Health, Safety and Security awards : Keolis rewards the commitments of its subsidiaries

After the Safety Week, which was held from 14 to 18 June 2021, Keolis has honored innovative actions developed in the past months by its subsidiaries to improve the health, safety and security of its passengers and collaborators. Beyond these prices rewarding the teams, this first-of-its-kind in the Group enables the company to highlight and share good practices so they can be used in the networks in the 15 countries where Keolis is present.

• During the peak of the pandemic from March 2020 to February 2021, the teams of Keolis Santé were active in transporting more than 10,000 patients suffering of COVID-19, which equates to more than 100 missions per day.

• Keolis Besançon Mobilités, which operates the Grand Besançon network, stood out during this period by testing a lot of solutions et by using residual products in tramways to protect travelers’ and collaborators’ health.

• In Boston, our subsidiary in charge of operating and maintening suburbs’ trains communicated a lot on the subject with its teams. Regular messages from the CEO or shared video testimonies raised awareness among the collaborators on the importance of everyone’s role in the fight against COVID-19.

• Keolis Amey Manchester, which operates the Great Manchester tramway has partnered with the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) to offer a custom-made mental health awareness training programme for 120 Customer Service front line staff in Autumn 2020. The training was so successful that a subsequent training was provided for 60 managers in May 2021, with the creation of a MH buddy system to sustainably support fellow vulnerable colleagues.

  Keolis Canada has joined the “Bell” program (with 1,000 other companies) for the mental health and well-being of its employees. The goal is to make our work environment a healthy place and to make a difference in the communities that we operate in by destigmatizing events, conversation guides, etc. « Mental Health, let's talk about it »

Safety in public transports also involves third parties’ safety (pedestrian, two-wheeled vehicles, drivers) who cross the routes of buses and tramways. After on-site and in the field testing, Keolis Lyon found that rear vision cameras appeared to add real value for drivers thanks to a better visibility of blind spots with unprecedented quality of vision during the day, night and in all types of weather. The SYTRAL was convinced by the demonstration and has decided that every new vehicle will have this type of equipment and that the current vehicles will be retrofitted. The fleet will be entirely equipped within 4 to 5 years. Furthermore, testing of an alerting light device at pedestrian crossway for streetcars will be undertaken in 2021 and 2022.

Thanks to an educational bus tour, Keolis Secteur Languedoc Grands Causses, that operates school transport in the Hérault and the Gard, South of France, raised awareness among more than 1,500 students from six schools about the importance of wearing seatbelts in buses. The bus was installed on a low-boy trailer and recreated hyper-realistic accident simulation conditions thanks to the turning system that allowed the simulator vehicle to be manoeuvred on its side. The accident simulation allowed the students to escape from inside a bus lying on its side featuring luggage which had become obstacles and a roof hatch offering the only way out of the vehicle and familiarised them with the importance of wearing a seatbelt.

• Keolis Amey Docklands, our subsidiary which operates Docklands Light Railways (DLR), the automatic metro of London, has equipped itself with a three-year innovative programme to improve safety policies and its collaborators commitment on the subject. Named “Just Culture & Positive Approach Safety”, it aims transform the company into an effective learning organisation. When an incident occurs for example, surveys will not aim to look for the one who caused it, but rather to understand why it happened and what driving influencers were at the root of the incident.

• In Australia, Keolis Downer developed « Live Saving Rules » to ensure basic behaviours are followed with a focus on preventing serious injuries or death. This initiative, which is part of the Zero Harm programme, is supported by the roll out of just and fair culture (identifying and regularly evaluating critical risks, organizing cross-safety audits…).

• À Hyderabad (India), our subsidiary in charge of operating the metro network of the town was awarded the ISO 45001 certification for its security at work management system. Designed with Safety British Council, it is now deploying a program taught by 25 coaches to reinforce safety culture among staff members.

• In Bordeaux and Dijon, our subsidiaries in charge of two metropolis’ networks, strengthened their partnerships with local security forces and municipal police forces. In Dijon, 72 joint operations were lead from January to May 2021 with the municipal police forces of the town and two other municipalities, compared to 25 operations in 2019. In Bordeaux, the number of conventions signed with the municipal police went from 6 at the beginning of 2020 to 12 in the middle of 2021, whilst seven other conventions are about to be signed.

• To become a key player in the prevention of crime and ensuring security on public transport in the Ile-de-France region, the Keolis Ile-de-France subsidiary created a new subsidiary, Keolis Contrôle et Humanisation (KCH), which has been operational since January 2021. KCH handles steering, and management structures bringing together all mediators, controllers and security agents. It also uses diversified, standardized and robust operational methods and innovative digital technologies to support human resources.

• To reinforce security in public transports in Lyon, Keolis Lyon created, with SYTRAL, a new regional strategy for security and delinquency prevention in public transport for the years 2021-2024. Signed on 1 March 2021 by all the partners, it constitutes a global and ambitious prevention program, with four axes and 32 initiatives. A first-of-its-kind in France, the strategy is based on existing best practices and innovates by significantly adding more initiatives (25 new initiatives compared to the previous strategy).

• To raise staff awareness about cybersecurity, Keolis Tours innovated with a physical intrusion scenario organised in the company buildings and a video produced to share with subsidiary’s staff. 

• A first in the Group: Keolis Amey Manchester applied for ISO 27001 Information Security Management certification (the certification audit is under way).