Safety Week has begun across the globe at VINCI Energies with a focus on last-minute changes. How do these changes in project scope or timelines affect safety and how do you manage these challenges?

Jasmin Moroney: Last-minute changes can significantly impact safety on our projects. When project scopes or timelines are altered unexpectedly, it can lead to increased workloads, compressed schedules and heightened stress among our teams. This environment can inadvertently lead to oversight of safety protocols or rushed work practices, increasing the risk of incidents. Our leaders understand that they are responsible for creating the environment in which their people have to work. Decisions made in the office have an impact on those delivering our projects on sites.

To manage these challenges, we prioritise clear communication amongst all our team members from boardroom to site office, early engagement with the parties involved in the project allows for upfront planning. We want all team members to be informed about any changes and understand their implications. Additionally, we assess the impact of these changes on our safety plans and make necessary adjustments to maintain our high safety standards. It’s crucial that we don’t compromise on safety, even when facing tight deadlines or evolving project requirements. This is a hard deliverable but one we need to embed.

In such situations, how do our leaders ensure that safety remains uncompromised?

Jasmin Moroney: Leadership plays a pivotal role in maintaining a safety-first culture, especially when facing project changes. Our leaders are committed to setting clear expectations and leading by example – they are trusted to promote and uphold our safety standards. We believe everyone is a leader when it comes to safety and encourage our teams to speak up about potential safety concerns and suggest improvements. By fostering an environment where trust and transparency thrive, we ensure that our teams feel supported and are less likely to overlook any safety measures, even under pressure.

Safety is more than just avoiding accidents – it’s about creating a culture where people feel empowered to make the right decisions. How do you ensure that safety is truly embedded into our daily operations?

Jasmin Moroney: That’s exactly right. Safety shouldn’t be about avoiding accidents – it’s about creating an environment which allows people to perform to the best of their abilities where they feel confident and supported in making the right decisions – even if that means stopping work or saying no.  An environment where issues are actively called out and rectified.

We focus on training, communication and continuous improvement. Regular safety briefings, toolbox talks and engagement with our workforce help to keep safety front of mind. We also encourage open dialogue, where employees at all levels feel comfortable reporting concerns or suggesting improvements.

Our business is a ‘people business’ and our people are precious, we could not do what we do without them.  One of the most powerful things we can do is learn from our people, whether it’s near misses, lessons from other industries, or feedback from our teams, we take these insights and apply them to continuously improve our safety culture. We don’t just talk about safety – we live it.

Could you talk about the importance of saying no when safety is at risk?

Jasmin Moroney: Saying ‘no’ is one of the most powerful safety tools we have. We instil in our teams that if something doesn’t feel safe, they have the right to stop work and speak up – no matter what.

There’s often pressure in the industry to meet deadlines, keep projects moving and be flexible. But safety must never be compromised for the sake of speed or convenience. If a last-minute change is introduced that hasn’t been properly assessed, or if someone doesn’t feel comfortable proceeding, we encourage them to stop, challenge it and escalate the concern following our STAR methodology: Stop, Think, Assess, React.

Our leadership fully supports this approach because we’d rather delay a task than risk an incident. This is where strong safety culture makes a difference – when people know they will be supported in making the right choice, rather than feeling pressured to proceed despite their concerns.

There’s always pressure to keep things moving and get the job done efficiently. How do you make sure that safety doesn’t take a back seat, especially when projects change at the last minute?

Jasmin Moroney: It all comes down to good planning, strong leadership and making safety a non-negotiable part of how we work. We don’t see safety and efficiency as competing priorities – they actually go hand in hand. Safety is an enabler on projects.

When a project is well-planned with safety and quality built in from the start, things run more smoothly, with fewer delays and less rework. But when shortcuts are taken, that’s when mistakes happen – leading to incidents, stoppages and ultimately more time and cost.

The key is making sure that safety isn’t treated as an extra step or a box to tick, but something that’s fully integrated into every decision. That way, even when things change last minute, we’re still working in a way that keeps everyone safe while staying on track.

Most importantly, we embed safety into every decision – not just as a compliance requirement, but as a fundamental part of how we work. By maintaining this mindset, we can adapt to change without compromising on safety, ensuring that our people go home safe every day.  Safety isn’t a department; it isn’t an add on to our daily tasks – safety is how we do things.