Safety in the construction industry – Safety Culture Ladder (SCL)

How does the Safety Culture Ladder work?

The Safety Culture Ladder consists of four different products. They range from the SCL Original, where you have a full audit every year, to variants where by means of a sample of Approved Self Assessment (ASA) the action plan is reviewed.

• SCL Original - this is the SCL product for which a full (100%) audit is carried out every year. The certificate issued is valid for three years. In the meantime you can grow to a higher level.
• SCL – This SCL product also leads to a certificate with a validity of three years, however the two interim audits take up 40% of the audit time compared to the first audit. With this product you can also grow to a higher level.
• SCL Light – This SCL product provides you with a valid of three years 'Statement' after review of a questionnaire you have completed (SAQ Extended), a GAP analysis compiled by you and an action plan indicating how you will grow to your desired level of performance. We will check the progress of this action plan annually during an audit.
• Approved Self Assessment – The ASA is a product based on a questionnaire (SAQ Compact), a GAP analysis and an action plan. We test this, but make no statement about the step. Subsequently, 'desk' checks are performed in the following two years to assess the progress of the action plan. You will not receive a certificate or statement.

The four Safety Culture Ladder products schematically

The first three products have five verification steps. The Safety Culture Ladder audits use interviews and observations to determine whether the company is at the requested step.

Which Safety Culture Ladder product is right for you?

In principle, the client determines which product you should be certified for and for which step (possibly based on the ViA principle). It may be that there is no obligation (yet). In that case we advise you to assess for yourself which product is most suitable for you. From this basic position you can grow further if you wish.

The requirements set out in the ViA documentation