ISO 45001 certification gains ground at Enemærke & Petersen

Enemærke & Petersen has achieved certification according to the ISO 45001 standard. This certification has resulted in a stronger focus on leadership involvement in the safety and health and a clear, systematic approach to the work. It was a deliberate decision to bring Human House on board as an external adviser to ensure that Enemærke & Petersen’s new initiatives would remain within the framework set out by ISO 45001.

– It’s the external ‘control’ that brings value for us. Having an extra set of eyes ensures that we work according to the standard and keep our focus when it comes to safety and health and the working environment as a whole.

Rikke Kirkebjerg is Health and Safety Manager at Enemærke & Petersen, and the person responsible for the company’s safety and health management system. For many years, she has worked closely with Vibeke Rasmussen from Human House, who has helped integrate the standard, acted as a sparring partner, and conducted audits within the company.

– The support I’ve received from Human House has been crucial to me and to Enemærke & Petersen as a company. We are deeply committed to caring for our employees. It simply becomes easier when the framework is set by the certification standard, so everyone knows the rules of the game. There is also the aspect relating to our clients, who often require us to have a occupational health and safety certification as part of the tendering process. Without it, we would simply miss out on those opportunities.

A close partnership for integration

Rikke Kirkebjerg explains that employees may not consciously think about the certification in their daily work. Not because it has no impact, but because it has become integrated in the company culture – it’s just ‘how we do things here’. When E&P first became certified, a range of new procedures were put in place. Here, having an external adviser proved advantageous in ensuring a shared understanding of safety across the company:

– When we chose to have Human House carry out our internal audits, it meant that an external consultant came out onto our sites. This led to a different dialogue on site and a greater acceptance and understanding of feedback, Rikke Kirkebjerg explains.

– In collaboration with Vibeke, I was able to direct the company’s focus so she could apply it on the construction sites. It provided us with an additional channel of communication, and by getting to know our systems, Vibeke was able to establish trust at our sites and thereby steer us in the right direction. The same applied at management level and it made a real difference to have an external viewpoint to offer insight into how Enemærke & Petersen is perceived from outside, Rikke Kirkebjerg continues.

Vision Zero, sustainability, and ISO 45001

In recent years, Vision Zero has taken root in the world of occupational health and safety, and ISO 45001 is, in many ways, closely aligned with Vision Zero. Enemærke & Petersen is very aware of this, even though the company has not formally committed to Vision Zero as an organisation:

– We have worked to identify the concepts within Vision Zero that create value for us as a company, and we have chosen to incorporate many elements, including the 7 Golden Rules. This is now one of our strategic objectives, as it fits perfectly with our goals for our working environment. We also believe that the future will require us to consider sustainability in terms of human resources, says the Health and Safety Manager.

All indicators suggest that ESG, global goals, and sustainability will increasingly shape a company’s profile in the future, including the responsibility to look after employees. Here, too, ISO 45001 certification plays a significant role. Rikke Kirkebjerg believes that companies with established systems built around their certification are often better equipped to get started:

– It’s not that it isn’t possible elsewhere – far from it – but it quickly becomes more natural for us to develop new processes for working with sustainability. We operate within a system that constantly sets us goals to work towards. That might mean we are a little better prepared, she shares.

On the subject of being well prepared, this is precisely what Rikke Kirkebjerg believes you gain by partnering with an external adviser when you embark on a certification – or if you are already certified:

– It’s really about having professional expertise you can both seek advice from and be challenged by in areas where as a company we need to raise our standards. When I come up with what I think is a brilliant idea, am I actually on the right track? Am I meeting the requirements? Am I still covered as far as the certification and standard are concerned? This is exactly what Vibeke and all the other skilled people at Human House help me with, Rikke Kirkebjerg concludes.