The Importance Of Everyday Health And Safety
The World Day of Safety And Health At Work – observed on 28th April each year since 2003 – highlights the global need for safe and healthy working conditions. In recent times, this initiative from the International Labor Organization (ILO) has seen the addition of ‘a safe and healthy working environment’ to the list of fundamental workers’ rights.
The highest standards in employee health and safety have always been a core part of inAxtion’s offer to workers, many of whom travel to the Netherlands from other EU countries. That’s because we strongly believe that healthy and safe working conditions are not only the right of workers, but also their families. Here’s how and why.
Safety and health certification
Based in the Netherlands, we work with different companies in the industrial sector. As an employment agency, we take responsibility for our workers’ safety and health across a variety of workplaces. Our workers are technical professionals from other EU countries with varying standards in health and safety. What they share is a professional understanding of workplace risks, such as electricity or hazardous materials. When it comes to safety at work – what we do is ensure there’s a level playing field.
Prior to arrival in the Netherlands, workers are issued with safe and healthy working guidance, which includes our health and safety policy, an overview of the required training, and detailed information for specific roles. Before starting work – regardless of role, expertise, and experience – workers complete VCA certification. This is the Dutch safety, health and environment checklist for contractors. It’s also a requirement of inAxtion’s policy on safety and health at work.
Specific roles also require sector-specific safety and health certification, such as operating a cherry-picker or electrical engineering. That’s because most safety issues arise from people not paying attention or undertaking activities without the relevant safety training.
On-site safety and health
As an employment agency, we keep a close eye on the safety and health across different employment workplaces. On top of that, the industrial projects in which our workers are placed also have strict safety and health policies. For that reason, we prefer workers with proficiency in Dutch and/or English because those are the two main languages used onsite.
Workers receive a separate on-site onboarding for each specific project that outlines the potential risks and safety issues. They’re also provided with a safety checklist to complete before beginning certain operational activities.
This approach means that both inAxtion and our workers take responsibility for safety and health at work, whilst contractors have accountability on site. Every aspect of the chain is important to ensure safe and healthy working conditions for workers.
Reinforcing safety and health best practices
Safety and health at work is everyone’s responsibility. That’s why when someone spots a potentially dangerous situation, it’s important to take action straight away. At the same time, safety officers and co-workers need to positively reinforce safe working practices. Some of the companies we work with use safety apps to alert safety officers to potential risks and enable workers to give feedback on workplace safety.
At inAxtion we view our workers as a community – like a family. Almost all of them have left family and friends behind at home to work in the Netherlands. That’s why we feel it’s so important to be transparent about our safety and health at work policy and the expectations we have for safety for workers and contractors on site.
Everybody working in the Netherlands through inAxtion needs to have health insurance, so they and their families are covered should anything go wrong. This is something we help to facilitate, so workers are fully covered in the event of an injury. Our top priority is to ensure EU workers coming to work in the Netherlands through inAxtion return safely to their families back home.
We’re a safety-first organization, hiring safety-conscious technical professionals from the EU. Contact us
