Editor's Note: The 2024 class of America's Safety Companies will be recognized Tuesday, August 27, during the Safety Leadership Conference. More information about the conference, including registration, can be found at www.safetyleadershipconference.com.
Arcadis U.S. Inc.
Engineering
Highland Ranch, CO
5,778 employees | 136 sites | 49 EHS professionals
At engineering company Arcadis U.S., technology is a valued safety partner. And to ensure a successful relationship, the company uses a trending technique for its health and safety goals. A core company goal is that employees demonstrate health and safety stewardship daily. To hit this goal, they have adopted the concept of gamification, which has been making inroads in safety.
This approach requires employees to obtain 150 points annually by recording health and safety stewardship activities in an H&S App. Activities that earn points include using stop-work authority, mentoring short-service employees, leading an annual emergency action refresher (e.g., fire drill), and authoring a health and safety plan.
“The simplicity of the H&S App and the expectation that Arcadis leaders complete at least one H&S stewardship activity each quarter has heightened their visibility as safety leaders contributing to the decrease in severe injuries,” explains Andrew McDonald, US Director Health and Safety.
Technology is also present in other safety initiatives, including transportation. The Arcadis U.S. Fleet Vehicle Telematics Program, for instance, is a method of monitoring an asset (e.g., car, truck, heavy equipment, boat) by using GPS and onboard diagnostics to record movements on a computerized map. Initiated in 2019, it has proven to improve driver safety by promoting positive driving behaviors, notes McDonald. The app also has a user-friendly method to report events. “This system can reduce future risks by determining controls to safely execute our jobs,” he says.
Other safety technology programs across the company include:
4-Sight: This program houses behavior-based safety tools including templates for job safety analysis, task improvement processes, near-miss and investigation tools.
FieldNow: The program is a comprehensive approach toward data collection, management and visualization, enabling faster, safer and simpler management of our client's complete portfolio, McDonald explains.
Arcadis Crisis Check-in & Response Tool: If a major incident (e.g., natural disaster, terrorist attack) occurs near an Arcadis office or in a location where an Arcadis employee is traveling for business, potentially affected employees may be contacted through this system (via email, text and automated phone call). Employees are asked to respond, as appropriate, to these messages and let the health and safety department know they are okay.
The company ties safety directly to the application of technology. “Our mission is to achieve zero incidents in everything we do by facilitating the health, safety and well-being of all Arcadians and our stakeholders,” says McDonald. “The foundation of our success is based on connecting our people to the why, maintaining and improving our health and safety program, and creating a unified understanding of our digitalization.”
