Michelle Malone

Said the following about Seth Harrison:

“Seth joined my team two years ago as HSQE Manager with a team of advisors and managers reporting to him.

Seth has had an incredible impact on the whole HSQE team and the VolkerRail business. Seth deserves this nomination as he has worked hard to embed an engaging safety culture and concentrate on open discussions on site to raise the profile of what the H&S team do and ensure that staff understand the need to work safely and report unsafe acts/conditions, ensuring they get feedback every time.

Personally for me, Seth has been a breath of fresh air with the support that he has given me to drive the safety culture forward within the business and his passion shines through in everything that he does. He consistently goes over and above what is normally required and works hard to remain engaged with the workforce. This is evident in the increase in safety conversations that have taken place within the CP5 Programme and demonstrates that his engagement with the workforce has encouraged them to be confident in having safety conversations themselves with their workmates on site. This deserves recognition and the work he has done aligns with our internal Vantage Model:

• Exceeding Expectations – Raising the bar on our KPI reporting which is business critical.

• Driving Innovation – Engaging with the workforce to suggest improvements through scenario days.

• Enhancing Collaboration – Actively encouraging open discussions on site with noticeable benefits to the company.

• Risk Management – Identifying trends to address safety on site and engaging with the workforce to do this.

• People, Culture & Values – All contact with site staff is in person, ensuring everyone feels valued and that they can make a difference.

• Systems & Processes – Making improvements to how we work, particularly in the changes he has made to how we deliver our behavioural training“

Peter Baverstock - **HAS LEFT**

Said the following about Seth Harrison:

“I cannot think of anyone within the business who is more deserving of the Rail Safety Person of the Year award than Seth Harrison. Seth has been instrumental in changing our approach to engagement with the site teams. Moving away from traditional site audit inspections to constructive, open and proactive engagement. His unique ability to be able to get the site teams to talk openly and honestly should not be underestimated given the distrust and avoidance sometimes displayed towards HSQE staff.

Seth’s contribution to our safety events such as the Business Safety Downs and Project Specific events is invaluable. Seth spends a significant amount of thought and time preparing for these events and invariably he is able to recognise the audience and pitch it perfectly. His scenario based approach to the events is always engaging, informative and fun for those involved.

All of this has manifested itself with a significant improvement to our Network Rail Infrastructure Projects KPI performance. Again, this should not be underestimated given the challenging requirements that must be satisfied. One measure that stands out for me is Close Call reporting. Seth established a series of events with the project teams to encourage Close Call reporting with a focus on the contribution from site operatives. As a result, we now have one of the highest reporting levels with a significant increase in the number from site operatives. Seth achieved this by talking to the site teams, identifying that the lack of feedback was one of the biggest cause of low reporting levels (‘what is the point we never get any feedback’). Seth gave a personal commitment to provide feedback which is a commitment he has kept and we now provide updates at every Stand Down event.

On a personal level, I thoroughly enjoy having Seth as part of our team his passion, desire and commitment makes him a pleasure to work with.“