Together on the road to safety

BUKO Infrasupport's slogan is: Together on the road to safety. Four words with great meaning. Chantal Boertje, KAM manager at BUKO Infrasupport, explains what this stands for. "For more than 30 years, BUKO has been the specialist in temporary traffic measures for many customers. Together with clients, subcontractors and road authorities, we work on the traffic safety of road workers and road users."

In order to maintain our country's high-quality infrastructure, work is carried out day and night on and on our road network. "BUKO Infrasupport deploys expert knowledge, years of experience and state-of-the-art traffic measures so that work on the road can be carried out safely. In addition, we create clarity for road users," says Chantal. "Because that too is safety."

A high standard of safety

"In fact, we sell safety," Chantal continues. "But you can only do that if you yourself maintain a high standard of safety within the organization." The KAM department within BUKO, which deals with quality, working conditions and the environment, plays a crucial role in this. "Safety cannot be taken for granted; it requires constant attention," she knows. "That's why we make such an effort, both externally and internally, and try to improve safety industry-wide through transparency and openness. For example, there is a constant safety campaign, we provide physical instruction cards at our worksites and new employees are sent home a KAM instruction packet containing a tin with the text: 'BLIK. On Safety. The package is further filled with information cards and a card game with a nod to "Safety is not a game. Safety is a serious matter but it's best to present it with a little humor," says Chantal. "Then it sticks a lot more." To make safety visible in an approachable, positive and proactive way, BUKO created the digital colleague 'Vera.' "Vera stands for Safety First, Taking Risks. She has a profile and her own page on the 100% BUKO social intranet. Employees can report incidents to Vera anytime, anywhere, but can also contact her with all their questions via chat."

Step up the safety ladder

BUKO's commitment to safety is evidenced by the company certifications it has obtained: BUKO is certified for VCA*, NEN-EN-ISO 9001 and 14001, the CO2 Performance Ladder step 5(!) and the BRL 9101 focused on temporary traffic measures. "Right now we are climbing the Safety Culture Ladder (Safety Culture Ladder, ed.) to step 4," says Chantal, explaining that the Safety Culture Ladder is the perfect tool to shape policy around safety. "Not only in all layers of our own organization, but also, for example, towards our subcontractors. We see quite some room for improvement there and want them to maintain the same level of safety as BUKO. We are going to help them with that by making a portal available where they can report incidents, follow toolboxes and consult instructions just like our own colleagues."

We have to do it together

"I really believe that we have to do it together," says Chantal. "Together we achieve more. Both internally and externally with subcontractors, peers and competitors. Discuss safety with people from the field. Especially then you take safety measures that will make a difference. At BUKO, we work continuously to create an environment where unsafe behavior, incidents and areas for improvement are always open for discussion! I am proud that together we at BUKO have been able to take safety awareness to the next level."