Sustainable growth report 2024

The key is minimising risks through continuous improvements in vessel reliability and focusing on human behaviour. To do this, we are committed to fostering a safety culture where safety is not just a priority but is visibly integrated into everything we do.

Building a strong safety culture
Creating a strong safety culture requires dedication, a clear plan, and unwavering commitment from our people. Our “Everybody Home Safe” program, launched in 2013, was the result of an extensive cultural survey conducted among colleagues from the fleet and office.

This plan is built on five essential pillars:

• Visible & Felt Leadership
• Normative Safety & Compliance
• Measuring & Communication
• Learning & Development
• Safety Partnership

Visible & felt leadership
We demonstrate leadership through our daily actions, always taking the opportunity to discuss safety in meetings and providing safety briefings to every visitor onboard and in the office. We have adopted industry best practice Life-Saving Rules, actively measuring compliance and sharing our safety performance with the whole company. Regularly highlighting near-miss incidents and providing feedback on all reports submitted are key to maintaining an open dialogue on safety.

Training focus
Our training program used to focus on requirements and technical skills. However, today’s emphasis is on developing soft skills and leadership capabilities. This shift is evident in our Safety Leadership training and Bosun Leadership training. We also use this approach for our Officers Conferences and Rating Seminars.

The positive results speak for themselves: we see improved safety performance, but also high retention rates and seafarer satisfaction. After all, we all want to grow and develop in our roles when it comes to safety.

To underline our safety focus, we organise a Safety Event for office colleagues. In 2024 we combined this event with the Officers Conference for our junior officers. 160 colleagues from ship and shore came together on the beach at Noordwijk to take part in safety-related activities, guided by the Dutch Royal Sea Rescue Organisation (in Dutch: KNRM). We build connections, had fun, and strengthened our safety awareness.

Collaborative safety partnerships
We are proud of our strong partnerships with customers and contractors, who play a vital role in our safety culture. By participating in joint programs with customers like the “Shell Partners in Leadership” program, as well as implementing shipyard audits and evaluation programs, we foster constructive dialogues that lead to visible improvements.

Our safety performance and culture were rewarded with Shell’s ‘Safety Leader 2024’ award during their CEO Conference.

Measuring progress
To monitor our progress, we assess our safety culture every 3 to 4 years. This allows us to track improvements and identify areas for further growth. We also measure the success of our safety improvement plan through leading safety indicators aligned with the five elements of our program.

Our target for 2025 is to achieve a score higher than 4 on the safety ladder, indicating a proactive profile. In 2021, our last survey showed a score of 3.89, bringing us closer to this goal. The next safety culture survey is scheduled for 2025, and we look forward to seeing how far we have come.