The Group health and safety prevention programmes presented below are set out in detail in section 2, “Duty of vigilance with regard to health and safety”, of chapter F, “Duty of vigilance plan”, pages 280 to 286).
Signed in 2017 by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and the Secretary of the European Works Council, the joint declaration entitled “Essential and Fundamental Actions Concerning Occupational Health and Safety” provides a reference framework for VINCI’s approach (https://www.vinci.com/publi/manifeste/sst-2017-06-en.pdf). It highlights the key actions to be taken and reaffirms a shared conviction: safety is everyone’s responsibility. The managers in particular are responsible for promoting a shared health and safety culture. The Group ensures this through a special focus on training. VINCI is also working to better engage its stakeholders across its value chain around health and safety, and supports its subcontractors with their own improvement initiatives. Health and safety issues are regularly covered during Executive Committee meetings and addressed at least once a year with the Board of Directors.
Performance levels in this area are taken into account when determining the short- and long-term variable remuneration of Group executives and managers. As part of a collective approach, safety performance aspects are incorporated into a number of profit-sharing mechanisms. Potentially serious incidents and fatal accidents are monitored separately at the highest level of the Group. Reporting is organised collectively, overseen by the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, to better disseminate the lessons learned, implement the necessary action plans, and prevent these incidents and accidents from reoccurring.
The Group’s operating model is supported by a strong network of over 2,850 health and safety specialists. Health and safety managers, coordinators and experts are in place across all of the Group’s sites and subsidiaries, ensuring a very strong level of involvement by all managers.
At Group level, the prevention programme is steered 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, based in particular on initiatives implemented in the field, with some becoming standard practices for the divisions or business lines. The unit also works to identify and share best practices from outside the Group.
As key players, the employee representatives from the various entities are provided with transparent information and invited to share proposals for actions to be taken in this area. This subject, which is covered in all employee representative meetings, is also included on the agenda of each meeting of the Group Works Council and European Works Council (see paragraph 3.1.2, “Processes for interacting with Group employees and their representatives”, page 239). Fatal accidents are covered by a specific analysis twice a year with the European Works Council.
Each business line defines its policy and road map in accordance with Group principles to ensure that the measures adopted are in line with the activities covered. Examples of these measures are described below.
VINCI Construction has positioned health and safety as a priority and an integral part of its organisation of work. Its health and safety policy is structured around three core pillars:
The 10 key safety rules, set out in VINCI Construction’s strategic document “The Way We Work”, are fully aligned with this policy. They highlight the responsibility of the executives and managers in each entity to draw up and implement the health and safety strategy, the responsibility of each individual in terms of health and safety (e.g. reporting near misses and stopping work in the event of a risky situation), the necessary monitoring of potentially hazardous factors, the responsibility of each business unit to monitor the health and safety of its subcontractors and temporary workers, and the integration of safety performance into recruitment processes and annual appraisals. VINCI Concessions is committed to promoting safety best practices and protecting its employees, partners and customers, targeting zero accidents across all its geographies. This shared safety culture is promoted and implemented around five pillars – shared vigilance, exemplary conduct, visible commitment, continuous learning and operational discipline – and the prevention of high-potential situations (working at height, electrical work, road traffic, etc.) as a core priority for all those working on the business line’s infrastructure assets.
For VINCI Autoroutes, where road safety, particularly for its patrol officers, represents the main source of accidents, the prevention policy targets zero injuries. Health and safety actions are structured as part of the ISO 45001 certification process. The road risk prevention efforts are reflected in a specific action plan, based on developing employee training and certification, collaborating with government agencies to update work procedures, introducing technological changes, and implementing stakeholder communication and awareness initiatives.
VINCI Energies is moving forward with its belief that every accident can be avoided and everyone has a role to play. This conviction is broken down into clear requirements for its managers, incorporating safety objectives into its management system, from division level through to individual companies:
