Thames Water - Safety, Health, Environment & Quality Technical Support

9 Feb 2017

 Thames Water Infrastructure Alliance commenced in early 2015. It is a partnership between Thames Water and four major infrastructure contractors delivering over £1bn of water infrastructure repairs, maintenance and upgrades by 2020. The Alliance is expected to run for the next 15 years. Currently each of partner is working to their own management systems and they report performance to Thames Water via a simple dashboard report generated monthly. The vision is to set in place a unified management system for the governance of SHEQ within the Alliance with all partners delivering works using that framework.

Project Description - Turner & Townsend is providing a full time Senior SHEQ and Systems Manager as part of the SHEQ Leadership Team to support the Thames Water Infrastructure Alliance Head of SHEQ and develop an effective business management system for SHEQ governance of the Alliance.

Scope and objectives of the project

The Infrastructure Alliance commenced in early 2015. It is a partnership between Thames Water and four major infrastructure contractors delivering over £1bn of water infrastructure repairs, maintenance and upgrades by 2020. The Alliance is expected to run for the next 15 years. Currently each of partner is working to their own management systems and they report performance to Thames Water via a simple dashboard report generated monthly. The vision is to set in place a unified management system for the governance of SHEQ within the Alliance with all partners delivering works using that framework.

Core deliverables

There are currently several streams to our delivery.

1 At the strategic level in collaboration with the partners and other key stakeholders to define and deliver an effective SHEQ integrated management system that is robust enough to withstand operational and other pressures, avoids bureaucracy and has the flexibility to transition and evolve as the legal and operational environments themselves evolve. We are managing the consultation process, providing guidance, leadership and solutions to reflect stakeholder requirements.

2 There are a number of operational challenges that affect delivery in the field, for example lack of information about buried structures and services. This increases the risk of incident every time we break ground. Turner & Townsend has worked closely with operations to identify a solution to this problem and minimise the risk of unexpected service strikes. The “safe dig” information packs for all jobs has been developed, piloted and gained board approval for full deployment across the business. We aim to complete implementation by July 2016.

3 Support to contract SHEQ Managers & SHE Advisors in relation to delivery & roll out of new standards, processes and procedures consistently across the 9 business units and 4 key suppliers including training, workshops and collaboration as required.

4 Being the nominated lead for partners driving business improvement initiatives and informing the risk profile as appropriate.

5 Developing & disseminating a consistent approach to communications to capture alerts, bulletins and lessons learned from site inspections, best practice and post incident.

6 Day to day support for the Head of SHEQ via provision of technical advice and assurance activities such as monitoring and analysis of site level performance data to identify trends, areas of concern and potential improvements. We constantly observe the working practices and actively seek improvements to achieve and, where possible, exceed current best practice models. We actively look, both within the Water sector and in the wider business environment, for best practice lessons to apply within the Infrastructure Alliance.

Benefits

Benefits include a structured, knowledgeable and focused approach to driving innovative improvements in SHEQ governance and the performance of frontline delivery. Clear integrated procedures implemented across all partners and supply chain.

Description of how you worked with the client & other suppliers

We work inclusively at all levels of the Alliance organisation, client team, partners and key supply chain, to design and implement effective SHEQ governance and to provide a practical risk based assurance framework.

Relevance to the challenges Infrastructure Alliance will face in the next 5-10 years

Our approach will deliver an effective SHEQ governance and assurance framework, giving clear visibility of process, standardisation in reporting and transformed safety behaviours in frontline delivery.