1 April 2015

Costain has successfully achieved third-party re-accreditation of its world-class Behavioural Management Programme. The Group is thought to be the only UK company to have achieved independent validation of such a programme.

Dr Timothy Ludwig and Dr Sigurdur Sigurdsson from the Commission on Behavioural Safety Accreditation, at the Cambridge Center for Behavioural Studies in Massachusetts, visited Costain’s behavioural management team last December.

During the week-long visit, they toured several projects across the Group to verify how behavioural science was being used to improve safety performance on Costain and Costain joint venture sites.

In their assessment they said the Center was happy to publicly recognise Costain as a best-in-practice application of behavioural science for safety. They noted that recommendations made in their initial accreditation three years ago had been progressed and welcomed the opportunity to gain further insight into the strengths that make Costain’s programme world-class and worthy of re-accreditation.

Welcoming the news, Costain’s Director for Behavioural Management, Alan Cheung, said: “This is a fantastic achievement, which is a real testament to all of the hard work and commitment that everyone involved in the programme has shown. The results speak for themselves.”

During their visits to sites, the two US experts “looked at all the behaviours and cultures of the project and whether our behavioural programme was having an impact”.

Some of the highlights identified in the re-accreditation report included a sustained decrease in accidents corresponding to the continual development of behavioural safety programmes. The reviewers also highlighted proactive and strong leadership, with visible and active support from the very top of the Group.

During their site tours Timothy and Sigurdur spoke with Costain staff and subcontractors. This led them to remarking: “The safety culture at Costain is exemplified in consistent and positive comments generated from its contracted operative workforce.

“The workforce perceives that Costain cares about their wellbeing due to its willingness to listen, train their managers to use positive reinforcement, while correcting problems in a positive manner. They show consistency in their safety management systems and encourage engagement.”

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