The SCL is a great addition to the lagging and leading indicators that Elia already uses to work on its safety culture.
Samurai Client Koen Van Hemelrijck - Head of Safety Advisors has this to say:
"At Elia, we have been working on the Safety Culture Ladder for several years, inspired by our Dutch colleague network operator Tennet. From the beginning, we have applied the philosophy that we also want to be certified on the ladder, despite the fact that it was mainly developed for measuring contractors.
Like other well-known standards and certifications, the Safety Culture Ladder has many supporters and opponents. In our perception, none of these ‘tools’ in themselves will make the difference. We are regularly asked, ‘Is the Safety Culture Ladder the golden bullet that will ensure we register fewer accidents?’
Of course not, and that is also the wrong question. Determining whether your company is moving in the right direction in terms of safety by measuring it only on the basis of accident figures is, to say the least, outdated.
What is of added value for us as a company (with 1800 employees and another 9000 contractors) is the fact that the various SCL audits (both full and interim) expose issues that were previously a blind spot for us. The results of this type of behavioural and cultural audit are a nice addition to the existing lagging and leading indicators that we already had.
This allows us to determine additional actions that will hopefully contribute to reducing the number of incidents and allow people to evolve their mindset and behaviour in the right direction."
