More knowledge about our brain and safety on construction sites: leadership programme Take Care

'Brain Based Safety' is the main subject of Ballast Nedam's new leadership programme Take Care. The course is followed by a large group of Ballast Nedam colleagues who have operational leadership roles on construction sites, such as foremen, site supervisors, site managers, project managers and project directors. They learn how the brain works in relation to (un)safe behaviour on the construction site and how to positively influence it.

"On construction sites, we know one certainty: change. We need to teach people to deal with that even better," says Geert van der Linde, director of safety at Ballast Nedam. "We have driven, loyal people on our projects who are mainly technically trained. From their education, they excel at creating technical solutions to problems. During this leadership programme, they learn precisely how to empower the team to prevent or solve problems under time pressure. These are solutions that go beyond engineering."

Brain Based Safety

This theory revolves around how the brain works and teaches participants what causes risky behaviour and how it can be prevented. It also explains why people sometimes act unsafely despite being aware of the rules and procedures.

Take Care

Geert van der Linde: "Everyone has blind spots for his or her own behaviour. When a situation gets really tense, what do you do? This is a programme in which participants learn how their own brains work and how they can inspire and motivate other people. Good conversations create awareness and understanding. That's how you can break patterns."

"We need to take care of each other, but we can only do that if we understand one another. This training is therefore a crucial part of the our safety programme 'Take Care'. In my view, the training is a success when someone is held accountable for his or her behaviour and can say 'thank you' in the process. We have to protect ourselves and each other, that's what it's all about."

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