Work on a road, bridge, quay, pumping station or public space affects staff, contractors and residents. As a public client, you can influence safety even before work begins: during the design, planning and tendering stages, and through your collaboration with contractors.
These choices help to determine whether people can work safely and healthily, feel confident about reporting risks, and take their surroundings into account. The Safety Culture Ladder helps to facilitate that discussion before work begins outdoors.
A plan may look sound on paper, yet its implementation may still prove unsafe. Procedures set out what has been agreed. The safety culture determines what people actually do when reality differs from the plan, time is of the essence, or interests clash.
Are warnings taken seriously? Can an employee halt work? Do the client and contractor discuss risks before they become problems? For local authorities, provincial authorities and water boards, these are questions relevant to procurement, asset management, project management, field services, HR, senior management and the board.
A focus on safety culture contributes to a healthy and safe working environment, responsible commissioning and the protection of residents and users of public spaces. Safety culture is therefore not a standalone project theme, but an integral part of public organisations’ social responsibility.
The Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) is an assessment method and certification scheme for safety awareness, attitudes and behaviour within organisations. The SCL looks beyond procedures and plans. Through interviews and observations, auditors investigate how staff and managers approach safety in their day-to-day work. The assessment reveals how the safety culture is currently experienced and where there is scope for improvement. The SCL examines holistic safety: physical and social safety, psychosocial workload, wellbeing and integrity. Public sector organisations can use the SCL for their own organisation and as a quality criterion when procuring works, services and supplies.
The SCL highlights the culture underpinning a safety plan. How does a contractor prepare for the work? How are risks discussed? And what happens when scheduling, budget and safety come into conflict?
Public contracting authorities can therefore use the SCL as a quality criterion when procuring works, services and supplies. For each contract, the specific application and proportionality of the SCL require careful assessment.
The SCL provides both the client and the contractor with a common language for conduct and collaboration. This helps to facilitate open discussion about who reports risks, how concerns are addressed, and when work is adjusted or suspended.
When carrying out work next to a school, safety considerations include the worksite, site hoardings, construction traffic, school hours and the routes taken by children. Safety is therefore factored into both the preparation and the day-to-day execution of the work.
Local authorities, provinces and water boards also have their own staff working in the field. The SCL assesses whether they are given the opportunity to report risks, discuss mistakes and hold one another to account, even in the face of work pressure, hierarchical structures or political pressure.
This affects field staff, project teams, procurement, HR, senior management and the board. After all, safe behaviour does not arise in just one department.
In construction and civil engineering projects, the client has a statutory duty to ensure compliance. As early as the design phase, the client must ensure that employers and self-employed persons are able to fulfil their health and safety obligations during the execution of the works.
An SCL certificate does not assume this responsibility. Nor does it replace a project-specific risk assessment, a mandatory health and safety plan, contractual agreements or supervision.
The SCL adds something else: insight into attitudes, behaviour and the way in which organisations manage risks in practice. In this way, the SCL can support the discussion and decision-making process regarding safe commissioning. The practical application remains tailored to each individual commission and requires careful assessment.
The examples of organisations in the public sector show that a safety culture begins with clear decisions and observable behaviour.
“We either work safely or we don’t work at all.”
Pieter Jansen, Secretary-Director of the Delfland Water Board
“We must take responsibility for our own role and not leave safety in the hands of contractors or subcontractors.”
Annemieke Bantema, Safety Coordinator, Engineering Department, Amsterdam City Council
“When it came to the play facilities, one contractor stood out for their consideration of the local environment: good fencing, no work carried out during school hours, and attention to the children’s walking routes.”
Rob van der Haar, Head of Parks and Green Spaces, Zeist Council
In the event of an accident involving a contractor, the City of Amsterdam takes a close look at its own decisions as the client. The Engineering Department has been working on a centralised safety culture since 2017 and has been using the Safety Culture Ladder since 2024 to set priorities. “Before you demand something from someone else, you have to do it yourself,” says safety coordinator Annemieke Bantema.
A baseline assessment placed the organisation on level 2. Amsterdam uses personal stories, training courses and practical safety measures. To date, 1,000 of the 1,300 staff members have completed a training course on safety in large-scale projects in public spaces. The city also shares its knowledge with other public sector clients.
What does that responsibility entail in practice, particularly when planning and safety clash? Read the full story and find out why Amsterdam sometimes prefers to put up a fence rather than employ a traffic warden.
According to Ahmed Aboutaleb, physical safety begins with teams in which people trust one another, ask for help in good time and do not take one another by surprise. The Safety Culture Ladder illustrates how this social safety is reflected in attitudes, behaviour and cooperation.
Social value does not lie in having an extra certificate on the wall, but in making choices sooner and with greater consideration. Focusing on safety culture can help to:
The SCL does not guarantee an incident-free implementation. However, the method does help to ensure that safety is firmly embedded in decisions regarding design, time, budget and implementation.
Situation | So what is it? necessary? | Next step |
We get your bearings us | First, understand what the SCL measures and what formats are available. | |
We would like to involve the SCL in a tender process | To determine what role the SCL can play in the assignment in an appropriate and proportionate manner. | |
We want to develop our own safety culture | Assess the current situation and determine what preparation or support is required. | |
We search guidance | Find an external knowledge partner who can provide support with the preparation and development. | |
We would like an assessment or a certificate | Get in touch with an organisation that carries out audits and assessments. |
NEN is the owner and independent scheme administrator of the Safety Culture Ladder. NEN manages the scheme and provides general information about the SCL, the products and the parties involved. NEN does not carry out audits and does not provide organisation-specific implementation advice.
Organisations can turn to an SCL knowledge partner for guidance. Certification bodies carry out assessments and audits.
