SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic growth

Society as a whole benefits when more people are being productive and contributing to their country’s growth. Productive employment and decent work are key elements to achieving fair globalisation and poverty reduction.

Economic Growth

Our ability as a business to effect lasting positive change in society relies on our continued financial success. We are pleased therefore that we had a good year in 2019. Our business continues to grow organically with a steady operating margin and increasing order portfolio. Our operational result improved compared to 2018 and our focus on project management yielded significantly higher project results. We are pleased with the overall financial performance as we continue to invest in and transform our organisation. This transformation is guided by our strategy, with a clear focus on globally leading services and export services, new innovative services and digital engineering. Investments made in 2019 supported our strategy and strengthened our portfolio. We acquired simulation software expert, Lanner; flood resilience digital solutions provider, Ambiental; and took a minority share in Hydroinformatics Institute, H2i. We are confident that our strategy ensures our business remains relevant and enables us to assist our clients in a rapidly changing world as we enhance society together. 

Occupational Health & Safety

We are committed to the highest standards of health and safety across our operations for staff, visitors and partners. Our vision and policies are part of our Management System. They are implemented through our processes and procedures to ensure we maintain and continuously improve a healthy and safe working environment. Following successful audits in various countries, we achieved our objective of the new ISO45001 certificate for Occupational Health and Safety, making us one of the first international engineering consultancy firms to obtain this certification.

Other objectives for 2019 were zero fatalities and a reduction in lost time injuries to at least 0.18. During the year, no fatal accidents occurred among our employees and 136 accident and incident reports were submitted. From these reports, 96 related to accidents and incidents relating to employees. In total 7 accidents resulting in at least one day off work were recorded in 2019 (3 in 2018). Two of these occurred at an office location, three at out-of-office locations and two were traffic related. There were 89 other reportable cases.

• Lost time injury frequency (LTIF) per 200,000 workable hours in 2019 was 0.17. The figure has increased compared to 2018 (0.07) but is below the 0.18 target. This resulted from an increase in out-of-office and traffic related accidents in 2019.

• Total recordable cases frequency (TRCF) per 200,000 workable hours over 2019 was 2.39. This increased compared to 2018 (1.92) and provides a good indication that we take health and safety seriously, reporting not only accidents but incidents too.

Table: Accidents & Incidents

UK office initiatives for health

To mark World Mental Health Day, we held an initiative across all our UK offices to break the stigma surrounding mental health. Open discussions took place about mental health and how we could be more supportive and considerate of one another and have more awareness of how it can impact the working life of colleagues. Another initiative took place to coincide with Movember which raises funds and awareness for men’s health through growing moustaches in November. Fundraising events held in our offices during the month raised more than £1,600.

Travel Safety and Security

As an international company with projects in some 150 countries, we have a duty of care towards our staff travelling to different countries. In particular, where staff visit countries with high travel risk or extreme medical risk, an adequate risk management process needs to be in place. From a company and traveller perspective, we are prepared and able to respond to such risks. Our corporate policy puts people first and takes responsibility for our employees’ wellbeing. Our Travel Safety and Security Policy reflects this commitment and addresses the health, safety and security management for employees of Royal HaskoningDHV while travelling abroad or during an assignment to a foreign country. In 2019 this policy and related documents were reviewed and adjusted where needed.

An induction programme on Travel Safety and Security was implemented and workshops held. The programme covers topics including duty of care/loyalty, awareness, behaviour, where to find relevant travel information and how to get relevant support. Furthermore, the Corporate Incident Management Teams in India, Indonesia, Vietnam and the United Kingdom were trained during simulation of a crisis scenario which tested policy, protocol, procedures and team cooperation.

The international emergency service provider International SOS (ISOS) assists our employees all over the world in the event of medical and travel security emergencies and provides a wide range of information and advice. In 2019 further improvements were made to our global International SOS Travel Tracker. The travel tracker enables us to trace and track all travelling employees worldwide so we can immediately support our travellers at very short notice in case of an incident abroad. We can use it to automatically send our travellers relevant pre-trip advice and alerts or notifications relating to their destination.

During 2020, we will continue our ISO45001:2018 certification across all entities. We will continue training Country Incident Management teams and will develop and implement an awareness campaign on safe mobility.