Innovation That Protects: How Atlas Embedded Health and Safety at the Core of Its Operational Excellence

Safety that drives performance: Atlas Renewable Energy’s innovative occupational health and safety strategy safeguards its human capital, optimizes operational efficiency, and establishes new industry benchmarks for excellence in the solar sector.

Operational efficiency exerts a direct impact on financial performance within the energy sector. A paradigmatic case study is Atlas Renewable Energy, which has strategically integrated occupational health and safety as a core component of its comprehensive corporate performance framework.

Through a systematic methodology, the company achieved a 65% reduction in recordable incidents and a 95% decrease in lost-time injuries.

These outcomes translate not only into operational continuity and resource optimization but also into the strengthening of human capital, the development of high-performance teams, and the cultivation of an organizational culture anchored in trust and mutual stewardship.

At the global level, this industry is experiencing accelerated expansion, generating substantial employment opportunities while confronting emerging challenges that directly impact the workplace environment.

According to data from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), centralized solar power capacity quintupled over the past decade, increasing from 1.2 gigawatts (GW) in 2010 to approximately 6.4 GW in 2020, employing around 80,000 professionals worldwide.

In a scenario aligned with the Paris Agreement, this capacity must reach 196.7 GW by 2030 and 872.6 GW by 2050, representing up to 767,000 jobs in the sector.

This growth trajectory must be accompanied by comprehensive measures that ensure the safety and well-being of the professionals constructing tomorrow’s energy infrastructure—an imperative that Atlas Renewable Energy has already strategically embedded within its operational framework.

With a constructive, rather than punitive, approach, the corporation has revolutionized its occupational health and safety (H&S) infrastructure and organizational culture, transforming employees into active agents of change.

“We needed to develop a methodology that would enable workers to understand that health and safety are critical to their well-being, not merely to corporate objectives. In our pursuit of making this meaningful for individuals, we adopted andragogy, neuro-linguistic programming, and simplicity, because we operate through intensive collaboration,” explains Juliana Riveiro, Global Head of Health, Safety, and Security at Atlas Renewable Energy.

Since Juliana’s integration into Atlas Renewable Energy, a substantial transformation has occurred within the occupational health and safety domain. With strategic vision, she rapidly identified opportunities for improvement and spearheaded the development of a robust management system. Under her leadership, the company expanded its specialist team and implemented the innovative HubSoft incident management platform.

However, the most transformational milestone was the conception of the Safety School program, a pioneering initiative that comprehensively redefined the organization’s health and safety paradigm.

This program fosters a culture of prevention and shared accountability, positioning Atlas as a leader in innovation within the sector and creating an environment where employees become active participants in shaping a safer and more productive workplace.

Safety School: Streamlined Approach, Exceptional Results

Grounded in the principles of andragogy (adult education theory), neuro-linguistic programming, and a positive, experiential approach to developing awareness, leadership, and culture, the Safety School program commenced as a pilot initiative in Mexico in 2022 and currently operates across all jurisdictions where Atlas Renewable Energy maintains operations, including Chile, Colombia, and Brazil.

“The primary objective was to generate profound impact and foster field autonomy, recognizing that H&S teams cannot maintain permanent presence at every project location,” explains Juliana, one of the program’s architects.

The initiative is founded upon two fundamental pillars: Safety Walks, where workers present best practices to project leadership, and H&S Leaders, who receive monthly training to serve as safety champions within their respective teams.

This methodology has delivered compelling results, including significant incident reduction, enhanced productivity, enterprise-wide standardization (as a contractual requirement), and a leadership culture that recognizes compliance is not mandated—it is cultivated.

“When we launched the pilot project in 2022, our incident rates declined significantly. By December of that year, we achieved a zero lost-time injury rate,” Juliana recalls.

Between 2020 and 2024, the number of recordable incidents (those requiring medical intervention, resulting in work restrictions, or involving fatalities) decreased by 65%. The most remarkable improvements were observed in lost-time incidents and severity rates, which declined by 95% and 99%, respectively.

These metrics, Juliana notes, demonstrate that incident rates across Atlas Renewable Energy’s projects remain substantially below industry benchmarks in both the construction and power generation sectors.

“This represents a highly significant outcome reflecting the collective commitment of all stakeholders, not exclusively the safety organization. It exemplifies a collaborative achievement between Atlas and our strategic partners,” Juliana emphasizes.

Beyond Conventional Prevention

Atlas transcended traditional prevention methodologies. The company established a governance architecture with committees across all operational tiers, initiated the documentation and replication of best practices throughout new projects, and engaged external contractors and local communities. This was executed with a clear philosophy: rather than functioning as enforcement agents, the H&S team operates as motivators, strategic partners, and facilitators of change.

This evolution has proven so impactful that it is now being disseminated externally — through industry recognition, conference participation, and academic partnerships — positioning Atlas as a thought leader in industrial safety innovation.

This directly translates into enhanced project productivity.

“All of these best practices become institutional knowledge and are transferred across projects. When a worker executes a task more efficiently, productivity increases proportionally,” states Juliana.

Juliana also emphasizes that incidents, beyond their potential harm to workers, result in operational disruptions and resource reallocation, representing tangible costs to the enterprise.

In essence, investing in health, safety, and protection correlates directly with enhanced productivity.

Future Phases in Development

Protecting and engaging workers within the occupational health and safety sphere is a continuous process, with new phases already under development.

The integration of artificial intelligence, stronger alignment with project design phases, and an increasingly human-centric approach represent just a few examples.

“Atlas pursues innovation in occupational health and safety through both market exploration and strategic university partnerships. We believe safety must become increasingly precise and intelligent, combining simplicity, cooperation, coordination, and innovation to enable more effective and agile processes,” Juliana concludes.

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This article was created in partnership with Castleberry Media. At Castleberry Media, we are dedicated to environmental sustainability. By purchasing carbon certificates for tree planting, we actively combat deforestation and offset our CO₂ emissions threefold.