DuPont honed Beebe chairman’s zeal for safety, quality

Mention safety and quality and David Herbert’s eyes light up and the stories begin to flow.

The retired chemical engineer who enjoyed a long career with the DuPont company recently completed his first year as chairman of Beebe Healthcare’s Board of Directors.  He succeeded Bill Lee as head of the volunteer board that sets direction for Beebe. He is the 13th person in Beebe’s 102-year history to hold that position.

“I learned at the knees of DuPont and quickly realized I was in a culture totally dedicated to safety and quality.  That’s not surprising given that DuPont started as an explosives manufacturing company. It provided most of the explosives used in World War I and World War II. In 1915 the company put out a pamphlet for every one of its employees titled Safety, Quality and Economics. Just think of the impact of quality and safety problems on an organization’s operational performance.  They can be hugely expensive.”

Herbert says DuPont’s emphasis on safety and quality was nothing short of obsessive.  “In terms of worker injuries we were 200 times better than the industry average. Companies from all over the world sent representatives to see how we did it.  Many would say: ‘We’ve heard about this but we didn’t actually believe it was true.’ But it was and they saw it in action.”

DuPont quickly realized that its systems for ensuring safety and quality were marketable.  Herbert helped develop a new profit center for the company that offered consulting services to other companies.  “It was very successful,” he said. “We tapped retired plant managers as our consultants. They were wonderful. They understood and practiced all of our systems to achieve great results.  One of my proudest achievements was seeing that division returning a 33 percent profit margin. Safety, quality and financial sustainability go hand in hand and I want to make sure we’re doing that at Beebe too. My guiding principle, and Beebe’s too, is doing it right the first time and every time.”

You could say DuPont’s safety and quality division was operating at a high level.

Herbert recalls a contact from the minister of Great Britain’s governmental organization that oversees workplace safety for the nation.  “Comparable to OSHA in our country,” he said. “It was when the Chunnel was being constructed beneath the English Channel between England and France. There were as many as 5,000 workers at a time doing jobs underground.  England working from its side, France from its side. The amazing thing is that when the two sides met under the channel, they were only 22-inches off a perfect fit for a 90-kilometer project.”

But that’s not why the safety minister contacted DuPont’s safety and quality division.  “At some point in the multi-year project,” said Herbert, “maybe a few years in, it was determined that France had sustained no worker fatalities.  England on the other hand had experienced nine. Same project, same equipment, but the management systems were different. After that ninth death, the safety minister halted the work from the English side. He said ‘We won’t start up again until the guys from DuPont say go - that we’re ready to start and operate safely.’  That faith and confidence in what we offered felt good. I’m happy to say there were no more deaths.”

Retired, looking to contribute

After retiring from DuPont and before moving to the Cape region, Herbert consulted on other high-end safety and quality projects including one at the United States National Laboratory in the desert of New Mexico at Los Alamos.  Think nuclear. “Facilities where there are high hazards and uncertainties require an incredible attentiveness to safety and quality.”

After moving here, Herbert wanted to get involved in the community.  He wrote to Beebe President Jeff Fried and soon found himself on the quality and safety committee. That was 12 years ago.  Then he set up a root cause analysis committee to look at problems and determine how to avoid them happening again. “We didn’t have that here before,” he said. “Now they do as good as you will find anywhere.  There have been hundreds of minor but important improvements as a result. That’s how you get to excellence.”

Herbert joined the hospital board about five years ago and then became chairman.  “I agreed to take on the chairmanship because I thought I could help lead the organization to a higher performing future. My vision is for Beebe to become a regional healthcare center of excellence providing the kinds of health care services that people will come from other areas for because they recognize Beebe provides the best services.

“Because of the growing aging population we have, we clearly have an opportunity. I want people to search us out because they want the expertise we offer such as in the cardiac and orthopedic areas where we’re already recognized as among the top 100 hospitals in the country.  I want us to be in the top 20 or 25 and I think it’s perfectly achievable.”

Herbert said success in the realm of safety and quality requires strong and committed leadership, a culture of commitment, proper management systems and positive employer and worker relationships. He has written a set of strategic goals for Beebe that has been adopted by the board. 

One of Herbert’s greatest concerns is access.  “I have people telling me they have to wait as much as seven months to see some of our specialists.  That’s not acceptable. We’re working to get more primary care physicians, specialists and high quality doctors all the way around.  And I think the state has to get involved with providing incentives for talented young people in Sussex County to go to medical school and provide a hook - such as help with their education loans - that requires them to come back home to practice.”

Through it all, Herbert maintains his focus on safety, quality and financial sustainability.  “We want people to come to us because this is the best care they can get. You have to be the best. That is what will make us more and more successful.”

STRATEGIC GOALS

• Beebe will be a financially and operationally strong, sustainable, high quality, independent organization.
• Beebe services will be significantly higher in quality, safety and patient satisfaction performance than any other hospital/healthcare system in our greater geographic region (Delmarva/Delaware, etc.). The goal is ZERO Harm.
• Beebe will expand services and geographic coverage to provide better access and quality services to the community and as a mechanism to develop increased revenues and improved consolidated operative earnings.
• Beebe will have state-of-the-art technology and equipment and the most efficient operating systems, have the optimum return on investment and thus be the low-cost provider.
• Beebe will maintain the highest levels of teamwork among all contributors to achieve its strategic goals.
• Beebe will have an obsessive focus on the customer.
• Beebe will optimize the health and wellness in the community in a manner consistent with these goals.