The Say YES to Safety programme

Say YES to Safety has become a well-anchored, mature programme within Van Oord. The multifaceted programme promotes a highly developed safety culture and includes training, tools, communication and events. In 2025, we had a Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) of 0.44 (2024 0.66).

Since 2024, we have had an in-house safety training academy and have offered the practical safety programme Safety Navigator, created especially for projects and subcontractors. In 2025, all new employees continued to participate in mandatory safety trainings, and all new managers completed safety leadership training. In addition, under Safety Navigator, all projects involve a customised series of training sessions and events with the customer and suppliers to further improve safety on site.

In 2025, we also worked further on ensuring a psychologically safe environment, in close collaboration with human resources. It was included in the leadership training, along with a focus on service-based leadership. In the second half of the year, we also focused on reducing injuries to hands and limbs from manual tasks.

Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) decreased slightly to 0.18 (2024: 0.19). The severity of personal injuries was mostly low and there were no injuries resulting in permanent disability. The number of reported near misses was 182, down from the 237 in 2024. In 2026, the focus will be on continuing the programme while learning from the data recorded and analysed and near misses observed in 2025.

There was a small rise in the number of both equipment damage reports (274; 2024: 221) and environmental incidents (55; 2024: 45) in 2025, which is consistent with Van Oord’s increased project activity and the number of hours worked as compared to 2024. However, near miss and safety observation reports should rise similarly but instead decreased slightly in 2025 to 4,704 (2024: 5,572). These observation cards provide valuable insights for safety management improvements, and we will focus on further encouraging their use in 2026.

High 5 for Quality

The High 5 for Quality programme is an internal programme designed to promote a quality mindset in our organisation. Its characteristics include craftsmanship, client focus, an end-to-end process approach, continuous improvement and evidence-based working. These form the basis for defining the quality improvement roadmap for our organisation. In 2025, we focused on reviewing existing frameworks and documents and streamlining processes, including the development of an app that will centralise non-conformity reporting. We also completed Inspection Test Plan training within the Ship Management Department to equip our operational marine engineering staff with more concrete quality tools, and we conducted tailored workshops across Van Oord to raise quality awareness and understanding.

Looking ahead

In 2026, we will continue to promote a proactive safety culture to further reduce our injury and accident rates. One focus area will be eye safety, including the introduction of mandatory eyewear on all sites. A marine safety coach will be appointed and tasked with travelling to vessels and worksites to help staff identify and improve possible safety and quality hazards. Another improvement will be the revival of a Health Committee, which plays an advisory role in improving employee health.

We will enhance our focus on quality through the new reporting app and other data collection processes to generate better, data-driven insights. This will allow us to make another step up in quality and inspection effectiveness. Priorities will include customer satisfaction, supply chain, and project evaluation reviews to ensure better awareness of what went well and where improvements are needed.

Certifications

Van Oord has been certified in accordance with:

• ISO 9001:2015 (quality management) – multisite certificate*

• ISO 14001:2015 (environmental management) – multisite certificate*

• ISO 45001:2018 (occupational health and safety management) – multisite certificate*

• ISO 50001:2018 (energy management) – multisite certificate*

• ISO 27001:2022 (information security management)

• ISO 37001:2016 (anti-bribery management system)

• ISO 37301:2021 (compliance management system)

Entity-specific certificates include:

• CO₂ performance ladder, level 5 – in the Netherlands

• Safety Culture Ladder, level 4 – Van Oord Nederland B.V., Van Oord Offshore B.V., Van Oord Offshore Wind B.V.

• SCC certificate (Safety Checklist Contractors) – in the Netherlands

• BRL7000 certificate for soil remediation – in the Netherlands

* For these standards, Van Oord holds a multisite certificate, which means that all legal entities stated on the multisite certificate are covered by one corporate certification scheme.

The safety management system of Van Oord complies with the requirements of the International Management Code for the Safe Operation of Ships and for Pollution Prevention (ISM Code).