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Safety Culture Ladder Certification

Industrial workers wearing protective clothing at work – symbolic image SCL certification

Occupational safety awareness and safe working practices in companies

The Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) is a Dutch safety standard and a certification system that can be used to develop and assess the occupational safety culture in organisations.

The SCL certification was originally developed by the Dutch railway company ProRail N.V.. It established that employee behaviour and the company's safety culture are crucial for successful accident prevention.

With TenneT and Gasunie, other large companies have decided to increase safety awareness and further promote the safety culture of their contractual partners. The SCL has been a NEN (Nederlandse Norm) programme since July 2016. This means that companies of all sectors and sizes can participate in the Safety Culture Ladder certification programme.

SCL certification is now being rolled out across the EU, including in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland.

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Target group

The target group for the Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) includes organisations of all sectors and sizes that want to develop and evaluate their occupational safety culture in order to improve accident prevention. This certification is aimed in particular at organisations that want to strengthen the safety awareness and safety culture of their employees and contractors.

What are the advantages of SCL certification?

  • Identifying and analysing your individual occupational health and safety challenges
  • Employees and managers actively engage with occupational health and safety and question their behaviour, routines and rituals accordingly. This changes the corporate culture and increases the level of safety for all employees
  • Raising awareness and working specifically on the behaviour of your managers and employees
  • Clients with specific requirements for a high safety culture among suppliers and contractors will demand this in addition to ISO 45001 or SCC
Infografik fünf Stufen Stufen der Safety Culture Ladder

Stages of the Safety Culture Ladder

The Safety Culture Ladder concept allows participating organisations to develop their safety culture over five levels, each with its own associated level. An organisational culture consists of shared practices, values and visions that influence behaviour in the workplace. With the help of a well-functioning organisational culture, safety culture, reliability and thus the quality of the company's performance can be increased.

The Safety Culture Ladder aims to bring about this change in corporate culture. The higher the safety awareness of a company, the higher the level of maturity and trust of interested parties, such as the client.

The safety culture in the company is improved by increasing the awareness of employees and managers for safety-relevant aspects of their daily work situation and sensible behaviour. This awareness can only be promoted if a safety culture is established in the company that enables all those involved to raise unsafe and dangerous situations. It is essential that every employee, at all levels of the organisation, is aware of their responsibility with regard to safety.

SCL is not limited to the company itself, but also includes suppliers, contractors and customers. In order to increase health and safety awareness in the workplace and to achieve a high level of safety in the workplace, all parties in the chain (customers, contractors, suppliers) must climb the various levels of the Safety Culture Ladder.

How do you obtain an SCL certificate?

The Safety Culture Ladder measures safety awareness in the respective organisation. This encourages employees to act more safely and consciously, which reduces the number of accidents at work and thus also prevents damage and absenteeism. By means of a self-assessment, companies can check which level they are at and have this position audited and assessed by TÜV NORD CERT.

Certification within the framework of the SCL takes the form of an audit. SCL audits are primarily conducted through interviews and observations of work situations. Appropriately qualified and authorised TÜV NORD auditors conduct interviews with company employees at all levels. The extent to which the safety concept has been anchored in the company is examined.

There are two variants for an SCL certificate, which differ in the scope and depth of the audit. In addition, there is also an SCL light audit, which is primarily intended for small companies (service providers); here there is a certificate of participation. Irrespective of certification or external requirements, we are also happy to offer pre-audits in relation to the company safety culture.

Frequently asked questions

FAQ about SCL

The SCL is aimed at all companies in the manufacturing and construction industries.

Legal and formal occupational health and safety requirements (occupational health and safety system) should be processed and fulfilled by the company.

Like ISO 45001 and SCC certification, SCL certification takes the form of an audit. However, the focus of the SCL audit is not on checking the management system or the evidence, but on checking the behaviour and awareness of a company's employees. This is done by interviewing managers and employees at all levels of the organisation. The certification levels (3-5) can be used to precisely determine the maturity level of a company's occupational safety culture. This goes beyond the results of an ISO 45001 and SCC audit and is therefore a good addition to the two management system audits.

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