Knokke-Heist
In 2014, Bart Daelman joined the municipality of Knokke-Heist as an internal prevention advisor. He gave himself five years to lay the foundations for a strong, proactive prevention policy on safety and wellbeing. “Knokke-Heist is leading by example in this field thanks to the collaboration with IDEWE and IBEVE. We outsource the tasks that we don’t have the time, knowledge or capacity for with complete peace of mind.”
A fashionable seaside town, spa resort, paradise for shoppers, fans of art and culture, and nature lovers... Knokke-Heist ticks all the boxes. The administration that keeps this bustling municipality running smoothly has around 560 permanent members of staff as well as a few hundred students who work there through the summer.
“The municipality wants to be an attractive employer that puts wellbeing and safety first," explains Bart Daelman. “The internal service for prevention and protection at work, which I’m involved in, plays a key role here. We focus on several aspects of occupational safety and are the first point of contact for our staff. We use IDEWE and IBEVE for many other specialist areas.”
The collaboration extends to virtually all areas of safety and wellbeing, both for the municipal administration and for sister and subsidiary organisations such as the Public Centre for Social Welfare (OCMW), the AGSO, De Woonwinkel and a number of schools.
We set an example when it comes to safety and wellbeing
A range of risks
Ergonomics, medical examinations, risk management and assessments, psychosocial aspects, asbestos inventories, reintegration and more are domains for which the municipality calls on the support of IDEWE and IBEVE.
Almost every employee at IDEWE Roeselare comes to see us
“The people I work with most often are occupational doctor Griet Sierens for all things medical, prevention advisor for occupational safety Dirk Dewulf for risk management, and the two prevention advisors on psychosocial aspects, Tineke Vanyzere and Julie Dewilde. Add to that a whole host of other specialists, depending on the issue and our need for support.”
The municipality has a wide range of roles and assignments, which makes prevention both an exciting and challenging task. Bart: “For administrative profiles, for example, it’s all about ergonomics for anyone who sits in front of a screen. But we also have a large number of technical and logistics staff whose tasks and environments are constantly changing, such as people who get the rooms ready and have to do a lot of heavy lifting.”
“When it comes to the buildings, the focus lies on issues such as fire risk assessments and asbestos inventories. I underestimated the extent and range of the risks when I first started here”, admits Bart. “Fortunately, I can rely on the experts at IDEWE and IBEVE.”
Anticipate and personalise
Bart has been working with IDEWE and IBEVE for eight years. His verdict? “Hugely positive. I’ve nothing but praise for the employees and how they work. The things I like the most are the customer-oriented attitude and the smooth communication. This means that I can reach out to Griet Sierens and her colleagues for advice and help on a specific issue at any time. The experts analyse everything with us and tailor their services to our demanding challenges.”
As an example, Bart adds, “Now take the ergonomics training courses for beach workers who lay walkways. The IDEWE trainer first comes to the site to assess the situation. We then know that people will recognise their own work situation in the training course. They receive specific tips that pay off straight away.”
Another good example of a training course that has been well worth it is OptiDesk. The online tool maps out the health risks associated with working with display screen equipment and improves wellbeing. “That adds real value. Our screen workers are spread across seventeen locations – it’s impossible to train them all on site. OptiDesk combines online surveys and an e-learning course, resulting in personal recommendations with parameters that we then incorporate into our policy. Incidentally, it goes even further as the results can also be discussed with the occupational doctor. If the tool flags any issues, staff can simply request a consultation.”
Healthy buildings
Employee wellbeing is a top priority. However, the buildings also need to be safe and healthy. The municipality relies on IBEVE’s expertise in this area. “In the early days, the collaboration around safety and asbestos inventories was rather ad hoc. Since then, all buildings have been inventoried, including with detailed descriptions and images. These documents give our technical staff a good overview of the situation. We’re going to expand on this moving forward with an annual inspection to make sure we have up-to-date reports.”
Fire risk assessments were also carried out for all buildings that are staffed on a permanent basis.
We follow the recommendations closely. The documents don’t just sit in a filing cabinet collecting dust.
Embedded in the corporate culture
The fundamental elements of the policy are firmly embedded within the organisation. However, there is still work to be done. “As an employer, we do quite a lot, but we also expect our staff to take responsibility themselves and make the right choices. We provide them with the knowledge and resources, but we can’t control what they do with it as prevention advisors. We will put even more focus on awareness to keep safety and wellbeing at the forefront of everyone’s minds, and make sure they genuinely are part of our corporate culture.”
Finally, Bart points out the importance of having an external perspective. “As an internal prevention advisor, you sometimes become blind to situations that often come up. This makes external experts’ opinions extremely valuable, particularly as they have wide-ranging experience across all sorts of companies.”
IDEWE facilitates cross-pollination between its customers, and good practices find their way from one organisation to another.