Industry: Rail Infrastructure Upgrades and Renewals, Southern Region
Alkoomi Involvement: Safety Leadership and Culture Change Programme
Date: August 2014 – March 2015
Context
Alkoomi were tasked with introducing a safety leadership development and culture change programme to impact Network Rail safety across the upgrades and renewals of the southern region stretching from Suffolk to Cornwall. Network Rail felt that they had accomplished much through safety management, however, there existed a dissatisfaction with the ultimate safety outcomes this was producing. The challenges faced by Network Rail and Alkoomi were breaking through the entrenched rail culture established over many years, together with the stubborn level of incidents, multiple small sites extending to very large sites and the planning of work on live operational routes.
Client & Alkoomi approach
Alkoomi first introduced a Phase I leadership programme, including a full culture survey, and the executives of NR and their contractors jointly participating in executive workshops and the launch of the Safety Leadership Team (SLT). NR went on to target the middle management with at least 430 personnel participating in these workshops. Alkoomi consultants facilitated and led workshops of up to 200 supervision personnel at intervals throughout the programme, not including the workforce engagement workshop at site level by the Alkoomi trained facilitators. Alkoomi went on to provide ongoing coaching to the Safety Leadership Team to maintain the focus on leadership and what it takes to lead culture change.
Outcomes and Feedback
Network Rail acknowledged significant increased energy and engagement of personnel and contractors on safety with an underlying commitment to the elimination of all injury together with a consistency of approach and full engagement and immersion of the contractors across the region. Close call reporting increased dramatically to 17,937 in the following year (1:358 mhrs) LITFR 0.187 and a year on year reducing trend continues.
“The workshop has provided me with a deeper insight into safety and the importance of safety. From now on my every action, not just in the work environment but also in my day to day life will have safety as a priority amongst other things while making decisions”.
“Thank you to you and your team for sparking a change of thinking within the leadership team. We have a much better understanding of what is important to focus our time on. We have better training, supervision, close call and inspections. But the key area has been our approach to each other and to employees.”
Head of S & SD, IP Southern
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