To reach this zero accident objective, VINCI’s health and safety policy relies on managers to be directly accountable for bringing all employees on board in supporting a safety culture. The Group does this through a special focus on training. These measures are also carried out by a network of more than 2,500 employees specialised in health and safety roles throughout the Group (managers, coordinators, experts, etc.). Prevention policies and procedures are translated every day into different types of measures, ranging from analysing risks upstream to updating and disseminating safety standards. They also include 15-minute safety sessions that bring together all individuals involved at a worksite, reporting and analysis of near misses and accidents and their root causes, as well as the delivery of training adapted to each business line, type of site and operational environment. VINCI business lines define and apply these policies and actions to their respective scope based on the risks and issues identified for their business activity. Safety events are held each year worldwide at the business lines to promote a shared safety culture. Partners, temporary staff, subcontractors and customers also take part in these events alongside VINCI employees. Various tools are used to report risk situations, near misses and accidents. This information is compared within each business line to better analyse trends and feedback. The findings are then used to improve prevention programmes for similar risks and businesses across an entity’s scope.
Employees and their representatives play a key role in prevention. The statement on occupational health and safety (https://bit.ly/3JaTcN8) was signed by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and by the Secretary of the European Works Council in 2017. This statement outlines the essential and fundamental steps to be taken and upholds the shared belief that progress can only take place with the support of all employees and their representatives by promoting the Group’s safety culture. The employee representatives of each entity are expected to be proactive in suggesting measures that could improve working conditions and occupational risk and accident prevention. At Group level, this topic is on the agenda at every Group Works Council or European Works Council meeting. As part of its continuous dialogue with Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), VINCI has signed the latter’s “Declaration on Healthy and Safe Workplaces” in support of the recognition of occupational health and safety as a fundamental right by the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
The prevention programme is coordinated by a Health and Safety Coordination unit, which brings together the heads of health and safety networks in all the business lines and divisions. Its aim is to foster the sharing of best practices, improve the reliability of H&S indicators, and devise new ways of making progress.
The Health and Safety Coordination unit has launched joint initiatives at the Group’s businesses to put improvements in place to reduce risk factors such as lifting and handling loads, electrocution and road accidents caused by third parties.
VINCI is also a member of the Institute for an Industrial Safety Culture (ICSI) and the Foundation for Industrial Safety Culture (FonCSI) to participate in and financially support a research programme on ensuring safety in the future.
In addition, the unit launches foresight approaches to address emerging business risks and takes action to develop innovation in health and safety. Leonard, VINCI’s innovation and foresight platform, has coordinated a mission on innovation in safety and prevention. It applied an approach divided into three parts:
This foresight approach is being developed to include environmental issues that impact employee health and safety. The “Catalyst” part of the approach has been extended to take health issues into consideration.
Working closely on the ground, accident prevention Pivot Clubs and internal collaboration platforms help disseminate and monitor health and safety measures for the community of H&S coordinators and managers. Furthermore, VINCI companies establish partnerships with leading national health and safety organisations and actively contribute to adapting these policies to their respective core business and industry. The Group’s health and safety policy aims to anticipate and prevent risks relating to the health and safety of VINCI employees and external staff. It also has a focus on quality of life in the workplace and the redeployment of employees who have suffered a workplace accident or illness. Specialised internal structures such as Habileo’h and Trajeo’h work to better integrate people with disabilities into the Group and help redeploy incapacitated staff.
Preventing and responding to psychosocial risks has been an important focus since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. At many VINCI sites, measures were introduced at the outset to raise awareness, provide training to managers and support employees. The range of initiatives undertaken include setting up help hotlines, offering psychological counselling, training employees to recognise signs of depression and situations of distress, and organising events dealing with mental health and stress management.
