Kirsty Panks

Said the following about Colas Rail Safety and Sustainability Team:

“Our Safety Team at Colas Rail really understand that to continue to operate safely and efficiently, continuous improvement and development is vital. They drive forward initiatives that encourage and empower people within the business. An example of this is the award-winning ‘Safety and Sustainability Challenge’, which was developed to enable us to think outside the box and make a positive impact through the works we deliver by improving our safety and sustainability. Launched in 2014, initially to our new graduate intakes and more recently across all our Early Careers programmes, the initiative has led to many creative ideas. These have been developed into workable safety processes and procedures, delivering new technologies and solutions, leading to reductions in working times, achieved cost savings, improved safety, and the introduction of better ways of working.

The team recognise that people who were new to the industry can not only provide a fresh perspective but, through their previous experiences in other industries, can offer opportunities to transfer knowledge and learn best practices that we could utilise within Rail. The challenge requires each of our Graduates and Apprentices to complete a project every year to:

1, Identify a risk in the workplace.

2, Identify a control that reduces the risk.

3, Implement the new control in the workplace (business change)

4, Assess the effectiveness of the new control in managing the risk.

The results of the Safety and Sustainability Challenge Project have been very encouraging and the participants have influenced change within their teams, driving forward the message that we all need to take ownership and responsibility for coming up with new and innovative ways to work more safely and sustainably. Innovation has been one of the key outcomes from the project and this has not only benefited Colas Rail in improving its safety culture and well-being for its employees, but it has also had a wider impact within the rail industry.

This example is just one of a number of initiatives that demonstrate the hard work that the Safety and Sustainability Team put into creating a culture which encourages robust and constructive feedback on how we can improve safety and sustainability within the industry. The team have embedded a culture of continuous improvement and empowerment throughout the Early Careers population and instilled the message that their voices are powerful and that we are all equally responsible in bringing about positive change.“