In ARCADIS' General Business Principles, we commit to providing a healthy and safe work environment for all our employees. To that end, our global health and safety vision and policy reflect a proactive and preventative behavior-based approach that integrates H&S into our culture, values and the way we do business. We recognize that in order to protect our staff and other stakeholders from injury, illness and other loss, we must value health and safety as much as our other core values and make it an integral part of the solutions we provide to our clients.
Health and safety management system
In 2007, we implemented a globally compatible, systematic approach for the management of health and safety risks throughout the entire company. This approach focuses on proactive hazard recognition, risk assessment and control to prevent accidents. Lessons learned and best practices are regularly shared globally through our formal Safety Share process and informal networking of staff. Our system empowers staff to conduct their work in such a way to protect themselves and others. It gives them the tools to implement healthy and safe work practices at all times and encourages them to use these tools off-the-job to maintain a healthy and safe personal lifestyle.
Through the ARCADIS Global H&S Management System, ARCADIS companies, world-wide strive to meet our H&S vision and live our culture by:
• Complying with applicable legal and other requirements.
• Assigning responsibilities for health and safety to line management.
• Identifying and meeting client-specific health and safety expectations.
• Assuring the necessary health and safety competence of all staff.
• Recognizing positive health and safety behavior among employees, suppliers and clients.
• Setting targets for continuous improvement and implementing systems to achieve them.
• Actively promoting subcontractors to be in alignment with our health and safety policy.
• Tracking and reporting health and safety performance.
• Including health and safety into projects to reduce impacts to our clients and stakeholders.
Strong health and safety performance
The implementation of the global health and safety management system has helped us protect our most valuable resource—our employees— and we have seen significant reductions in injuries, illnesses and other losses since its inception - a 65% decrease in our injury rates since 2004.
In addition, it also differentiates us to our clients. Increasingly, the companies we work with are demanding solid health and safety programs and regularly setting higher performance standards that stress continuous improvement, management stewardship and employee engagement and accountability. ARCADIS has met these challenges and is always striving to be accident and injury free.
Our Health and Safety culture is easily understood through our H&S tagline:
A Real Commitment; A Daily Issue: Safety
For more information on our Health and Safety performance, please see our Annual Report.