The Safety Culture Ladder identifies the level of safety awareness in your organisation.
The Safety Culture Ladder is a valuable instrument for every organisation. If you would like to know how good your organisation's safety awareness is, start the certification process now. You can choose between four different SCL products. Different types of audit apply as well and vary from a basic to in-depth self-assessment .
Each product also has a corresponding type of document. You will receive an SCL certificate with a step indication for the SCL Original and SCL products. This does not apply for the SCL Light or Approved Self Assessment (SCL ASA) products. Instead, the SCL Light product comes with a statement and step indication, while the SCL ASA self-assessment is issued with a document showing that the correct steps have been taken and no step indication.
| Feature | Self-assessment (SA) | SCL Light (Small organisations) | SCL Light | SCL | SCL Original |
| Suitable for | All organisations | 5 to 50 employees | From 5 employees | From 5 employees | From 5 employees |
| Document | Self-declaration | Statement | Statement | Certificate | Certificate |
| Step range | No step listing | Step indication (max. step 3) | Step indication (max. step 3) | Step entry (max step 4) | Step listing (all steps possible) |
| SCL Web tool | Mandatory (SAQ*) | Mandatory (SAQ*) | Mandatory (SAQ*) | SAQ* or questionnaire of your choice | SAQ* or questionnaire of your choice |
| Internal Auditor | Mandatory (trained in accordance with NEN requirements) | Mandatory (trained in accordance with NEN requirements) | N/A. | N/A. | N/A. |
| External Audit Year 1 | No external audit | Partial (40%) | Partial (40%) | Full (100%) | Full (100%) |
| External Audit Year 2 | N/A. | Assessment of behavioural goals (1 auditor) | Assessment of behavioural goals (1 auditor) | Partial (40%) | Full (100%) |
| External Audit Year 3 | N/A. | No external audit** (if criteria met). Otherwise 1 auditor. | Assessment of behavioural goals (1 auditor) | Partial (40%) | Full (100%) |
| Validity | 1 year (repeat max. 1 time) | 3 years | 3 years | 3 years | 3 years |
| More information | Read more | Read more | Read more | Read more | Read more |
* SAQ: The Self Assessment
Questionnaire is offered exclusively through the SCL Web tool. The questions are
approved by the Committee of Experts.
** Criteria year 3 (Small organisations): The external
audit in year 3 expires only if the auditor in year 2 finds that: 1) the
behavioural goals have been achieved, 2) the management is demonstrably engaged, 3) the
behavioural change is visible on the shop floor and 4) the organisation is still
meets the requirements of the step indication.
If a client (ViA (GCVB), TenneT or ProRail) wants you to meet a certain SCL requirement, it will tell you which product you need. See ViA (GCVB), TenneT and ProRail for more information.
If you are taking the step to obtain SLC certification on your own initiative, you will decide which product is best for your organisation and its ambitions. Your choice will depend on how much you want to improve safety culture in your organisation and also on what you want to demonstrate to customers, clients and employees.