EHS management blog

“Either you work safely here, or you don’t work here,” summarizes Danny de Jong, Coordinator Quality and Safety at Hago. “That may sound a bit harsh, but you can’t ignore safety.”

Hago Rail Services operates in an environment where risks are high. That is why safety is undisputed number one priority. Before employees start working at Hago, they are well trained and made aware of all risks. Of course in close cooperation with the Dutch Railway Company NS.

“We pay attention to Safety on a daily basis. At start of the service, during the execution of the work, in reports, etc.. Moreover, having safety ambassadors within the organization ensures that safety is always top of everybody’s mind.”

In order to clearly identify where things are going well and where there is still room for improvement, Hago uses Safety Dashboard. A robust safety management system developed in the Netherlands. All safety issues can be monitored in clear and real-time updated KPI dashboards.

EHS management dashboard

Hago Rail Services, a leading specialist in cleaning trains, is constantly working on improving safety.

Hago offers train passengers in the Netherlands a pleasant and comfortable journey by thoroughly cleaning and keeping the NS trains proper. Hago maintains more than 2,900 trains on a daily basis. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Often at night, increasingly during the day.

“We did not make sufficient use of improvement possibilities. Because we did not have the right overviews, processes took unnecessarily long, which resulted in too much waste. We heard good stories about EHS management system Safety Dashboard and then the ball started rolling.”

Safety Dashboard was already convincing as a user-friendly reporting system during the first demo. Clear, simple, and – an essential criterion for this service provider – easily accessible for colleagues on the work floor.

“With a view to the future, we also found it important that it is a modular system. Start with a small configuration. Later we can add other modules, like risk, observation or inspections. Only if the situation requires it, not because the software builder asks for it.

“An experienced consultant helped us with the design and start-up. Our own structure has been completely integrated into the system, which means the new tool fits in seamlessly with the previous reporting system within Hago. All in all, the transition went very smoothly.”

Once the EHS management system was set up, the rest took care of itself. The notifications usually start quickly, and the processing of a functional change is simple. Adding new users is also easily done.

“We are now fully using Safety Dashboard.”

“We used to work with a self-made tool in Excel. The reporting of accidents and near misses was done in a PDF document, sent by mail. A file had to be created in a folder, a number had to be assigned manually, correspondence had to be saved separately and the preparation of reports was a time-consuming business.”

“The new system is a relief. We can quickly look up relevant matters that are related to safety reports, the reports are always ready and we can quickly grab a dashboard or make it ourselves. The whole gives us sharp insight and saves us time every day that we can spend more usefully otherwise. ”

“The use of real-time EHS data. This gives you immediate insight into the right information at the right moments (think of MT meetings, evaluations with customers). This means we can always use current EHS data for monitoring the process.”

“We also like the transparency of the reporting process in the EHS management system, the follow-up and handling of all actions. All coordinators receive all relevant information directly. And when there is a serious situation, the management team, the safety manager, and if desired the customer, also receive a notification immediately.”

“We always take steps upwards on the ‘Safety Culture Ladder’. Because we collect more and more HSE reports, we see and hear more and more. We are constantly observing what is happening under water. Since we do our EHS reports in Safety Dashboard, we have 60 to 70 percent more data at our disposal. We have learned a lot.”

Why would you recommend Safety Dashboard?

“Most important reason is convenience and user-friendliness. At Hago, we have skilled and driven colleagues who don’t sit behind a PC or tablet every day. It is a must for them that they can easily make EHS notifications, and that is possible in Safety Dashboard. Both on PC and in the user friendly app.”

“Another advantage is that you can make it work for different layers in the organization. This means that managers, team leaders and foremen can submit the reports themselves, do the registration and, if they wish, continue them for further research. You can safely say that with Safety Dashboard you can effectively increase the support base for safety.”

“We are now fully using Safety Dashboard.”