Health and safety

For our people, ‘Go Home Safe’ is a right, ‘Work Safe’ is a responsibility.

We are never satisfied, for our people and customers, when it comes to safety performance.

This policy, supported by standards and processes, must be applied to all activities carried out by Scottish Canals.

We will:

• assess and manage the risks to the health and safety of our people and others that may be affected by our assets and work activities.
• implement and maintain management systems to ensure effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of health and safety measures.
• promote working practices and standards of behaviour which minimise the risk of injury and occupational ill health.
• comply with statutory requirements relating to health and safety.

We will do this by:

• maintaining safe and healthy assets and places of work.
• ensuring that work sites and assets are managed so that risk to members of the public is minimised.
• protecting the environment and heritage of the waterways by achieving the required balance between the potential conflicts of safety management and maintaining an open, working waterways network.
• providing information, instruction, training, and supervision to enable our people to work safely and without risk to health.
• ensuring that safe methods of work are established by identifying hazards and assessing risks.
• utilising plant and equipment that can be operated and maintained safely.
• establishing safe methods of work whenever new activities, substances, plant, equipment, processes or premises are introduced.
• co-operating and providing health and safety information to others, including visitors, contractors and on shared work-site.
• being prepared for emergencies.
• establishing systems for monitoring contractor competence and compliance with our standards.
• encouraging the participation of all employees and ensuring that all individuals are aware of their responsibilities.
• monitoring health and safety objectives and standards through performance measurement and audit processes.
• undertaking a periodic review of our health and safety policy and management systems.

Scottish Canals will do everything that is reasonable and practicable to conform to this policy.

Scottish Canals’ policies

We’re updating our policies. When they’re finalised, we’ll publish them here.