HS2 introduces new health and safety passport system

Credit: HS2 Ltd

HS2 Ltd and its contractors have taken a major step in improving health and safety assurance across sites between London and the West Midlands by introducing a new health and safety passport system.

The new digital ‘Health and Safety Passport System’ (HSPS) will be used initially by all of HS2’s Main Works Civils Contractors to share vital health and safety information across contractors.

The contract to develop and deliver the new system has been awarded to Solihull based company, Biosite Systems Ltd – the UK market leader in workforce management systems for construction.

HS2 contractors, and their staff, may be working across multiple sites and multiple contracts on the new high-speed rail route, and the new digital passport system will establish a central database of critical workforce information across the HS2 supply chain. The collection and synchronisation of data from the local level to project-wide will help to ensure consistency of standards and performance.

As well as ensuring only operatives with the correct credentials and skills are permitted access to site, this approach will allow HS2 to track workforce data around areas such as competency mapping, health and safety assessments and fatigue management across the whole project.

Where supplier companies and operatives are working across multiple locations, the new system will flag fatigue risks across the project. The software will also de-duplicate worker profiles to establish a single record for each operative, including as they potentially move between contractors working on the project. 

The introduction of the HSPS is part of HS2’s commitment to become the UK’s safest ever major project, putting safety at the heart of everything on the project. This includes ensuring the safety and welfare of everyone working on the project, right through to protecting the health and safety of the communities where HS2 is being constructed and will operate.

The workforce management software solution, developed by Biosite, will link biometric data directly to operative information and site access for real-time visibility and traceability. Operatives will be required to complete a central online pre-induction before undertaking a local site induction and provide biometric information to generate their global identification, or digital ‘passport’. It will be the first time that workforce data will be available to view across a major project via a consolidated platform. The data collated can also be anonymised and provide a learning legacy for future major projects.

Emma Head, HS2 Ltd’s Safety and Assurance Director, said: “Health and safety is at the heart of everything we do as we build Britain’s new high-speed railway. We aim to lead by innovation at HS2, and the new Health and Safety Passport System is a pioneering way for us to further our best practice approach to workforce health and safety management. We are pleased to be working with Biosite to deliver the initiative, bringing workforce management for complex projects such as HS2 to the next level.”

A project team consisting of HS2 Ltd, Biosite and HS2’s contractors is now working together to implement the system across HS2 contracts.

Managing Director at Biosite Systems Ltd, Li Wang, commented: “We were able to utilise our experience working across HS2 projects to-date to recommend a software solution that will bring together silos of data from JV projects in a central, cloud-based portal through a combination of online induction, biometric data capture through various access control points at site level and business intelligence software. The solution will focus on ensuring data integrity and synchronicity at every point, to ensure the team at HS2 have access to accurate data that will deliver valuable insight and help support project safety, efficiency and compliance.”

The HS2 HSPS initiative is scheduled to go live in spring 2021, with HS2’s Main Works Civils Contractors working on Phase One. It will then be rolled out across the project, including to the Station Construction Partner Contractors.