VolkerRail wins Best Health & Safety Project at the Safety & Health Excellence Awards 2026

The Safety & Health Excellence (SHE) Awards bring together organisations from across industry to celebrate innovation, leadership and achievement in health, safety and wellbeing. The SHE Awards are one of the leading celebrations of health and safety excellence in the UK.

The Best Health & Safety Project category recognises projects and initiatives that have delivered a measurable impact on health and safety performance, demonstrated innovation and engagement, and created lasting positive change for employees, contractors and wider stakeholders. 

VolkerRail's Safety of Our People initiative is a behavioural safety programme built around five principles: Define Expected Behaviours, Set Boundaries, Test Understanding, Review and Reassess, and Build Relationships. 

The initiative was developed to strengthen safety culture across every part of the business, encouraging personal responsibility, open communication and continual improvement. Since its introduction, Safety of Our People has contributed to a 42% reduction in incidents, a 50% reduction in RTCs, a 28% increase in inspections and a 16% increase in close calls.

Mike Torrington, head of health and safety at VolkerRail said: “I’m incredibly proud to see VolkerRail win this award. So many from across the business have helped to drive this forward, and to be named Best Health and Safety Project helps to highlight their efforts.

“Safety of our People reflects VolkerRail's commitment to ensuring safety remains at the heart of everything we do. Ensuring our people get home to those who matter most is our key driver, and this initiative allows us to support our employees to look after themselves and each other, while also creating an environment where people feel empowered to speak up, challenge unsafe situations and continuously learn. 

Winning this award reflects the commitment shown by employees across the business and the efforts made to embed the five principles of Safety of Our People into everyday activities. It also recognises the collective efforts of those who have helped develop, champion and deliver the initiative.

VolkerRail was shortlisted in three categories at this year's awards: Best Health & Safety Project, Campaign of the Year and Safety Excellence Award