Safety philosophy as part of business operations

Working with heavy equipment in dynamic conditions involves risks. It is the people who make the success and their health and safety must be the focus. But that requires commitment from everyone. And that is precisely why safety is one of the core values at Voorbij Funderingstechniek.

Voorbij Funderingstechniek is a versatile partner in bearing capacity and specializes in performing all types of foundation engineering. From water retaining structures, strut frames and anchoring, to various types of pile systems. Speaking are Nico Guyt, operations manager and Bas Klein, deputy director at Voorbij Funderingstechniek (TBI Infra): "Our company has six core values: cooperation, safety, creativity, entrepreneurship, reliability and responsibility. Obviously everyone wants to apply these universal values, but we started thinking about how we could give them an even more prominent place within our internal and external operations. For the core value of safety, we launched our safety program TOVF in 2018." Klein explains, "TOVF stands for Proud of Safe Foundations. The motivation was to increase safety awareness. We made a conscious decision not to invent new rules, but to start the conversation with each other about safety. That way you create support and together we created five safety values."

"It all sounds very obvious, but in practice it wasn't," Guyt says. "Especially when you work at many different locations for different clients. But by drawing one line in safety and propagating it through such a program, internally and externally, the message has become clear to everyone."  Klein adds: "These TOVF values are now well established in our organization. This defines the direction Voorbij wants to go when it comes to safety." Klein considers it a nice compliment that TBI has adopted the safety values and is pursuing the same philosophy.

In practice

But how does such a program become successful? Klein: "We introduced TOVF within the organization through workshops where colleagues from inside and outside came together and could share experiences. That was a great start and our message from the organization was clear to everyone: 'We think this is important!' We then wove the TOVF approach into all work processes, from calculation to evaluation. TOVF recurs in every consultation and in the start-up work discussions. It remains a matter of repetition and discussion."

Says Guyt, "As early as when we take on a project, we look at the risks and safety and discuss them with our clients. The core of our TOVF approach is that risks and dilemmas are discussed with all internal and external stakeholders. By communicating with each other on an equal footing, everyone can contribute their knowledge and take responsibility. And that includes being able to call each other to account and support each other to achieve a higher level of safety (awareness). In this way, risks are better managed. Of course we notice that some clients deal with safety differently and that sometimes leads to discussions. But never to a concession in terms of safety. We only go ahead when risks are acceptable. Fortunately, we often find the right mode to still make a work in good cooperation."

One year later

"It's great to see how everyone has joined in the thinking. A movement has really started and safety awareness has increased. "Safety is being talked about more, as well as taken action," Guyt observes, "both from the board of directors and management but also by people on the construction site. Our goal is to spread the TOVF program even more widely, especially within the organizations with which Voorbij Funderingstechniek works a lot. It is precisely by talking to each other and remaining critical that you can continue to develop and improve. After all, TOVF is infinite. It is great to see that, with the help of TOVF, we are the first foundation company in the Netherlands to be ISO450001 certified and recently
Safety Ladder have achieved Step 3."