Additional information is provided in the section on workforce-related information (see paragraph 1.2, “Health, safety and security of employees, temporary staff and subcontractors”, pages 177 to 180).
VINCI employs the following strategies to embed its culture of safety for all into every level of the Group.
Management leadership and dedicated resources
Identification and analysis of risks for people
Prevention management systems and guidelines
Employee training and engagement initiatives
Specific assessment and audit measures
Performance monitoring and measurement
4.2.1 A Group framework driven by managers and a health and safety network
- One reference framework for all
The joint declaration signed by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of VINCI and by the Secretary of the European Works Council, “Essential and Fundamental Actions Concerning Occupational Health and Safety”, provides the Group’s reference framework. It is available in 22 languages and published on VINCI’s website ( www.vinci.com/publi/manifeste/sst-2017-06-en.pdf). Steady, constructive social dialogue informed this declaration, which is part of VINCI’s continuous efforts to engage all employees in a shared safety culture. It is also intended to help the Group’s partners reach their own safety improvement goals.
In operational terms, the declaration states that a risk assessment must be carried out in advance of every work situation, including unplanned situations, and that appropriate preventive measures arising from the assessment must be incorporated into operating procedures and processes. In addition to collective protective measures, entities must provide workers with personal protective equipment suited to each work situation and ensure that every worker fully understands the risks associated with their activity and the measures to be followed to reduce them. Employee representatives are kept informed of action taken to prevent workplace accidents and occupational hazards and contribute their own proposals. Occupational health and safety awareness and training programmes are essential to ensuring that all workers understand the risks. Employees must be trained during their work hours and be given clear instructions and explanations relating directly to their job or task.
Since real and sustainable improvement cannot be achieved without measuring outcomes, VINCI assesses the effectiveness of its action using relevant indicators, which are presented and discussed to determine what steps can be taken to further improve results. Companies methodically and thoroughly investigate every accident and share the findings with employee representatives. Efforts to identify hazardous situations and near misses aim not only to reduce the number of accidents but above all to embed the safety culture into everyone’s daily work.
These foundational rules apply to everyone, at every operating site or worksite at which VINCI companies oversee operations, and across all businesses, all companies and all countries where the Group operates. In compliance with the global framework, each business line adapts and implements its health and safety policy to closely address local challenges.
- Manager accountability and a large support network of health and safety specialists
VINCI’s managers bear the primary responsibility for instilling and promoting the Group’s safety culture. This responsibility is shared among the different levels of management in its business lines, divisions and companies. Dedicated occupational health and safety departments and a worldwide network of more than 2,500 employees in health and safety roles support managers in spreading the safety culture. They work together to implement an occupational risk prevention management system that complies with VINCI’s requirements and reflects the realities of their entity or project.
At Group level, health and safety policy is supervised by the Health and Safety Coordination unit, under the authority of the VINCI Executive Committee. The Coordination unit is chaired by a member of the Executive Committee and made up of the health and safety directors of the Group’s business lines and divisions. Its mission is to build a common safety culture, mainly by facilitating the sharing of best practices and feedback among business lines, assessing existing procedures, delivering reliable indicators and initiating improvements. It meets regularly with the Executive Committee to debrief and discuss accidents and significant events. The Health and Safety Coordination unit also works together to assess the sector’s human resources needs and promote mobility. It also launches foresight approaches to address emerging business risks and takes action to develop innovation in health and safety.
Business lines and divisions structure their activities to enable the development of a common language and tools, which they use to monitor actions and results; reliably collect feedback, share information and issue alerts; and analyse trends in their business activities so they can enhance their risk prevention. Each business line or division has a coordinating body to help cascade information throughout the organisation. For example, the health and safety directors of VINCI Autoroutes and VINCI Energies hold a coordination meeting every quarter. At VINCI Construction, the coordination team meets monthly. The head office of VINCI Concessions produces a monthly report of health and safety data from all entities, including those that are not fully consolidated and their subcontractors. The international network of health and safety experts ensures that the safety culture spreads across borders, sharing best practices developed in various countries and ensuring that rules and tools are understood and applied by all. The health and safety departments at the head offices of business lines and divisions facilitate safety audits across their organisation and help to integrate new companies.