Market leader in industrial services ALTRAD offers cake to 1200 employees nationwide

Safety is serious business for ALTRAD, and the results bear witness to this. In May, ALTRAD reached a new milestone of 5 million hours without a lost-time accident. This is a joint achievement of our site operatives and our Safety Department (HSEQ) who, together, enthusiastically uphold a safety culture of the highest order. To reward their efforts and to celebrate this new milestone, ALTRAD treated its employees to cake.

A package of actions for optimal safety at work.

The mascot ED - short for 'Excellence Delivered' - reveals what it is all about: doing always better. Whatever the time, whatever the place, and particularly where safety is concerned. But ALTRAD does not stop at the pursuit of continuous improvement. The company uses a variety of ways to enhance overall safety, both on its construction sites and its office and warehouse premises. With its reporting platform 'Beyond Zero', ALTRAD takes things one step further. The objective is to prevent accidents, to reduce risks and to create a safety culture of excellence.

The Beyond Zero platform offers different reporting capabilities, ranging from Observation Rounds to LMRA (Last Minute Risk assessment) and Toolbox documents. The latter provide direct input for the monthly safety meetings at construction sites where feedback is of the essence.

Time Outs

For some time now, ALTRAD has been using the Time Out reporting tool to discuss unsafe situations. As always, it is the purpose to raise employee awareness on the importance of workplace safety, and Time Out is an excellent way to ensure that everybody contributes. Every quarter, Altrad rewards the vigilance of its staff and offers a monetary award for the best Time Out reports.

VR and games

ALTRAD also promotes a culture of safety by focusing on employee training. The team is constantly on the lookout for new approaches and alternative training methods. In Belgium, virtual reality and gamification have been introduced. More than 100 employees already played a safety game to increase their knowledge and some trainees put on VR goggles to learn how to drive engines safely. VR training will probably not replace the more traditional training methods anytime soon, but it offers a tremendous learning effect. As such, VR safety training is not only fun, but also very effective.

Unconscious training

Sometimes it does not even take digital novelties to achieve success. Since 2019, ALTRAD applies the concept of nudging to indirectly influence the safety behaviour of its employees. For instance, stickers with the outline of a fallen man at the bottom of the stairs instinctively make people hold on to the banister. Footstep stickers in walking zones nudge people into following the safest path to reach their destination.

Pioneer

ALTRAD confidently assumes its role as a pioneer that never stops improving and innovating. The safety of our people is always front of mind. Is there any way to do better? ALTRAD simply does it.