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 Task Force, 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 task force works to identify and share best practices from outside the Group. It meets at least twice a year, with ad hoc meetings also convened on specific topics such as road safety or cardiac risks.
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 see paragraph 3.1.2, “Processes for interacting with Group employees and their representatives”, page 249). 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 the Group principles set out above 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 reference 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 reaffirms its commitment to a shared safety and protection culture for its employees, partners and users, with the aim to achieve zero accidents. This ambition is built around collective vigilance, exemplary behaviour at all levels, the rigorous prevention of hazardous situations and the preservation of health across all activities. It is supported by cooperation between entities and a continuous improvement approach, including innovations aimed at strengthening workplace health and safety.
For VINCI Autoroutes, where road risk, 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. 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, embedding safety in its management system, from division level through to individual companies:
Taking a medium-term perspective, each manager is responsible for implementing safety within their area of activity. This includes all communication, training and change management actions related to safety. Local managers at each VINCI Energies company act as key facilitators, based on the Group’s decentralised model, which gives them significant autonomy and responsibility, to ensure safe working conditions for all employees, temporary workers and subcontractors at all sites.
Lastly, Cobra IS promotes its workplace health and safety commitments throughout its organisation and requires all employees to adhere to this policy. The principles set out include providing safe and healthy working conditions; ensuring strict compliance with the highest occupational health and safety standards and legal requirements; continuously strengthening the safety culture and safety management systems; consulting and engaging with workers and their representatives; providing training and guidance for teams, and raising awareness; reporting any occupational safety incidents; and integrating safety at every stage of a project and in all decision-making processes, from preliminary analyses through to the execution and supervision of tasks. The level of protection for workers of subcontractors must be equivalent to that provided by Cobra IS for its own workers, thanks to the effective coordination of activities.
