Safety
Safe working practice in all its aspects remains a priority at Unica. Unica strives to maintain the highest possible safety standards, both in day-to-day operations and in social interaction at work.
With regard to the primary process, since its inception in 2014, Unica has been involved in the Governance Code for Safety in Construction (GCVB). As one of the fourteen initiators behind the GCVB, CEO John Quist has a seat in the group of senior officers in this sectoral code on behalf of Unica. In spite of strict legislation and regulations, sector agreements and various instruments, the culture of safety in the construction and engineering industry still demands constant attention. The GCVB, which now has more than 1,100 signatories, is a sector-wide tool for meeting that demand.
One tool with a clear focus on safety awareness is the Safety Culture Ladder (SCL), also known as the Safety Performance Ladder. Following certification for the second step of this ladder in 2021, Unica made all the necessary preparations in 2022 for certification for step 3. The audits for step 3 compliance are planned for the first half of 2023. This next step is also a requirement of the Safety in Tender Procedures (ViA) protocol, an agreement that has been adopted by all GCVB participants. This protocol specifies that orders in the construction and engineering sector will only be awarded to parties that comply with all the continuously tightened safety standards.
The Veilig Unica (Safe Unica) App is based on the principle of making it simple to report unsafe situations and safety-related incidents. This smartphone app was used on more than 3,500 occasions in 2022, also as a means of consulting safety information that can be viewed directly in the app. This attention for safety awareness in 2022 resulted in a stabilisation of the accident frequency index (4.4 in 2022 as compared with 4.3 in 2021), a figure that places Unica well below the latest sector average (13.0 in 2021). The accident frequency index measures the number of accidents resulting in absenteeism/lost work time that occur within a specified period, divided by the number of working hours. All entities from the network of companies are included in the report of the accident frequency index. By making it easier to report safety incidents, more risks are revealed, and a more complete overview is created of all incidents. Unica will continue to promote greater safety awareness within the organisation over the coming years, with a view to further improving the safety score achieved by the company.
Under the influence of social and media attention, social safety was also discussed in depth at Unica in 2022. With its ‘Speak out!’ programme, Unica had already embedded these principles in its policy. In 2022, managers received extensive training to discuss the topic of social safety and to draw further attention to the internal and external facilities available for reporting related situations. The available procedures and reporting points were once again also explicitly brought to the attention of the employees. Providing a safe working environment in every respect will remain a policy priority at Unica over the coming years.