Colas is raising its workforce’s awareness on health and safety issues
From October 10 to 14, 2022, Colas is holding this year’s edition of its annual Safety Week, a week long event dedicated to training and awareness-raising on health and safety issues for its 57,000 employees around the world. With Safety Week, which will be organized across the Group’s 800 construction units and 3,000 production and materials recycling sites in more than 50 countries, the Group is further bolstering its commitment to consolidating a global health and safety culture.
Safety Week is designed to serve as a reminder of the importance of combining individual and collective commitment to health and safety, over and above the efforts the Group’s workforce make on a daily basis, with a single objective: zero accidents.
Several years ago, the Group renewed its drive to foster better safety and this new impetus is now bearing fruit. The resulting improvement in Colas safety figures is encouraging. For example, in two years, the cumulative accident frequency rate1 has improved by 17%, from 5.69 in August 2020 to 4.71 in August 2022.
Consolidating a global health and safety culture to protect its employees and all its stakeholders is one of Colas' eight CSR commitments. The Safety Week events organized by Colas are a counterpart of the Group's global "One Safety - Goal Zero" approach, which aims to promote autonomy, improve the understanding of risks and fostering safe behavior thanks to training provided by coaches and safety officers within the Group. Over the past three years, more than 9,300 people have been trained in the One Safety program worldwide. In addition, in France, Colas signed the "7 Commitments for Safer Roads" charter in December 2021, thus pursuing efforts undertaken since 1997 with public authorities in the field of road safety.
Road Safety Distractions are the focus of this year’s Safety Week. Every day, Colas employees, as drivers, as passengers, even as pedestrians, are distracted by their cell phones and this remains a major risk. The French Road Safety Commission reports that using a telephone while driving increases the risk of having an accident by a factor of 3, and texting increases it by a factor of 23. Cell phone usage is responsible for one out of ten accidents.
"Safety and health are priorities, and we work every day to do better. Colas is strongly committed to Safety Week because it allows us to take a step back from our daily behaviors, with a common goal in mind: zero accidents", explains Frédéric Gardès, Chairman and CEO of Colas.
1 Number of accidents with sick leave x 1,000,000 /number of hours worked
