Everything was running smoothly with the West of Duddon Sands wind power project, but things still went wrong. We completed all the method statements, did all the risk assessments, conducted all the training programs.

And yet we saw the incident rate increase. Our client rapped us on the knuckles. What now? We had implemented NINA but there was no NINA. We followed the rules but didn't consider safety. People weren't hit where it hurts. In that case, an extra toolbox offers nothing more than a band aid on the wound. We had to look further back to find the cause: why isn't the message from NINA getting through? Our first step was to stop giving the people on board a load of paperwork and to replace that with a concise five-point risk assessment. We also organized discussions with them to (1) see if they could come up with the five points themselves and (2) allow them to indicate the risks involved in their work themselves. That gets to the roots of NINA: getting people to think about their work based on their own knowledge and expertise. This is at the core of working safely: taking a moment to think in advance about what you need to do so you can achieve a higher level of quality and efficiency.

This process has had a huge impact on our team. And the result was terrific: we completed the work with a productivity advantage of 40%. We set up a wind turbine foundation in 8 hours and 8 minutes. Fantastic!