At the technical division of the Amsterdam transport company GVB, around 700 employees work on the tracks and rolling stock every day. The ambition to make the working environment safer had been there for some time, but how do you translate that from the boardroom to the workplace? SHEQ Manager Michael Bawuah opted for the Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) to make behaviour both measurable and open to discussion.
When you think of Amsterdam’s public transport, the first things that spring to mind are the trams and metros travelling through the city. But behind the scenes, there is a whole rail and maintenance operation at work. At GVB Rail Infra, hundreds of skilled workers are busy day in, day out with maintenance and renewal work. Working safely is a daily necessity there. Yet the organisation found it difficult to move from isolated initiatives towards a genuinely embedded safety culture.
An honest reflection
When Michael Bawuah took the helm as SHEQ Manager, his first priority was to establish exactly where the organisation stood: a clear baseline assessment based on facts.
A thorough pre-audit was organised. Auditors spent three days talking to management and staff. They then spent five days out in the field, visiting several work sites and projects each day. The results were revealing: formally, GVB Rail Infra was at Level 2, but in day-to-day practice, they were already meeting Level 3 standards in many areas.
A baseline assessment like this acts as a clear mirror for the organisation. It pinpointed exactly where improvements were needed and how the transition to a structural Level 3 could be made achievable: step by step, with realistic targets.
An ongoing process
What characterises GVB’s approach is that safety is ensured as a continuous process that never stops. Bawuah is very firm on this point: “I deliberately do not call it a programme or a project. A project has a beginning and an end. Safety culture is a continuous process that never stops.”
You can see this reflected in the language used on the work floor as well. When speaking to engineers and track workers, the focus is simply on the aim of getting home safely every day. For management and safety experts, the SCL serves as a benchmark to ensure they remain vigilant.
To keep the work organised, GVB first got the basics in order. “”With an internal safety portal, we provide all staff with access to up-to-date and relevant safety information, supported by practical tools,“ says Bawuah. “Risk assessments, incident reports, workplace inspections, toolbox meetings and KPI dashboards have all been brought together in one centralised system. This means everyone has access to a single, clear environment containing the same reliable information.”.
Small observations, big impact
Using that dashboard as a basis, the focus shifted to what really matters: behaviour. At GVB, this is done on the basis of facts. When the figures showed that incidents of absence were strikingly often caused by falls and trips, this was immediately addressed through targeted toolbox meetings and campaigns.
Ten clear rules of conduct have also been drawn up. These are clearly displayed on banners in the canteen and on screens in the workshops. Furthermore, members of management discuss one specific rule each month during a joint lunch. This makes it much easier for people to speak to one another.
Bawuah: “It all starts with a conversation. If someone doesn’t keep to an agreement, we should be able to talk about it calmly. You need to know that you can hold each other to account on that.” The effect is already evident in practice: even simply holding onto the banister has now become commonplace in many places.
Collaboration within the supply chain
GVB itself holds VCA 2-star certification and sets clear requirements for its subcontractors. To ensure that everyone working on the railways is on the same page, complex work instructions are converted into short, accessible e-learning modules for external partners.
In addition, GVB is exploring ways to work with its regular partners to raise safety awareness. A key principle here, however, is that the organisation needs to prioritise: it is better to do a few things really well than to launch too many initiatives at once, which will subsequently lose momentum.
On the way to the next step
The formal audit for SCL Level 3 is scheduled for the end of this year. And at GVB, they are already looking further ahead. The processes are already being organised in such a way that the move to Level 4 (Proactive) will feel like a natural progression in the coming years.
Bawuah sums up the current phase succinctly: “The seeds are already being sown in the discussions and toolkits we provide. If you keep having these discussions on the shop floor, you’ll already be prepared for the future.”
Want to get started on developing a safety culture within your organisation?
Would you like to know where your organisation stands on the Safety Culture Ladder, or how you can take steps towards moving up a rung? Take a look at the various SCL products or get in touch with a certifying body or a SCL Knowledge Partner for more information.