During this Hee, are you okay (HBJO) week, we pay extra attention to the importance of social safety. Many experiences are shared that demonstrate how important it is that we also pay attention to social safety in the construction, infrastructure, and installation sectors.
As the campaign website states: It is of great importance that we look out for each other, show understanding for each other, and let each other be valued. We want to move towards a mentality where ‘Hee, are you okay?’ is the response when something happens.
A goal that is passionately promoted by two prominent HBJO ambassadors: Diana Beuting, chief engineer-director at Rijkswaterstaat, and Leonie Koops, business line director Infrastructure and Mobility at Witteveen+Bos.
Why is this subject so close to their hearts? Beuting: Diversity is important, I believe our organization should reflect society. Within that, everyone has the right to feel safe. That is important for the entire sector.
Looking at collaborations throughout the chain from client to contractor, we see how important it is to address safety in all its dimensions. Given the tight labor market and the many tasks ahead, we really need everyone. If people do not feel safe, they will go elsewhere.
Equality in Collaborations
Leonie Koops adds: That is a joint interest. Social safety is not only an internal issue for us, but it is also important in collaboration with other parties.
Witteveen+Bos is a project organization, we work a lot with others and for clients, such as Rijkswaterstaat. The social safety in such relationships, that of client-contractor, is a point of concern. That relationship has a certain hierarchy, which makes it difficult for people to speak out about something they find unacceptable. An unpleasant treatment, or even inappropriate behavior.
In 2024, an internal risk inventory on psychosocial working conditions showed that as much as 11% of respondents experienced an unpleasant interaction with a client. This ranges from unwanted sexual attention to aggression and intimidation. Such a score puts the topic back on my agenda.
Beuting: That also shocks me. We need to do something about that. At Rijkswaterstaat, we have confidants and integrity coordinators and regularly conduct employee satisfaction surveys. Some scores come out positively, they are colored green. It is important to ask questions to get to the core. Sometimes it turns out to be a watermelon score: the deeper you ask, the redder the result becomes.
Koops: Reports of unwanted behavior do not always reach me. But if they do, I would like to discuss this with the client. My problem is: who can I turn to? Within the project teams themselves, time pressure or hierarchical relationships often do not allow for this.
The colleagues who experience it just want to focus on their work and be able to interact professionally with their teammates. So not all negative interactions are shared.
There are also situations where action must be taken. I know someone in our organization who is strong, but who ended up in such unpleasant conversations that she no longer wanted to work on that project. She could no longer fulfill her role in this relationship properly, she was not taken seriously. I want to discuss that with the client. With the larger clients we work with, Rijkswaterstaat also belongs to that group, there is usually no point of contact for that. I am looking for such a counter.
Beuting responds: Safety in all its dimensions is of course a point of attention in projects. It must be a fixed part of the collaboration. But it seems essential to me that we find a common entry point for reports of unwanted behavior and take this outside the project context. We need to find a structural way to discuss this and ensure that everyone feels heard. I think of a kind of confidant for external relationships. That fits with the ambition of Rijkswaterstaat: equality in collaboration with market parties.
Give Each Other Space
Social safety may not mean the same thing for everyone. How do we deal with that? Beuting: We must keep an eye on the balance. For social safety also applies: where does yours end and where does anothers begin? And does someone sometimes play the card of social safety too quickly, while it is actually a difficult conversation? It starts with making it discussable.
Koops: Diversity leads to more difference and more difference leads to more friction. In a monoculture, certain things may have worked fine in the past, but society has become more sensitive. We need to give space for different voices and ensure that everyone feels comfortable.