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Safety Culture Ladder

The Safety Culture Ladder is a five-step assessment model that shows how mature an organisation's safety culture is, from little attention to safety to safety as a natural part of the work.

Explanation

The model does not only look at procedures but mostly at behaviour and culture: what leaders do, whether people speak up to each other, whether they dare to report and how the organisation learns from incidents. An organisation is assessed at one of five steps. The higher the step, the more natural safety is.

In construction and infrastructure, mainly large clients ask for a certain step as a condition, for example in tenders. A certification body assesses the organisation through, among other things, conversations on the work floor and a check of evidence. Which step a client requires is best asked of that client.

The Safety Culture Ladder works alongside VCA and ISO 45001, not instead of them. Those two are mainly about the system, the ladder about behaviour, leadership and involvement. You grow by making safety visible: reports, toolbox talks, inspections, follow-up and learning.

Example from practice

A contractor bidding for an infrastructure project shows that managers regularly visit the work floor, that employees make reports and that measures demonstrably follow from incidents.

© 2026 BrydgeOne. General information, not legal or other professional advice. No rights can be derived from this explanation.

In BrydgeOne

Where you work with Safety Culture Ladder

Incidents & reportsLog incidents and turn them into follow-up. Toolbox talksShare toolbox talks and record attendance. Workplace inspectionsCarry out inspections with clear checklists. ActionsFollow up corrective and preventive actions.
Knowledge base

Keep reading

Improving safety culture: what it is, how to measure it and what worksImproving safety culture only works once you know what it is: the unwritten way people in your organisation think about safety and act on it, even when nobody is watching. You read how to measure it and what helps in practice. Improving your reporting culture: how to get more near-miss reportsNear-miss reporting only happens when employees trust that it achieves something and costs them nothing. Below you can read how to find out why reports are missing, what to do about it and how to tell that it works. Safety Culture Ladder explained: the steps, step 3 and how to startThe Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) is an assessment model from NEN that shows how mature an organisation's safety culture is, on five steps from pathological to progressive. A certification body mainly assesses behaviour and culture, through conversations and observations. Clients in construction, infrastructure and rail, among others, sometimes ask for a minimum step in tenders, often step 3.
Glossary

See also

VCASafety, Health and Environment Checklist for ContractorsISO 45001ISO 45001 Occupational health and safety management systemsNear missNear missToolbox talkToolbox talkCertificationCertification

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You only pay for the modules you switch on, from € 49 per month. In a demo we show how it works with your own processes.

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