| | VGC HSQE |
| | Nationwide |
| | Apr 2023 |
| | Apr 2023 |
In order to raise awareness of the purpose of observations, and encourage operatives to submit them, we ran an awareness campaign in 2022.
Campaign
In 2022, VGC ran a dedcated week of communications on submitting observations, and how to submit them, as this varies across sites.
Delivery
We utilised a range of platforms to deliver the campaign in order to ensure the messaging as as visible as possible.
There was a staff enews sent to all operatives covering:
- how to submit observations
- why we need observations
- what we do with the information submitted
- examples of improvements made as a result of submitted observations
There is also a dedicated page on the VGC website, the link to which was shared on our social media channels on various posts across the week.
Toolbox talks on the importance of speaking up were delivered on our sites nationally.
The briefing is delivered to show the importance of raising any safety issue however small. We try to encourage operatives to be courageous by reporting these issues where they will be supported or this can be done anonymously.
By continuing to reinforce this message monthly in our Be Safe brief and continuing direct communication to operatives, we are reinforcing the importance of this message.
Outcomes
The number of observations submitted has increased significantly over time:
- 2020 – 256 observations
- 2021 – 1272 observations
- 2022 – 3320 observations
There was also an increase in number of observations submitted as a result of this campaign; 283 observations were submitted in November 2022, the month after we ran the campaign, compared to 197 in November 2021.
“Through our continued awareness campaigns our data shows an increase in number of observations year on year. We have also seen a decrease in incident numbers year on year. We believe that by reminding our operatives that they will be supported when they report observations they are likely to report both good practices and any instances to improve.”
Richard Wheeler, Head of HSQE
