Health and safety policy
Purpose
Health and safety is at the heart of everything that we do — it is one of our core values. For us at HS2 that is all
about caring for our workforce, our passengers and the public, by creating an environment, where no one gets hurt.
We have set strategic goals in health and safety to drive us to create a railway designed, built and operated to world
class standards. We are building a health and safety culture at HS2 where everyone is:
•
making safety our first consideration;
•
acting now to mitigate risks wherever and whenever they occur;
•
speaking up and intervening if something is unsafe; and
•
taking responsibility for our own and others' health, safety and wellbeing.
Everything we do is based on this approach, and everyone is empowered to stop unsafe work.
Our health and safety principles
We have a series of principles that inform the way in which we approach health and safety, and how we wil test our
decisions:
A holistic approach
Safety leadership
We wil integrate safety into everything we do,
We wil provide visible health and safety
making it an integral part of the way we make
leadership, setting the standard and expectations
decisions and operate our business.
for health and safety.
Our belief
View health like safety
Everyone working on the project has the right to
We wil actively promote health in al aspects of the
go home unharmed.
programme.
Delivering a safe railway
Safe decision making
We have the opportunity, and the duty to develop,
We wil develop a culture where we make safe
by design, a modern railway system that puts
decisions and act to mitigate risks wherever and
safety at its heart.
whenever we occur.
Developing HS2 Ltd to be a safe organisation
Personal accountability
It is essential we develop a culture, both internal y
Everyone wil understand their personal
and across our supply chain, where safety real y is
accountabilities for health and safety, and wil be
our first consideration.
empowered to take responsibility for their own
and others’ health, safety and wellbeing.
HS2-HS2-HS-POL-000-000001 P07
High Speed Two (HS2) Limited, registered in England and Wales.
Registered office: Two Snowhill, Snow Hill Queensway, Birmingham B4 6GA. Company registration number: 06791686. VAT registration number: 181 4312 30.
What HS2 will do to keep everyone safe and well
Our Safe at Heart programme, and this policy, sets a framework to implement our principles. It applies to everyone
who works for or with HS2, and every aspect of our business. We wil comply with al our legal and other
requirements to which we subscribe. We understand our duties to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the
health, safety and welfare of our employees, those working on our behalf and those affected by our activities. We
expect those working with us to take reasonable care of their own and other people's health and safety. We wil
work together with trade unions, our contractors and the regulators to deliver a legacy of new and better standards
in health and safety.
We are committed to minimising risk through a hierarchy of elimination, reduction and controls. To this end, we
have identified a number of areas of focus, covering key risks, where we need to proactively identify and manage
those risks:
Workforce safety
Safe procurement
Public and neighbour health and safety
Safe operations
Workforce occupational health and
Smart assurance
wellbeing
Safety by design
We have established our aspirations in relation to these seven key focus areas, and have defined these aspirations
in 21 Strategic Commitments.
We wil continual y develop our safety leadership:
•
Setting robust objectives;
•
Improving our implementation and standards;
•
Involving our collective workforce; and
•
Monitoring our progress and performance on an ongoing basis to ensure we deliver on our commitments and
continuously review and drive improvement.
This policy wil be regularly reviewed and monitored so that it remains effective and relevant, and to make sure that
we have the right people in the right place so that everyone does go home unharmed.
Executive Owner
The Director of Safety and Assurance is the Executive Owner of this policy and is responsible for maintaining the
accuracy and relevance of its contents and for periodic review and update to reflect changing circumstances.
Approved on: 22 August 2019
Mark Thurston
Chief Executive Officer
HS2 Ltd