With the Take Care Award, we make exceptional safety achievements and examples of good safety behaviour visible and reward them. Pascal de Sain, Workplace Housing Team Leader at Ballast Nedam Materieel and ‘initiator’ of the initiative, accepted the Take Care Award of the second quarter 2024.

The initiative

He wins the Take Care Award for a new and self-conceived safety solution that has been implemented in practice: special lifting hooks for safely hoisting units. Pascal tells us about his concept: ‘Previously, lifting was done with an open hook because normal container hooks did not fit. There were 2 problems: colleagues had to unnecessarily hook hoisting hooks on top of the units, creating a danger of falling. Or the colleagues hooked in the lifting hook at the bottom of the unit, but had to hold the lifting hook until hoisting. This created entrapment hazards. A colleague of mine was trapped once. Fortunately, he recovered, but this incident got me thinking about how we can make this operation safer.’

In consultation with his colleagues, Pascal took the initiative to design new and, above all, safe unit hooks. ‘The specially designed hook automatically hooks into the hole of the unit. If the tyres tighten then the hook itself rotates and stays attached to the unit. This allows you to distance yourself from the unit, which is much safer.’

Before the unit hook could actually be produced, a model was 3D printed. ‘This way we could see if it fits well and saved a lot of money. Only when it fit well was the unit hook produced in metal and also certified. We have since had two sets made. With the arrival of the custom-made unit hooks, we can safely hoist the units. And the best feedback is that our fitters are now working with the unithooks to their full satisfaction.’

‘I didn't develop the new unithooks on my own,’ emphasises Pascal. ‘Several people were involved during the process: Norbert Hensen, Bas van Lottum, André Sommeling, Rik van de Weijer, Alwin de Bondt and Dana Veldman. Together we are the winners!’

Take Care

Pascal: ‘It was a surprise to me that I won the prize. I thought I was going into a meeting, but was instead surprised with this nice prize. Super that attention is being paid to this.’ What Pascal will spend the prize on is still being brainstormed. 

Finally, a tip from Pascal: ‘Take time for safety. In the 20 years I have been working in construction, I see a lot of difference. Safety is thought about more in advance and communicated more, think of the Care App. Fortunately, the numbers have gone down drastically. We are doing well!’

Every quarter, the Take Care Award jury (consisting of Geert van der Linde, HSE director, and members of the Works Council's HSE committee) chooses a winner from all nominations that have improved safety in the past quarter. The winner will receive 500,- to arrange a nice treat with the (project) team or department involved, donate to charity or do something fun.