2017 Hot List Recipient
2020 Hot List Recipient
2021 CEO of the Year
Milestones
2006
2013
2015
2020
2021
Starts at Siemens Healthineers as environment, health and safety/radiation
safety officer
2006
Receives her Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP) designation
2013
Obtains her Construction Health and Safety Officer (CHSO) certificate from the Infrastructure Health & Safety Association
2015
Promoted to head of environment, health and safety at Siemens Canada
2020
Siemens wins Best Health, Safety and Environment Management Program at Canada’s Safest Employers Awards
2021
Safety as a number one priority
When Nada Vuckovic first got her start in safety, there wasn’t much of
a profession.
“When I first started, safety wasn’t really a career," she says. "It wasn't as prominent or important as it is today.”
She explains that she fell into the safety business, starting from when she volunteered to be part of a joint health and safety committee.
“And from then on, I took some serious interest in it, because I already had a personal interest in making a difference to the safety of others.”
This, she says, spurred her desire to grow this interest into a career.
When Vuckovic first got into health and safety, it was an extremely male-dominated profession. But this didn’t do much to dampen her spirits.
“Over the years, this field has grown, and the opportunity for females has grown, because it was predominantly a male field back then,” she says. “That didn’t discourage me. I’m someone who is very determined and looks forward to challenges. I take ownership to drive a personal passion to add value to the organizational performance, and to the employee and customer experience.”
Vuckovic started her career in the automotive industry and then later transitioned to Siemens, where she got her start in their healthcare business. What’s great, she says, is that despite the fact that each industry has its own challenges, “in this field, if you have a skill, you can transition it into different industries.”
Vuckovic has been at Siemens for over 15 years and is now the organization’s head of environment, health and safety. She also wears a sustainability officer hat, and says this new field is “so interesting” and she has a “high interest” in it.
“This is something that I enjoy doing, and that I see myself doing until I retire. I don’t have a desire to change my career direction. Health and safety is my passion and something I want to continue [focusing on] for the rest of my career.”
Vuckovic says what she enjoys most is working with people. “In order for me to be a good safety person, I have to understand what people are doing.”
During her visits with staff, she starts with an introduction. “I go, I sit down with people in different levels of the organization.
I go out into the field, I go out on the shop floor, I familiarize myself with what people are doing and try to find out how they view health and safety," she says.
“This personal approach has yielded great results, because you show each individual that you care,” says Vuckovic, “and you look at a holistic approach, where physical and mental health are equally important. Because combined we function as a whole; if one or the other is a little bit skewed, then we may have a problem.”
She believes it's also vital to create an environment in which people are empowered to speak up if there’s a problem, and there won’t be any negative repercussions if they do.
“We want to make sure that each and every one of us is making a difference, that we take care of each other and that our colleague next to us is equally as safe as we are,” says Vuckovic.
There should be no compromising on safety. She says that in her messaging she is constantly building awareness so individuals can empower themselves and others to be cultural influencers. It’s not a one-person job; indeed, part of health and safety is about educating people to be continuously observant, because sometimes we can become complacent.
Another challenge that faces many safety professionals is how to convince organizations to invest in safety.
In business, we look at numbers all the time, “but equally so, you look at the numbers in safety,” says Vuckovic. “The difference is that number equals a person. Every single statistic equals a person.”
She explains that throughout her career she has been able to show organizations that may not have seen the importance of health and safety just how critical it is, and how they can balance making money and creating a healthy and safe work environment.
“Sometimes doing certain safety improvements doesn’t come cheap, but at the end of the day there’s no price on a
person's safety.”
Conversely, Vuckovic says Siemens has been investing in health and safety for years, which has allowed her to grow within
the organization.
“It’s a great organization that offers a great number of opportunities to grow and learn along the way. Over the years I have met some great role models and mentors, from whom I have learned a lot and who have enriched my professional career.”
After years of putting the efforts in, Vuckovic is enjoying the fruits of her labour.
“Putting all these years into an organization, and into changing the culture, and seeing the results – it’s very rewarding,”
she says.
And it is certainly rewarding to work for a global organization “which supports the health, safety and wellbeing of its employees and puts it as the number one priority."
“Our next goal is zero incidents," Vuckovic says. "Some may think it’s not a realistic goal. It’s a challenge we are ready for.”
Spotlight
“I’m happy to carry this role and work to contribute towards a more sustainable future for generations to come,” she says.
Vuckovic started her new role at the beginning of March 2020. A few weeks later, she was leading the organization’s COVID-19 task force.
“It was straight into the trenches,” she says. But Siemens has done great work, with the goal of “taking care of our people and making sure that everybody is healthy and safe.”
Aside from the physical risk, Vuckovic says a huge concern for the company during the pandemic was employee mental health and wellbeing.
Despite the challenges, she maintains her passion for health and safety.
Siemens is a German company with a global presence. Headquartered in Munich, it is the biggest industrial manufacturing company in Europe. Siemens is divided into four main groups: energy; infrastructure and cities; industry; and healthcare (through Siemens Healthineers). The technology company is also focused on sustainability, and investing in resilient supply chains, smarter buildings and cleaner transportation. Founded in the 19th century, Siemens has been innovating for 175 years.
Company Profile
1847
Year founded
in Germany
175
No. of years
in business
€62.3bn
2021 revenue
303,000
No. of employees worldwide
31%
Proportion of revenue generated by healthcare
Bio
Spotlight
Milestones
Media
Accolades
Company Profile
Years of Experience
20+
BAsed In
Ontario, Canada
Fast Fact
Led Siemens’ COVID-19 task force in Canada
Nada Vuckovic
Head of environment, health and safety
at Siemens Canada
Nada Vuckovic talks about the holistic approach she takes to safety, and how Siemens has been keeping workers safe during the pandemic
Read on
“We want to make sure that each and every one of us is making a difference, and that our colleague next to us is equally as safe as we are”
Nada Vuckovic,
Siemens
“This is something that I enjoy doing, and that I see myself doing until I retire. I don’t have a need or a desire to change my career direction”
Nada Vuckovic,
Siemens
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Safety as a number one priority
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Safety as a number
one priority
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Copyright © 2022 Key Media
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News
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Resources
Events
Best In Safety
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