Safer Together

Called ‘Together. We’re Safer. Together. We’re DB’, our new safety campaign actively encourages and empowers colleagues across the business to intervene and stop any activity that they believe is unsafe and could lead to injury or an incident. It also seeks to address some of the concerns and misconceptions raised in the Safety Excellence Focus Groups we ran last year – the biggest and most in-depth piece of safety-related research ever undertaken by the business.

At the centre of our new campaign are colleagues involved in almost all aspects of the planning and delivery of our rail logistics services.

As part of the campaign, every colleague will be issued with a card that gives them explicit permission, backed by the UK Board, to intervene and challenge any activity or instruction they believe is unsafe – whether that activity is being undertaken by a colleague, a customer or contractor.

We will create a fair and just culture where colleagues have a shared understanding of safety, demonstrate a positive attitude and safe behaviours on a daily basis and feel empowered to challenge anything they feel is unsafe.

We will actively engage them in the continuous improvement of our safety policies, procedures and performance and share with them the results, consequences and learning from any issues or incidents that may arise.

We will empower them by giving them easy access to the right safety training, technology, information and equipment and we will create an environment where active, two-way discussion and debate is encouraged and questions and suggestions can be raised.

This will ensure that safety is embedded in the DNA of all decision-making at DB Cargo UK.

1. If you see a colleague, contractor or customer doing something you feel may be a danger to themselves or others, take the time to approach them in a positive and friendly manner and ask them to stop what they are doing. State your intentions clearly - that you have some concerns about the activity they are undertaking and want to work with them to help avoid potential injury.  Explain that you would like to understand more about what’s taking place. 
2. Once the activity has stopped, have an open discussion about what they are doing, why they are doing it and what their thoughts are on whether this is the best way to carry out the activity. Try to ask open questions - you will learn more about their skills and experience, the task they are undertaking, what risk assessments have taken place and the Safe System of Work they are following. 
3. It may be that your fears prove to be unfounded and that you are satisfied with their explanation and the safeguards in place. That’s okay. Work can resume and no further action is necessary. You have no need to apologise for intervening, simply thank them for being receptive to your concerns. However, if either of you have any outstanding concerns about the safety of the task, then no further activity should be undertaken until a resolution has been reached. It may be that the issue can easily be resolved there and then. However, if this cannot be done, then the issue should be escalated to the relevant person.
4. Every intervention is an opportunity to learn and improve. We would actively encourage you to discuss your interventions and safe behaviour discussions at team meetings so others can take on board any learnings from your interactions.