Where the safety of our staff is concerned, our aim is that everyone should come home from work just as healthy as when they started, both physically and mentally. In order to improve accident monitoring and implementation of the occupational health and safety policy, NS switched in 2017 to reporting the Total Recordable Rate (TRR) for physical accidents instead of the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR). The TRR was 5.0 (6.4 in 2016). This concerns accidents resulting in sickness absence (including those accidents where it was possible to find replacement work) expressed in numbers per million hours worked.

Strategy

In 2017, NS identified potential safety risks and took measures based on a risk analysis and evaluation (RAE). We conducted campaigns aimed at informing staff and involving them in the policy. Operational staff were for instance trained as safety ambassadors. NS is doing this to promote safe working practices and thus have a positive effect on the safety culture.

Involvement of the Executive Board and management

The Executive Board and management are responsible for health and safety. That is why they are intensively involved in the topic of occupational health and safety. They visit sites around the country on what are termed ‘safety walks’. The emphasis is on face-to-face conversations with staff about their personal health and safety in their own working environments.

Working conditions

We have further improved working conditions for employees based on the risk analyses and evaluations. This has led to updates to the training courses, modifications to the design of shops and upgrades to personal protection equipment, among other things. Moreover, particular attention was paid in the shops to fire safety systems, personal safety, food safety and occupational safety. All lessees were given a handy safety guide containing the safety rules for working at stations and tips on what to do in unsafe situations.