Communities & Environment
WORKING TOGETHER
FOR EVERYONE’S BENEFIT
We go further to help you deliver critical infrastructure projects in the most efficient, environmentally friendly, and sustainable way possible.
But our vision is bigger than that – we want to create a safe environment around us all, and we’ll continue to develop the way we work, and continue to innovate, as we work towards a more sustainable future for generations to come.
FOR THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH
What we’re doing to provide a safer and healthier working environment:
- We’ve developed a Safety Plan which considers behavioural safety attitudes for our business and employee needs, and for those of our clients too.
- We’re committed to long-term education and training in the workplace and recruit under equal opportunity conditions.
- We’ve installed a specialist innovation department tasked with utilising technologies and developing processes that help us to work more efficiently, more sustainably and safer too.
- We use drones to survey work and to assist and plan projects which reduces site visits, our carbon footprint, and the risk of injury.
- We have enrolled in the ‘Mates in Mind’ mental health support programme that is aimed specifically at the construction sector. This is so all colleagues can identify mental health symptoms, break the stigma regarding mental health and know who to speak to for support.
- We mandate the use of Mates in Mind initiative to our approved subcontractors and include as part of our approval criteria for new subcontractors.
- We have nominated Mental Health First Aiders (MHFA) within the company to be available to support both site and office staff.
- To support and compliment the Mates in Mind initiative we will implement the ‘Start the Conversation’ initiative at all site inductions for staff and subcontractors that provides staff with practical skills to spot the signs of mental health issues in themselves and co-workers, giving them confidence to step in, reassure and support colleagues and know who to turn to for appropriate support.
In addition, we intend to implement an SME/new supplier Academy initiative where safety leaders within our organisation are designated to ‘new to rail’ suppliers and who undertake an upskilling process, covering basic safety processes and how to implement and maintain a safety culture.
This initiative is supported by our senior management, who are making our safety process, procedures, and on-site practices available as templates and on-site shadowing to ensure a safety culture is understood and developed by new to rail suppliers.
FOR THE COMMUNITIES WE IMPACT
What we’re doing to help the communities we work and live in:
- Building strong relationships with our local communities.
- Encourage all staff to be engaged in community building projects and actively promote partner concepts on projects.
- Making public aware of works at least two weeks in advance.
- Using battery-powered tools and acoustic shield where possible.
- Managing drop-in centres to deal with local residents concerns and questions.
- Employing a qualified ecologist to bring long-term strategies to bear for handling the ecological environments that our work takes place in – from assessment to habitat survey and mapping, to plans for protection.
- Using local supply chains wherever possible, particularly for local sourcing of services and materials.
FOR THE WORLD WE LIVE IN
What we’re doing to reduce our environmental impact:
- Innovating to improve our process and sustainability and reduce our environmental impact.
- Going paperless – moving all administrative and site reporting to cloud-based technologies.
- Actively making the transition to electric vehicles and equipment.
- Working closely with the Woodland Trust.
- Developing a plan to offset our carbon footprint via carbon capture and planting trees with thetreeapp.org.
- Creating new habitats using felled trees and vegetation.
- Working to combat global climate change, and improve local communities by providing employment, safer environments, biodiversity, and reforestation.
- Diverting waste away from landfill whenever possible.
