance, reinforce that safety is more than a program at Xylem; it’s part of our culture. Ultimately, a strong safety protects our people and Drives performance, trust, and long-term partnerships with our customers.

• Strengthening EHS leadership capabilities through our leadership safety training program.
• Upgrading and simplifying our data management system to create insights, measure performance, and ensure accountability and action.
• Providing constant training to our employees to build knowledge and awareness of safety issues.
• Engaging employees in EHS through new hire orientations, our CEO Safety Excellence Awards, and events like Xylem Safety Week.  

Our customers also play an important role in how we advance health and safety. Every day we send safety-trained professionals from Xylem to customer sites. Before, during and after these visits, we work closely with customers to ensure that our employees uphold rigorous safety practices (training, communication and education) that meet both of our organizations’ standards and protocols. We also share learnings and best practices.  

Q: What does the Highwire recognition mean for Xylem and our customers? 

A: We’re very excited about receiving a Platinum Safety Award from Highwire.  The contractor success platform said we’ve done “a remarkable job implementing a strong safety management system resulting in exceptional safety performance and results.” I told my team to frame that quote! 

This honor, which is based on an assessment of historic and current safety performance, really underscores the fact that we care about our colleagues, and we understand that protecting our people enables and inspires them to go the extra mile for our customers.

Learn more about Xylem’s Health and Safety Program in our latest Sustainability Report.