More and more municipalities are discovering the importance of the Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) to strengthen the safety of their own employees. During a joint workshop at the SCL event on 20 November, Annemieke Bantema (Safety coordinator Ingenieursbureau, Municipality of Amsterdam) and Anja Vijselaar (chairperson Committee of Experts SCL at NEN) shared their experiences and insights.
Safety starts with the municipality itself
According to Bantema, there is a clear task ahead for municipalities: "We need to take our own role and not just put safety down to contractors or contractors. The Safety Culture Ladder helps us become aware of our own behaviour and responsibility."
The City of Amsterdam's Ingenieursbureau realises major projects in public spaces, such as bridges, roads and car parks. Since 2017, the city has been working on a structured safety culture, with the SCL serving as a compass since 2024. A baseline measurement in that year showed that the agency is on Step 2; from 2026, this step can also be required of contractors, with the ambition being Step 3 in 2026.
Awareness-raising and storytelling
Raising awareness requires more than imposing rules, Bantema stresses. Amsterdam therefore works with concrete stories from those involved in accidents. For instance, Lars van Rode, who lost his lower leg in an industrial accident, told what it did to him, his colleagues and family during the national Consciously Safe Day 2024. Together with training provider KPE Group, 1,000 of the engineering firm's 1,300 employees have now followed a special training course.
Internal security culture is crucial
Many municipal teams, from field service to waste collection, work daily in situations involving risks. Yet internal safety culture is not yet sufficiently developed everywhere, according to Vijselaar: "With 342 municipalities, together we have a few hundred thousand employees. For them, being able to work safely, as well as coming home safely, really needs to be raised to a higher level."
Cooperation and responsibility
Amsterdam is working with Rotterdam, Utrecht, The Hague, Rijkswaterstaat and Rijks Vastgoed to share knowledge and organise joint training sessions. Concrete measures the city is taking include: better control of plans, less pressure on planning and time, and practical safety measures such as installing fences instead of traffic controllers.
Bantema stresses that safety culture is not just about rules, but affects the awareness and behaviour of all employees. She calls on other municipalities to follow suit: "Then who picks it up? You are still the client, still responsible. Haven't quite figured out what to do with safety and the SCL yet? Get in touch, and we can share experiences and learn from each other."
Why now?
Rijkswaterstaat and the water boards were already leading the way. According to both, now is the time for municipalities to join: "Municipalities are still slightly behind, but the movement is on. This is the time to pick up SCL," Vijselaar said.
Download the presentation
During the SCL event on 20 November, Anja Vijselaar and Annemieke Bantema gave a workshop. Download the presentation and also get to work on Safety Culture Ladder.
SCL from the perspective of municipalities