Insight Issue 15

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Roads Under the

MICROSCOPE How the Office of Rail and Road will scutinise National Highways going forward

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DECARBONISATION as a priority for the supply chain

BULLYING. A JURASSIC PROBLEM? With workplace bullying on the rise and the‘great resignation’ in full swing, employees are changing their priorities at work

saferhighways.co.uk

At Mace, we’re committed to:

PURSUING A SUSTAINABLE WORLD

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insight S A F E R H I G H W AY S M A G A Z I N E

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Roads Under the

MICROSCOPE How the Office of Rail and Road will scutinise National Highways going forward

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DECARBONISATION as a priority for the supply chain

BULLYING. A JURASSIC PROBLEM? With workplace bullying on the rise and the‘great resignation’ in full swing, employees are changing their priorities at work.

saferhighways.co.uk

The purpose of Safer Highways is to keep health, safety and wellbeing at the forefront of the highways industry and to help drive awareness, strong leadership, effective communication and best practice across all levels in our sector.

EDITOR’S LETTER

Editor Freya Wells Designed by Visual Print and Design Published by SO Media Group

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Dear Reader, Welcome to the latest edition of our publication, SH Magazine, which we publish as we start to make final plans for this year’s industry-wide Safety Stand down event, SHL!ve. Unique in the fact that it is the only collaborative event where the whole supply chain come together to showcase the best of innovation in product and thought process with no commercial gain.

This publication has probably been one of the most rewarding to date and I personally have taken great delight in reviewing all of the amazing articles and actually learning things myself.

Since we last held the event in 2019 much has changed with the world we live and work in. For two years we battled covid and now we find ourselves at the epicentre of rising costs, which will only serve as the catalyst to finding new and more efficient ways of working.

I sincerely hope you enjoy reading the fruits of our labour, and we look forward to finally seeing you in person on the 29th September at SHL!ve.

As we enter a new normal and work to the best of our ability with hand we have been dealt, I am delighted to see that innovation has not stopped, we have not continued to push the boundaries around workforce safety and that the wellbeing of those who work upon and use the public highway remains a key priority.

As always, I thank all of our contributors and moreover the team behind the scenes who have yet again delivered an outstanding piece of work.

Freya Wells, Editor

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0344 840 0088

We provide Innovative Infrastructure Solutions for the protection of people, places and communities globally.

Enhanced by great people, creativity and innovation, which is why the mental health and well being of our teams is our upmost priority.

Highway Care’s in-house, trained Mental Health First Aiders are on hand when needed alongside communication lines being available throughout the working days, so that our people are supported and can be in the best place both mentally and physically.

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Contents COVER STORY

06 ROADS UNDER THE MICROSCOPE

How the ORR plans to scrutinse National Highways

40 HOW ARE HIGHWAYS FIRMS USING FIELD MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE TO PREPARE FOR THE FUTURE?

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As the highways industry ventures further into the future, the move away from tried-and-true paper systems and legacy spreadsheet software grows increasingly inevitable

10 BULLYING - A JURASSIC PROBLEM? With workplace bullying on the rise and the ‘great resignation’ in full swing, employees are changing their priorities at work

14 SOLVING RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES ND Making A Difference to Real People, A Real Families, Real Businesses and Real Communities

20 THE BIG IDEA: DECARBONISATION How today can influence tomorrow

24 THE HALO, FORMULA 1, AND CHANGING PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF HEALTH AND SAFETY

The halo head-protection device has been one of the single biggest success stories of Formula 1’s constant quest to improve safety

34 HOW MORGAN SINDALL INFRASTRUCTURE IS CREATING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE Morgan Sindall Infrastructure is one of very few companies in the industry to take a more holistic and sustainable approach to be a responsible business

39 SH L!ve !ve is back for 2022 building upon it L growing reputation as the industry’s only sector specific Health and Safety event

44 R OADWORKER SAFETY IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF ALL ROAD USERS Chris Seaton discusses how drug driving is growing exponentially year-on year and just how significant this problem has become

48 DOWNFALL - THE CASE AGAINST BOEING I n his latest blog, Tim Marsh discusses the $2.5 billion dollar fine and the last word safety culture case studies

in

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30 KELTBRAY LAUNCHES NEW HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELLBEING STRATEGY– PH2 Keltbray is launching its new health, safety and wellbeing strategy signifying its vision to Promote Health, Prevent Harm

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We will pay particular attention to ensuring National Highways takes a ‘whole life cost’ approach in its plans for maintaining the network and avoids storing up costs for the long term.

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Roads under the Microscope How the ORR plans to scrutinse National Highways

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he need to replace short-term thinking with a long-term, strategic vision and plan for the network was at the heart of the reforms to the management of motorways and major A roads in England in 2015.

This is why the process of developing each new Road Investment Strategy (or RIS for short) is so important.

Not only does the RIS set out the projects and programmes the Government wants to deliver, but it also establishes the standards of performance and efficiency National Highways will be expected to achieve.

ORR plays a key role by scrutinising National Highways’ plans and advising government on whether those plans will achieve the outcomes proposed and will do so in an efficient manner.

We’re well underway with preparations for the third Road Investment Strategy (RIS3), which sets the agenda for 2025 to 2030. Our oversight and scrutiny will ensure better outcomes for all those who use or are affected by the Strategic Road Network and drive better value for taxpayers.

As we recently set out in our approach, we’re going to be stepping up our scrutiny to ensure the company’s plans are challenging and deliverable – and expect the quality of National Highways’ plans to reflect its maturity as the company enters its third road period.

Asset management In respect of plans for maintaining and renewing the Strategic Road Network, we will put more of a focus on the quality of National Highways’ approach, its understanding of asset needs, and the way in which it plans to meet the challenge of an ageing asset base.

We will pay particular attention to ensuring National Highways takes a ‘whole life cost’ approach in its plans for maintaining the network and avoids storing up costs for the long term.

We have already been looking closely at the approach National Highways takes to renewals investment planning. The company has set out ambitious plans to improve its approach.

While it is moving in the right direction, there is much to be done. We found a mixed picture across different types of assets with shortfalls in the quality of data and evidence available for some assets.

This work highlights to us and National Highways where plans are more and less well developed.

Road improvement projects For RIS3, we are strengthening the approach we take to assessing risks of delays to major road improvement projects.

It is vital that government, road users and

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“

Crucially, being more efficient doesn’t necessarily mean cutting costs the wider industry have confidence that National Highways can deliver in a timely fashion.

We commissioned work to look at projects delivered by National Highways in the past and identify the key factors that influence timescales, and the warning signs that suggest projects may be at greater risk of delays.

Where projects failed to deliver on time, most of the delays occurred during the development phase – before construction begins. The four most prevalent risk factors were: statutory planning processes, changes in scope, stakeholder requirements and construction issues.

We’re using this evidence to inform the advice we provide to government on the RIS3 enhancement programme in the autumn of 2023.

Efficient delivery One of our core duties in the RIS development process is to advise government on cost and efficiency.

Crucially, being more efficient doesn’t necessarily mean cutting costs. We are acutely aware that spending less in the short term can lead to higher costs in the long term.

Setting funding at a level that is sufficiently stretching but provides sufficient resources to deliver the requirements of the RIS is a difficult balance to achieve.

We’re pushing National Highways to put forward detailed proposals for how this will be achieved, including what actions are needed in the third road period and, crucially, how it can be measured and verified.

For RIS3, it is complicated by the fact that National Highways is likely to be required to do more in areas such as safety and reducing carbon emissions. Rising inflation makes it more difficult to predict how much money will be needed and we are monitoring this situation closely.

Since 2015, gradual reductions in casualties on the Strategic Road Network have been achieved. However, National Highways has stated its ambition for the number of people killed or seriously injured on the SRN to be at a level approaching zero by 2040.

Performance We hold National Highways to account for its performance against several targets such as network condition, performance, safety and environmental impact.

National Highways has stated its ambition for the number of people killed or seriously injured on the SRN to be at a level approaching zero by 2040w

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There are two areas for which a step change in performance is likely to be required and where much attention will be focussed.

National Highways has set out high level proposals for how it intends to meet the net zero carbon challenge. By 2030 it will need to have achieved net zero on its corporate emissions and have made considerable progress in reducing emissions from its maintenance and construction activities.

The second area of focus is safety performance.

Road safety is a complex area, not least because many of the potential levers to achieve casualty reductions (for example, vehicle technology) are outside National Highways’ control.

Nevertheless, a more systematic approach will be required with clearly laid out and costed plans for how the number of casualties can be further reduced.

It is clear that we’ve come a long way since National Highways’ creation in 2015, but there is still much to do, and the challenges don’t get any smaller, but National Highways is better equipped to meet these challenges.

Through our increased scrutiny of their plans, we will push the company to do better, including on safety, carbon delivery and efficiency – and continue to hold them to account at every step along the way.

Partnering to create a legacy with environmental net gain

270,000 9 new woodlands

trees planted

25 year commitment

We believe in acting responsibly and our commitment to being a responsible business informs all the decisions we make.

As part of Morgan Sindall Group plc and our goal to be net zero by 2030, we are planting more than a quarter of a million trees in partnership with Blenheim Estate.

MS9190

Nine new woodlands will be created and will offset a total of 22,000 tonnes of carbon across a quarter of a century.

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BULLYING A JURASSIC PROBLEM?

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ullying, i’ll just let you think about that word for a moment . . . . . . . . . .When most of you reading this saw that word, I imagine your minds were transported back to a time, years ago, on the school playground or classroom.

While no bullying is acceptable, most of us would like to think that school is the only time this would be taking place.

Unfortunately for a large percentage of employees, this is simply not the case.

With workplace bullying on the rise and the ‘great resignation’ in full swing, employees are changing their priorities at work. For our current and future workforce, how an organisation approaches employee wellbeing is becoming a key reason to take on or leave a role.

There is a perceived view that pockets of “boys at the top” club culture exist, run by dinosaurs and with those pockets can come... psychologically unsafe workplaces 10

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Bullying at work is a major workplace problem that makes the daily working lives of many workers intolerable. Workplace bullying can lead to ill-health and workrelated stress, it affects morale and is the cause of untold misery to workers.

won’t reach out when they need to call out unacceptable behaviour.

So, before we can explore the effect of workplace bullying on our mental health and wellbeing, we need to know what they are.

In a nutshell workplace bullying is a persistent pattern of mistreatment from others in the workplace that causes either physical or emotional harm leading to intimidation and offence. This can manifest itself in several ways such as verbal, nonverbal, psychological, and physical abuse as well as humiliation.

Workplace bullying can take many forms, and as a result, it’s not always easy to recognise straight away. In fact, in some workplaces, it is so ingrained into the culture, that it is often projected to employees as something else or simply not recognised as unacceptable behaviour.

While your stereotypical school bully is all about physical abuse, the psychological abuse within the workplace can be equally and potentially more damaging. It can be as subtle as overt or veiled threats or fearinducing communication and behaviour or as blatant as belittling, persistently disparaging someone or their opinions, ideas, work, or personal circumstances in an undeserving manner.

So, when does bullying become harassment? Well ACAS say “Harassment is when bullying or unwanted behaviour is about any of the following ‘protected characteristics’ under discrimination law (Equality Act 2010): age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex, sexual orientation.

So how do we know there is an issue? Well, the statistics are there for everybody to see. According to a YouGov Poll (for the TUC), 29% of people have been victims of workplace bullying. That’s around 9 million of the UK’s workforce! To put that into perspective that’s the population of Scotland and Wales together! A UNISON survey backs this up with 60% of the 6000 respondents reported either experiencing or witnessing bullying in the workplace and

If we are not encouraging a step away from this culture, then we will continue to have the same problems which have become rife in the industry.

If we are not encouraging a step away from this culture, then we will continue to have the same problems which have become rife in the industry. Problems such as labelling bullying behaviours as ‘banter’.

Just because ‘banter’ doesn’t constitute all the elements of bullying doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. Offensive, threatening, violent, abusive language and behaviour are always unacceptable, whatever your role. All this does is undermine the emotions and impact this type of verbal bullying can have on the individual.

Phrases that have become commonplace like “ooooh don’t worry he’s always like that” or if they don’t take the piss out of you it means they don’t like you” need to be challenged and shown to be unacceptable otherwise you just encourage the “man up” ‘get on with it’ culture we have worked so hard in the last 5 years to move away from.

the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitrary Service (Acas) revealed that their helpline receives 20,000 phone calls every year concerning bullying.

Every organisation within our industry will have an Anti-Bullying policy I’m sure but is it enough to simply state on a piece of paper what is acceptable or not?

These numbers are not acceptable in any industry but does the demographic of the UK highways and construction industry mean we have a bigger fight on our hands than most? In my opinion, yes it does.

Challenging bullying at work can be difficult, especially where it is accepted as part of the culture. If we think back to those with protected characteristics, for instance, it’s incredibly important to take the individual’s feelings into account. If they feel they’ve been embarrassed or emotionally upset or affected by what’s been said to them then that must be taken seriously and classed as bullying.

Whilst in recent years there has been more of an effort towards understanding the benefits that Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion play in our workplaces, we have been and continue to be very much a male-dominated, ageing industry. There is a perceived view that pockets of “boys at the top” club culture exist, run by dinosaurs and with those pockets can come very draconian views, practices and intimidating psychologically unsafe workplaces. These types of environments breed fear of airing any concerns regards discrimination, bullying, harassment, and mental health issues, which ultimately means staff just

It is so important that bullying is raised and tackled at the earliest possible opportunity. If we don’t then it goes on and more stress and suffering is placed upon the person being bullied and colleagues who have witnessed it. Victims do not speak out about bullying because they fear that the bullying will only get worse if they do, or that they will not be believed, which will ensure it gets worse.

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We need to encourage diverse and equal workforces so that stigma and prejudice become a thing of the past.

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he only way to stop this, is to ensure that bullying does not become an accepted culture. We need to make our workplaces safe places. We need to challenge when unacceptable behaviours occur, whether it’s the behaviour or actions of a CEO of a large company

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or an apprentice school leaver, when it is challenged, we need to take it seriously. We need to encourage diverse and equal workforces so that stigma and prejudice become a thin of

what is unacceptable, but also about creating a culture that gives people the opportunity and confidence to speak up when something unacceptable takes place, without the fear of negative consequences of self-image, status or career.

the past.

Following their mental health survey, Stefano Lobban, Director at Herts Tools, said: “The findings from our survey highlight that the workplace could be doing more. They could encourage workers suffering to come forward and share their experiences of poor mental health issues and/or bullying by having more confidentiality measures in place. Companies could look at investing in workplace surveys, private spaces, and more wellbeing measures, to allow workers to share any personal issues in a safe and supportive environment.”

If we are going to make workplace bullying a thing of the past then It’s not only about clearly defining what is acceptable and

If you would like to get in touch regards this subject or anything else, then please contact me on the details below.

Jamie Forsyth Wellbeing Coach jamie@thewellbeinggeek.com www.thewellbeinggeek.com

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Solving Recruitment Challenges

AND Making A Difference to Real People, Real Families, Real Businesses and Real Communities.

In today’s critical labour shortage, Government and business leaders are forging a new era in creating second changes by developing new relationships between the UK’s prisons network and the commercial sector. Business chiefs from Murphy, Gallagher Group, Timpson, Cook and many others including Safer Highways member Solar Gates UK, have pledged to employ hundreds of ex-offenders.

By Neil Sampson and Anna Blake Solar Gates UK

A

t the first National Prison Employment Advisory Board (EAB) Conference, hosted at Timpsons’ Manchester based training centre, a host of prison governors and business leaders heard real life stories and the huge differences these second chances make to real people, families, businesses, and communities. The Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Victoria Atkins MP laid out the governments’ plan to streamline this ideal into a reality for employers and ex-offenders alike.

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I am determined to see barriers removed so businesses can hire more Getting prison leavers who want prison leavers to turn around their lives into steady jobs

is a win-win

Atkins urged employers to help “break the cycle” of reoffending, at a conference hosted by Timpson’s chief James Timpson, in partnership with the government’s New Futures Network (NFN) and urged them to put their weight behind a government scheme to help prisoners back into work.

“Getting prison leavers into steady jobs is a win-win. It cuts crime and makes the public safer – and also provides the reliable staff businesses need to drive the British economy,” Atkins explained to conference attendees.

Atkins said the government “wouldn’t ask businesses to do

something we are not doing ourselves, and are planning to hire 1,000 prison leavers into civil service roles. We are calling on more firms to get involved in protecting the public through unlocking better lives for ex-offenders seeking a second chance.”

“I am determined to see barriers removed so businesses can hire more prison leavers who want to turn around their lives,” Atkins concluded.

Murphy Group CEO, John Murphy, also chairs the employment advisory board at HMP Berwyn explains, “By sharing our practical business experience with prison colleagues, we are supporting

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prisoners to get the rights skills and advice, so they are job ready on release. They are proven to be valuable members of our team”.

with ex-offenders; now the reverse is true. In fact, a few weeks ago our recruitment team was a week too late; Greggs had already signed up the best candidates”

James Timpson in his Sunday Times Column says “When I was a kid, my mum, a foster carer, often took us to Styal Prison, near Manchester. I would sit in the car for a couple of hours staring at the high fence while she took the babies, she was caring for to see their locked-up mothers.

With labour shortages in the Highways Industry this new recruitment opportunity can only be a win:win solution to bringing in new raw talent for struggling recruiters.

Ministers hope to see EAB’s, linking jails to employers, operational at all 91 resettlement prisons in England and Wales by spring 2023. Solar Gates UK chair an Visiting prisons is now something I EAB’s at HMP Stanford Hill, working with regularly fit in my diary. Most weeks I walk the wings, talking to inmates while looking the prison Governor, offenders and local for great personalities to join my business. employers, helping inmates to be work ready upon release and to utilise ROTL For years I had a free rein, picking the best of the best. But now I have got competition. (release on temporary licence, or day release) opportunities. “We have only just Other employers have cottoned on to this started on the exciting EAB journey with great way of finding talented staff and this new government initiative and there giving people a second chance. For years are currently over 50 more advisory boards companies didn’t want to be associated and chairs to be found UK wide. So the opportunity is huge for those businesses who want to get involved”.

With over 5 years’ experience of working with ex-offenders and addicts in recovery, it is second nature to Solar Gates UK to give second chances. With this in mind, they are proudly hosting the second National EAB conference at their Kent based HQ on the 15th September 2022. This event, supported

by Timpson Foundation, NFN and HMPPS will allows Highways businesses and the local Chamber of Commerce members to hear how this new way of thinking will help to solve labour shortages. The Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice, Victoria Atkins MP, will deliver a keynote speech to business leaders and prison governors about the benefits to UK business and local communities. NFN will explain the journey and mission laid out ahead. But more pertinently, conference attendees will hear real life experiences from ex-offenders who have started their lives again, simply with the help of an employer offering them a job. There will also be practical workshops from the Cook Group about how they have integrated ex-offender recruitment into their company culture.

Working with ex-offenders has been one of the most singularly motivating and rewarding ways of building a valuable team

Neil Sampson, Managing Director at Solar Gates UK explains “Working with ex-offenders has been one of the most singularly motivating and rewarding ways of building a valuable team. We have had such huge success over the last 5 years

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Left: Claire Bennett Safer Highway’s Hero 2021

of working with local prisons, it is a pleasure to be hosting such a key event this autumn. If it allows us, and others like us, to tell our story to other business leaders and allows even one person being given a second chance, it will be worthwhile. The journey of employing though the prison service is perhaps a little daunting at the beginning and the EAB conference will allow those who have experienced this to explain the overwhelming employment benefits that result, as well as the life changing individual stories that businesses will then be a part of.”

“

Ex-offender and Safer Highway Hero award winner, Claire Bennett, will explain her story at the conference and the life changing results that a job opportunity gave her.

Claire recently completed her sentence, rebuilt her family life and has continued to thrive in her role at Solar Gates. Claire explains “over 18 months ago, Solar Gates gave me a chance to work with them, in a non-judgemental team where only my future was important to them and not my past. Each member of the team has had a positive impact on me and my new future. The faith and trust that Solar Gates UK placed in me when they took me on, and that they continue to show, has been a life changer. They have given me the opportunity, during my prison sentence, to go from merely surviving to thriving”.

Over 18 months ago, Solar Gates gave me a chance to work with them, in a non-judgemental team where only my future was important to them and not my past.

Claire Bennett

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Claire continues “To all the employers reading this, I hope I can be an ambassador for all offenders and encourage you to give opportunities to offenders upon release and to those in custody. Please try and remember that every prisoner has had a lifetime of experience; in work, at life and in education before their time in jail. I would say to you that if you are considering implementing a more positive HR policy to include employing people with a back story that may not be simple, or a wellbeing culture that can really affects lives, you could do no better than to get involved and attend the EAB conference at Solar Gates UK”. Claires shining example to the industry has placed her in the position of being a judge this years’ Highway Hero Awards.

The September EAB conference is all about unpacking this journey and hopefully will alleviate concerns, explain benefits and help ministers to further their mission.

We are opening the invitation on the 15th September to all and hope this will help the highways industry and the whole supply chain improve their employment outcomes, build corporate ESG and get behind the amazing win:win opportunity to give second chances”.

For more information and to register for the Southern EAB conference, contact anna@solargates.co.uk or visit https:// www.solargates.co.uk/news/eabconf

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The Big Idea

Decarbonisation -

How today can influence tomorrow

By Stuart McLaren Decarbonomics Director

I

t’s clear that the decarbonisation of the built environment should be at the centre of any strategy to reach net zero by 2050 globally. Not least because as much as 80% of the buildings that will be standing in 2050 have already been built.

There are very few serious construction sector leaders who would argue against the need to decarbonise to deliver net zero, but their big challenge is often squaring that strategic intent with the reality of cost, how to make the case for investment and verifying that the carbon reductions have been achieved.

With complex value chains and multiple variables to consider across the construction and asset management ecosystem, unified and meaningful progress will only be made where industry is able to make informed investment decisions by understanding the wider system across the whole life cycle. Systems-thinking is fairly hard in itself but it’s even more difficult to operationalise into something that can be used to do work.

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We’re reimagining highways by channelling solutions for the way we move, now and in the future.

Shaping the Future of Transport.

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The Big Idea Having a clear path to future proofing data, digital and physical assets (including components) through standardisation should be a central focus for industry. Get these right and you stand a good chance of making substantial progress at not only decarbonising the built environment but dramatically improving the sectors long standing poor productivity.

In response to these challenges, SNC-Lavalin (including Atkins and Faithful+Goluld) has launched Decarbonomics. This is a datadriven solution which operationalises systems-thinking into a deployable service to decarbonize the existing built environment in a cost-effective way and accelerate the global journey to net zero.

It is our belief that creating net zero communities of the future will be (mostly) dependent upon effective decarbonisation of existing assets. As such, Decarbonomics is a clear example of how we can help clients meet their net zero targets, by providing sustainable solutions.

For businesses and organisations with large property portfolios or estates, understanding the performance of their buildings and where their carbon emissions are is a real challenge. In turn the inability to

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develop robust and credible decarbonisation roadmaps that can deliver against commitments, support investment cases and inform capital investment planning becomes a material issue that will impede meaningful progress.

Founded on principles of systems-thinking, Decarbonomics brings our diverse expertise and knowledge of the whole life cycle of the built environment and buildings together in a way that enables us to make carbon visible at the portfolio level and, in turn, empower our clients to make much more informed decisions about their investments in decarbonisation.

To achieve effective decarbonisation costeffectively, establishing the conditions for effective collaborative partnerships between the client and their value chain will be key.

We do this by significantly improving data accuracy and maturity early and by effectively integrating people, data and technology to provide greater opportunities to embrace outcome-based commercial models which mutually incentivise delivery of net zero goals.

By taking our simple three-step approach of benchmarking, road mapping and delivery,

the client’s decarbonisation program will be framed by a simple approach making delivery much less opaque, building confidence and trust over the course of a decarbonisation programme.

At the benchmarking stage we capture, structure, and manage client portfolio data to gain a deeper understanding of their properties, benchmarking current performance to create a framework to maximise the value of their data.

At the road mapping stage, we analyse carbon, cost, asset data and engineering solutions to create enterprise level data digital twins. By using scenario testing through our inhouse asset management tools, augmented by artificial intelligence we create bespoke roadmaps, for the most costeffective and pragmatic implementation. It is at this stage that we can support clients making investment cases and decisions to ensure the way forward is financially viable.

Once the direction of travel is set, our industry-leading management teams ensure quantifiable decarbonisation interventions are delivered throughout the life cycle of the client’s assets. This provides real-time views of their performance against the plan and initial benchmarking process.

This three-step approach is underpinned by our Carbon Data Insights, which is a diverse mix of global open-source benchmark databases augmented by our own data rich environment developed through the delivery of a wide range of global projects.

By implementing a strategy for achieving carbon reduction from behaviour change to building retrofit interventions, (and measuring progress across the portfolio and asset lifecycle) the end result will be a decarbonised estate.

STAGE 1: BENCHMARK

Baseline and benchmark your estate – see where carbon emissions exist.

For the first time, Decarbonomics will provide clients with a complete picture of carbon performance across their entire building estate over the entire decarbonisation programme, whatever the size and scale, through accessible and easy to use interactive dashboards.

With flexibility and accuracy built-in, Decarbonomics enables organisations to accelerate their net zero plans in the most cost and programme effective way, whilst at the same time minimising risk and maximising investment and funding opportunities.

For the first time, Decarbonomics will provide clients with a complete picture of carbon performance across their entire building estate over the entire decarbonisation programme, whatever the size and scale, through accessible and easy to use interactive dashboards

STAGE 2: ROADMAP

Evaluate interventions, scenario modelling and development of optimised decarbonisation roadmaps.

STAGE 3: DELIVER

Create cost and programme optimised delivery plans for effective implementation.

Track performance.

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The Halo, Formula 1, and changing public perceptions of Health and Safety.

By Laura Aucott Associate Director at HSE Recruitment and Executive Network Group

I

don’t know if any of my connections are particularly F1 fans (and let’s be honest I know very little about the sport, I am just coerced to watch it by my Lewis Hamilton obsessed husband) but last weekend’s race seemed to me the perfect display of how valuable Health and Safety really can be in genuine life or death situations – and really showed how interesting the dichotomy is between public perception of safety issues and the reality.

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So first things first – what happened?

At last weekend’s F1 race at Silverstone, two dramatic crashes took place. One between Zhou Guanyu, George Russell, and Pierre Gasly, which sent Alfa Romeo driver Zhou crashing dramatically into the barriers – narrowly missing several spectators by the looks of it. The second crash between Sebastian Vettel and Alex Albon meant Albon spun dramatically colliding with a further driver Yuki Tsunoda.

If you haven’t watched this footage yet you can take a look at Zhou’s dramatic crash at: https://youtu.be/B2XHq9d4OWI From the looks of the video it was a miracle that Zhou was able to walk away unscathed – but actually this was down to an extremely well designed safety intervention.

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What is the halo?

The Halo is a wishbone shaped titanium bar that sits on top of the cockpit of the car and wraps around the driver’s head. They are built to sustain huge amounts of weight and pressure and ostensibly they are able to sustain the weight of a double decker bus!

Even my husband’s favourite Lewis Hamilton in 2016 called the halo

These halo systems were introduced to F1 in 2018 and were specifically designed to protect drivers’ heads from debris, or serious damage if the cars flipped.

the worst looking modification in the history of the sport

The halo was first trialled in races in 2016 before becoming mandatory in all cars in 2018, however at first there was outcry over their implementation. Many people (spectators, drivers, and even the then F1 boss Bernie Eccleston) opposed the implementation of the halo as it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing and meant the drivers couldn’t be seen as well. The argument was also made that they affected drivers’ visibility, although this was later disproven.

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It seems crazy to me that something that needed to be implemented for safety reasons could be opposed in the face of pure aesthetics, but I’m sure this isn’t a surprise to many of you working in the industry who face push back on safety innovation regularly. To me this situation really shows the gap between safety professionals and public perception still – and that to the general public something like aesthetics in a lethal sport could still be considered more important than saving lives.

(Lewis Hamilton by the way soon changed his tune on the halo after crediting the system with saving his life during the Italian Grand Prix in 2021. ) There is no doubt that Zhou would not have walked away from Sunday’s crash with minimal injuries as he did without the implementation of the halo.

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The BBC’s F1 writer Andrew Benson had this to say; “The halo head-protection device has been one of the single biggest success stories of Formula 1’s constant quest to improve safety since the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994.

It faced opposition from people who felt it might undermine the essence of the sport as an open-cockpit series - including a minority of drivers.

But it quickly proved its worth when it was introduced in 2018, following a campaign by the late FIA F1 director Charlie Whiting and the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association.

In a multi-car pile-up at the 2018 Belgian Grand Prix, the halo deflected Fernando Alonso’s flying McLaren away from Sauber driver Charles Leclerc’s head.

Since then, there have been at least three other incidents in which it has apparently saved a driver’s life, most famously in preventing Romain Grosjean from being decapitated when his Haas pierced a barrier in his fiery crash in Bahrain in 2020.

Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu in Sunday’s British Grand Prix was just the most recent example - and he almost certainly won’t be the last.”

Finally I decided it would be interesting to get some insight from a Safety professional enmeshed in racing and reached out to Richard Bate, Principal HSE Consultant for Formula E. He said; “While initially universally derided by drivers and teams, the Halo device has proven its value in FIA single seat racing series, by facilitating driver escapes from incidents that would otherwise have resulted in serious injury. Alex Lynne walked away from a high-speed airborne roll during the Saudi Arabian E Prix in 2021 - but what did we learn from this? Clearly the Halo effects driver vision and makes extrication of a driver from a vehicle more challenging, but the key take away for Formula E was the interaction with the Halo, roll-hoop and head and neck protection devices working concurrently. Two years on from the Lynne incident, this was clearly evidenced when the roll-hoop was torn from Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo F1 car at the British F1 GP. There is a cause for every effect – clearly the FIA will continue to research the interaction of safety devices to ensure miraculous drivers escapes become routine.”

In conclusion I think things like the recent pandemic and interventions such as the Halo are really starting to have an impact on public perception of H&S and helping to change the narrative – but we mustn’t lose momentum. Now is the perfect time to continue to capitalise on current appreciation of Safety and continue to drive the industry forward.

What do you think of the halo and it’s impact on public perception of Health and Safety?

Let me know by commenting below, or email me at laura.aucott@hserecruitment.co.uk

The halo head-protection device has been one of the single biggest success stories of Formula 1’s constant quest to improve safety since the death of Ayrton Senna in 1994. Andrew Benson 28

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Keltbray launches new Health, Safety and Wellbeing strategy – PH², otherwise known as Promote Health, Prevent Harm

K

eltbray is launching its new health, safety and wellbeing strategy titled PH², signifying its vision to Promote Health, Prevent Harm. The creation of this new strategy was coordinated and produced by the health, safety and environmental leadership teams, in conjunction with the Wellbeing Committee.

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Keltbray’s primary focus, above all others, is to maintain the safest and healthiest working environment possible for all employees and supply chain partners wherever they go to work on behalf of Keltbray. However, we believe our obligations extend further than just safety, and include responsibility for people’s health and wellbeing. Workplace research tells us that people who are mentally and physically ‘fit’, are invariably more alert, conscientious and engaged in their duties, and as a consequence deliver much safer and more productive results.

shared vision, our philosophy, culture and processes are mirrored wherever possible.

The PH² strategy aims to imbed the initiatives directly into the workforce, improving not only the workplace but enhancing the wellbeing of all.

When we reach certain delivery specifics and their supporting narratives, we will distinguish between our approaches where necessary to achieve maximum operational effectiveness. This will enable Keltbray to: upport our core purpose – to redefine S the way sustainable development is delivered, and business strategy – ‘Unleashing our potential’ to achieve sustained growth Maximise continuous improvement opportunities and minimise risks Align both strategies to ensure operational success Create an industry standard of parity between health and safety and health and wellbeing Utilise one singular module and common language

Neil Davison, Lead HSQE Manager

To this end, we are building an inclusive culture where everyone has the ability to thrive and contribute to our sustained growth and success. This focused approach manifests itself in our new group health, safety and wellbeing strategy, summarily captured by: Promote Health, Prevent Harm.

PH² demonstrates a new approach, an evolution of our thinking and an alignment of our health, safety and wellbeing aspirations. By intrinsically linking two previously separate strategies under one

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Sam Taylor, HS&W Strategic Projects Lead at Keltbray, said this on the design and implementation of this new strategy: “Conceptually, PH² takes us to the next level, its bespoke structure has been developed specifically for our organisation and provides clear strategic direction, targeted tactical aims and practical functional measures.

Neil Davison, Lead HSQE Manager, said: “The PH² strategy aims to imbed the initiatives directly into the workforce, improving not only the workplace but enhancing the wellbeing of all.”

Crucially, PH² utilises a holistic people focussed approach that honours our core values, provides the foundation for realworld improvements and redefines health, safety and wellbeing within the industry.”

Andy Carson, Operations Director, said: “Our PH² strategy provides the Senior leadership team with a platform to increase engagement and promote our culture and values across Group, delivery teams and our supply chain. Importantly, it redefines the way we look at Health and Safety and gives equivalent importance to wellbeing.

Our strategy enables communication and messaging from the Group board level down to delivery teams. Likewise it enables messaging to go back up from the delivery teams to the board who set strategy and direction.”

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Conceptually, PH² takes us to the next level, its bespoke structure has been developed specifically for our organisation and provides clear strategic direction, targeted tactical aims and practical functional measures.

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Growing natural capital In April 2022, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure colleagues visited Blenheim Estate to plant dozens of oak saplings to help create the nine new woodlands.

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Morgan Sindall Creating a sustainable future M organ Sindall Infrastructure is one of very few companies in the industry to take a more holistic and sustainable approach to be a responsible business.

For several years, the company has been collaborating to tackle the challenges of decarbonisation and sustainability.

Most recently, the business formalised its commitment to achieving net-zero by 2030 by introducing its carbon strategy and net-zero pathway. These have enabled Morgan Sindall Infrastructure to identify behavioural and cultural change areas and hotspots within the business influencing policy changes and associated programmes.

We are driven by working collaboratively with our people, customers, supply chain and wider industries to embrace best practices to create a One major challenge the business has faced is the need to decarbonise its positive legacy for all. car fleets. In April 2021, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure implemented a policy change that removed the option to purchase petrol and diesel vehicles as part of its company car scheme. This meant that colleagues could only order

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hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or battery electric vehicles from all manufacturers. Based on the current adoption rate, modelling shows that its company car fleet will be 100% zero emissions by 2027, at the latest.

The company is also challenging itself on how to reduce the emissions associated with its commercial vehicles, investing in a journey planning mapping tool to assess the feasibility of electrifying the fleet. This has led to 10% of its commercial fleet moving to electric and the entire fleet having Euro 6 compliant engines.

The use of fuel on projects is also a significant source of emissions. Morgan Sindall Infrastructure implemented a fuel hierarchy with the ambition to operate fuel-free sites. This first level focuses on using renewable energy to provide power and ensuring a battery or electric plant and equipment are selected. The next level of the hierarchy looks at hybrid equipment, with Morgan Sindall Infrastructure recently investing in a fleet of hybrid tower lights

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that have been rolled out across its projects.

If electric or hybrid plant and equipment are unavailable, alternative fuel, such as HVO, is sourced. Diesel is used as a last resort.

“We are driven by working collaboratively with our people, customers, supply chain and wider industries to embrace best practices to create a positive legacy for all.”

When it comes to reducing carbon emissions on sites, the business has worked collaboratively to develop a carbon calculator, CarboniCa, which monitors and measures whole-life carbon emissions associated with a project. The tool enables the completion of carbon assessment calculations throughout every stage of a project, but crucially, and a differentiator to others, it also provides a supporting report that includes recommendations for carbon reductions within the project.

Morgan Sindall Infrastructure fosters an innovative and supportive culture where challenge, curiosity and bold ideas are welcomed to help advance more efficient, safe, resilient, and lower carbon infrastructure. In 2021, it launched the ‘Great Green Challenge’ – an innovation programme designed to generate ideas around nine carbon-intensive challenges currently facing the business and industry.

Tina Catling, Innovation Director at Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, led the programme: “The challenge brought together senior leaders, subject matter experts, graduates and external partners with the aim to generate ideas around nine challenges which included plant electrification, alternative fuels, steel and concrete, procurement, and behaviour change. We’re progressing these ideas, and it’s exciting to see the positive changes and benefits these will bring in the future.”

Simon Smith, Morgan Sindall Infrastructure’s managing director, said: “We believe in connecting people, places and communities through innovative and responsible infrastructure, and an essential element of enabling us to achieve this is reducing our carbon impact.

Work to improve the environment also continues for Morgan Sindall Infrastructure, part of Morgan Sindall Group, who has formed a partnership with the Blenheim Estate in Oxfordshire. The Group is planting more than a quarter of a million trees to create nine new woodlands, known as the Dorn and Glyme Valley Woodlands, as part of a 25-year commitment.

We believe in connecting people, places and communities through innovative and responsible infrastructure, and an essential element of enabling us to achieve this is reducing our carbon impact.

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L!ve is back for 2022 building upon its growing reputation as the industry's only sector specific Health and Safety event with a relevance to every level at every organisation within the supply chain.

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN 38

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De Vere East Midlands Conference Centre Beeston Ln, Nottingham NG7 2RJ

29th September 2022

L!ve is now regarded as the first and only collaborative industry event that illustrates innovation in health, safety and wellbeing in the Highways sector and wider industry.

From its concept only a few years ago as a small conference with a strong programme of unique health, safety and wellbeing content, L!ve has grown into a major experience with a number of features, hubs and experience areas all dedicated to bringing you the latest thought leadership, case studies, technical presentations and innovation challenges plus products, concepts and services related, not only to the health, safety and wellbeing sector, but the wider Highways sector.

SCAN TO REGISTER

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How are Highways firms using field management software to prepare for the future?

By Mike Saunders Managing Director Re-flow

A

s highways businesses come under increased pressure to meet stricter deadlines and ensure high standards for HSE while facing shrinking margins and growing workloads, many are abandoning traditional systems in favour of digital field management solutions that can provide the breathing room to enable sustainable business growth.

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As the highways industry ventures further into the future, the move away from tried-and-true paper systems and legacy spreadsheet software grows increasingly inevitable. The past several years have seen the rise of many alternatives pitching themselves as the next step for the industry, yet one has stood out, and continues to gain massive traction to this day – field management software.

An all-in-one system that aims to unite all major operational processes digitally, it’s no secret that its popularity is only set to increase as more businesses take the plunge, and the benefits become increasingly evident.

As more companies move into the market, business owners and managers may find

themselves either spoiled for choice or daunted by the selection. Picking the wrong software can cause more problems than it promises to solve. Off-the-shelf packages can often be lacking and flexibility, and businesses may find themselves quickly outgrowing their capabilities. This was the case for Tony Baysford, Managing Director of Fenton TM, who was looking for a solution to improve the slow communication that was hurting his HSE compliance and audit trails. After investing into a solution that failed to meet their needs, him and his team felt burnt from the experience – “We were concerned about moving to another solution, because of the limitations of the system we were using”.

So how can highways firms ensure they’re making the right choice?

In these cases, the words of their industry peers can hold their weight in gold.

That’s why companies such as Re-flow, an Exeter-based field management software provider, have found it crucial to be guided by the feedback of their users, and showcase their achievements. With over 80 clients in the highways industry, including heavyweights such as Highway Traffic Management and Premier Traffic Management, users report an average 90% reduction in paperwork thanks to digitised forms and cloud-based record keeping that can store masses of information, including equipment, vehicles, qualifications, jobs and more. Digitised information also brings the massive benefit of enabling instant communication.

In Re-flow’s case, all data is communicated between operatives using their mobile app on-site, and staff at the office using their

desktop dashboard. The streamlining of these processes has shown incredible results – when phone calls, e-mails and physical documents don’t need chasing, users have shown an average 50% increase in time saved, and up to 75% gains in efficiency.

Such time savings enable teams to truly focus on the work that matters.

For Mat Field, Managing Director at City TM, this has meant greatly increasing the capabilities of his staff, without needing to grow his team.

Since adopting Re-flow, “the back office are now performing three or four different roles in the business, compared to only having the time to handle one previously”. In a time where workers are more valuable than ever, providing them the right tools to complete their work efficiently

We were concerned about moving to another solution, because of the limitations of the system we were using.

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and to a high standard is crucial to sustainable business growth.

While it’s important to enable your team to be more efficient, what’s more important is to keep them safe. It’s no secret that working in the highways sector can be an occupation fraught with serious risks. The industry’s workplace injury rate remains well above the average, and traffic management workers are recognised as having one of the most hazardous occupations.

Implementing processes that can make submission of forms, reporting of incidents and creating robust audit trails as frictionless as possible are now crucial to building a safer on-site environment. This is one of the greatest benefits reported by Re-flow’s users. Strictly enforced, instantly communicated digital forms that leave no room for mistakes or cut corners, have lead to an average 100% accuracy on completed forms. With a wide catalogue of customisable forms, including near-miss reports, dynamic risk assessments and incident reports, the inconvenience of manually filling out paper forms is eliminated and operatives are more incentivised to take safety into their

Average

50

%

increase in HSE reporting

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own hands – leading to an average 50% increase in HSE reporting. When Health & Safety Managers are provided high quality and current data, auditability can see increases of up to 80%, and sites can remain safer than ever before.

Barry Greenwood, Managing Director of Chapter 8 Traffic Management has seen his HSE management transform before his eyes after implementing Re-flow, “through field staff interaction and completion of electronic forms our staff can report any health and safety issues in real time. As the specific forms are e-mailed to key office staff our reaction times are reduced. Also, with site photos being completed, the operations team are able to advise site staff on any non-compliance which has led to superb rectification times.”

Companies including Highway Traffic Management, Premier Traffic Management, City TM and many more have been taking full advantage of Re-flow’s digital forms, scheduling, asset management, automated workflows and instant communication to revolutionise their businesses. Using these features, they have experienced an average 70% increase in cross-team communication, 75% increase in efficiency and paperwork reduction of 90%. Tangible results that prove field management software has the potential to build a more sustainable, productive and resilient highways industry.

To learn more about Re-flow and Field Management Software visit www.re-flow.co.uk

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After the first few weeks the feedback from our supervisors, foremen and operatives on site was extremely positive, something not expected as we moved from a tried and tested paper based system to a digital workflow.

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Roadworker safety is the responsibility of all road users and those that employ them.

W

By Chris Seaton Director of Public Affairs Group

hen we think about roadworker safety we probably think about personal protective equipment such as high visibility clothing, road cones, average speed cameras and flashing amber lights.

The UK’s roads are no stranger to these, and their presence will grow as the government and local authorities continue to make record investment in repairing and building new roads. The reality though, is that protecting our roadworkers extends well beyond the obvious.

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In 2019/20, x road workers were killed – A quick search on Google of the term “roadworker safety” and it’s frightening what you see within the first few search results. Highways England statistics revealing that there were nearly 6,500 incidents of

If they lose their licence You lose your livelihood

74%

of substance users are in employment

The police can test for drugs at any time.

Will they be catching your employees?

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Cumbria Police recorded

883

drug driving arrests twice the number for drink driving

incursions (vehicles entering roadworks) from October 2017 to October 2020 – an average of 175 a month.

There were around 330 incidents of abuse reported from Sept 2019 to October 2020, an average of nearly 1 a day. A 10% increase in abuse incidents in the first 9 months of 2020 compared to the first 9 months of 2019 – even with lower traffic flows in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

Another search result reveals the findings of a recent survey in Scotland which found that one in four roadworkers said that the abuse they have experienced at work has affected their mental health with almost one in 10 saying they’ve been subject to physical abuse in the past year. One in five reported having missiles thrown at them in the past year and nearly two out of three roadworkers have been verbally abused by passing motorists.

There are differing reasons given for this unacceptable road user behaviour and complete lack of respect for road workers.

Roadworks normally mean slower traffic and with such high percentages of road users driving to or from their place of work or for work, lost time and lateness can raise

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tempers and be a catalyst for erratic driving – the consequences are possibly why we are seeing such appalling statistics like those mentioned above.

What about road users that are under the influence of drink or drugs? Could that be a factor?

The answer is quite possibly and while statistics suggest that drink driving has levelled off in recent years, drug driving is a completely different story.

There are now up to three times more arrests for drug driving related offences than drink driving in some parts of the UK. In 2020, North Wales Police recorded 1,307 drug driving arrests compared with 820 for drink driving.

In the same period, Cumbria Police recorded 883 drug driving arrests, twice the number for drink driving.

Drug driving is growing exponentially year-onyear and the graph below demonstrates just how significant this problem has become.

Some statistics suggest that 74% of substance abusers are in full-time employment and with well over half the cars that are sold each year going directly to businesses and fleets, it stands to reason that many of their drivers will not always be fit to drive.

On top of that we have over 4.5 million vans in the UK and over a million HGV’s – all of these have drivers too.

Towards the end of 2021, HSE published updated guidance on work-related road risk (WRRR) for employers and workers. For the first time, it asks employers to remind workers that they must not drive under the influence of drink or drugs, including prescription drugs.

It’s good that HSE are finally tuning into the problem. However, HSE and lawmakers are going to need to do a lot more than this to address it.

Businesses running fleets of cars, vans, HGV’s, coaches, buses or any other vehicle on our roads can and should be doing more to protect their own workers – and by doing so they will protect other road users, pedestrians and yes, roadworkers too.

The businesses that employ roadworkers should also be doing the same – back to the point that 74% of substance abusers are in full-time employment, why wouldn’t we want to make sure that those we are sending out onto our busy and dangerous roads are fit to be there themselves?

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Blog Update

Downfall The Case Against Boeing

In his latest blog, Tim Marsh discusses the $2.5 billion dollar fine and the last word in safety culture case studies…

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R

ecently in a discussion with a potential client I quipped that they didn’t need a consultant at all – they just needed to gather as a management team and watch the Netflix film ‘Downfall’. Then – ‘don’t do that’.

It is perhaps the most straightforward safety case study of all time with a company with a once excellent culture and worldwide reputation reduced to one

with a terrible culture that was fined $2.5 billion dollars following two of their planes simply falling from the sky killing hundreds of passengers.

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Background Initially, Boeing were a company driven by engineering excellence. Working out of Seattle they built innovative planes with great professionalism and pride.

The Jumbo 747, in particular, transformed global travel and made the world a more connected place decades before Zoom was invented. The well-known passenger saying ‘If it aint a Boeing then I aint going’ a real badge of honour. On a day-to-day level, engineers that spotted potential issues during design and build were lauded and the observations welcomed. It was, by consensus, an open, continuously improving, learning focused and empowered culture.

Then it all went horribly wrong Following a merger with the Chicago based McDonald Douglas in 1997, profits and share price weren’t left to take care of themselves but became the primary

“

My prediction: you’ll think that a $2.5 billion dollar fine paid to avoid any prosecutions was getting off very, very lightly indeed. a thousand miles away and not in the same building.

What inevitably happens next is that a blame culture develops where no news becomes “good news” and where engineers that raise concerns – inconveniently in writing in particular – are no longer seen as useful but as troublemakers.

The previous culture of excellence degrades quickly.

focus. In this new world (think Gordon Gekko of the film Wall Street) employees and teams were actively encouraged to share ownership of the stock market price as the ultimate tracker of success.

(A spectacularly naive, perverse and deranged view of what motivates the average human psyche if you ask me even before we talk about what inevitably happens next). Hugely symbolically, HQ is moved from Seattle to Chicago. In part, this is so engineering teams alarmed and enraged by the many ‘tough but argued to be necessary’ commercial decisions are

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Then, facing strong competition from Europe’s Airbus, the decision is made to not spend years designing a new plane but to upgrade an existing one that’s decades old. Initially, this is a success. Upgrading the original 737 (long proven) is quicker but there are also, crucially, fewer regulators to satisfy and, even more crucially for sales potential, no expensive training needed for the pilots of potential customers. And this commercial call does indeed turn into large share price boosting sales for the 737 ‘Max’…

But, the more fuel-efficient engines are bigger and need slight repositioning and require a bit of automatic kit (the MCAS) that points the plane in the right direction and helps stop the nose raising and the plane stalling. The trouble is that if the MCAS malfunctions, then pilots have just 10 seconds to prevent the plane being put into an irreversible dive. Unbelievably, that kit wasn’t designed to come with a second line of defence should it fail so it was always going to be the pilots that saved the plane.

Incredibly, by Boeing policy, the pilots of the customer airlines weren’t trained in this – indeed the pilots didn’t even know the new kit MCAS function existed.

The First Crash In October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashes with all 189 on board killed when the MCAS system fails again. Boeing (with hugely racist undertones) point at the Indonesian pilot saying that this wouldn’t have happened in the US. In the film, the famous ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ pilot Chesley Sullenberger pops up to say, ‘yes it would’. (I’ve no idea if he added off camera ‘because we’re not clairvoyant either’). Boeing hold this line despite (or perhaps appallingly because of) in-house data predicting a plane will fall out of the sky every two years on average…

Then, with Boeings management sitting in Chicago performing mental gymnastics of the worst kind (or worse) and crossing their fingers, just five months later, in March 2019 Ethiopian Airlines flight 302 crashes in a near identical incident in the sea off Ethiopia, with 157 killed. Incredibly, (unless you know how cultures work) Boeing remain defensive and bullish and now seek to blame the African pilots. However, when China are first to ban the 737 Max and many others following suit soon after, the entire fleet need to be grounded for almost two years.

I’d urge readers to watch the film if they can.

My prediction: you’ll think that a $2.5 billion dollar fine paid to avoid any prosecutions was getting off very, very lightly indeed. This is a corporate Faustian pact with the devil manifest through safety culture. It’s not nuanced at all. Yes, profit (or Gekko’s ‘greed is good’) can drive innovation and efficiency but what use is that to anyone but shareholders (in the short term) if all values, principles and humanity are lost? Though sympathy goes first of course to the passengers and their family and friends we might also be mindful of the thousands of dedicated and hardworking engineers and employees of Boeing who’s lives and careers have been sullied and tarnished forever by association.

(What Sidney Dekker calls the ‘third tranche’ of victims).

It is, I think, as simple and sickening a case study as I’ll ever have the misfortune of summarising. https://www-shponline-co-uk.cdn. ampproject.org/c/s/www.shponline.co.uk/ culture-and-behaviours/downfall-the-caseagainst-boeing/amp/

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