Costain Group PLC : UK First For Costain

UK First For Costain

18 January 2012

Costain is the first company in the UK to receive independent third party accreditation for its Behavioural Safety Programme.

The Cambridge Centre for Behavioural Studies (CCBS), an independent non-profit organisation based in Massachusetts in the United States, formerly accredited Costain in December for the performance of its safety programme, Costain Behavioural Safety (CBS).

CCBS pioneers the scientific study of behaviour in order to provide solutions to practical problems in the workplace and community.

A team from CCBS travelled to the UK in November 2011 for a five-day visit and to undertake a rigorous audit of Costain's Behavioural Safety Programme. The team visited Costain's offices in Maidenhead and Manchester as well as projects at Brighton & Hove, Bond Street, Bidston Moss and Five Fords. The team interviewed employees and managers to hear how the Company has increasingly used and implemented the CBS programme to help improve the standard of health and safety across the Group.

Dr Philip Chase, the CCBS Executive Director, said: "We were impressed with Costain's level of commitment and success in creating safe environments for its workforce and clients. Costain has created a process in which leadership is the focus; it has spent considerable time decoding behavioural science and behaviour-based safety so that company leaders can apply the concepts in ways that work to make the Company better."

CBS forms an integral part of the Group's overall safety, health, and environment programme through Costain Cares, which aims to address the growing needs of its stakeholders, including its employees, through greater corporate responsibility.

Devised in 2005, CBS was first piloted on the United Utilities and 4D Frameworks. Courses were designed to teach behaviour management and leadership-led safety which helped to achieve the equivalent of 7 million man-hours of injury-free work.

CBS has now been developed to incorporate all projects and joint ventures. A CBS Delivery Manager works with each project team to develop a project specific training plan and implementation plan to address the specific needs and requirements of each project at any point in time.

"The programme initially focuses on the behaviours of our Directors and senior leaders within the business, as it's their behaviour that creates the environment which ultimately determines the success and performance of the business," said Alan Cheung, CBS Delivery Manager.

Alan Kay, Managing Director of the Environment Division, said: "We are delighted to have received third-party recognition for our CBS Program which has increased overall participation and responsibility in all aspects of health and safety, not just across the Group but also with our joint venture partners as well."

Commenting, Peter Fisher, Costain's Health and Safety Director, added: "A good health and safety record is central to the success of our business and that means having not only the right procedures and processes in place but also the right culture to underpin them. We have helped to achieve this by using a behavioural based approach like CBS which helps people change the environment they work in."

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