Evida and Vision Zero: From Strategy to Safety Culture

Evida has embraced Vision Zero as a core part of its occupational safety and health strategy. The results speak for themselves: fewer serious workplace accidents, increased job satisfaction, and a stronger safety culture.

Since 2022, Evida – the company responsible for operating and maintaining Denmark’s gas distribution network – has worked systematically to establish a shared language and a strong safety culture across the organisation. COO Sune Holm explains how Vision Zero has provided a crucial framework for uniting the company around a common approach to safety, health, and wellbeing.

A Holistic Approach to Workplace Safety

– Evida is a merger of several companies, which meant we had several different workplace safety cultures. We needed to create a shared identity and a unified approach to safety that could be implemented across the organisation. Vision Zero is an internationally recognised strategy that views occupational safety and health as a whole rather than as isolated initiatives. This holistic approach to workplace safety was exactly what appealed to us, explains Sune Holm.

From Concrete Actions to Cultural Change

To ensure effective implementation, Evida started by focusing on the physical working environment.

– We took a very concrete and systematic approach: we reviewed our workplaces and identified physical improvements that could be implemented immediately – such as better shielding and the right lifting equipment. This provided a visible starting point, allowing employees to see that real changes were happening, says Sune Holm.

Beyond new equipment, Evida has introduced a series of routines and initiatives to embed safety into daily operations. Workplace safety is made visible – literally – with a counter displayed on a screen in the reception area, showing the number of days since the last workplace accident. All meetings now begin with a safety moment, where employees reflect on safety and lessons learned from past incidents. Additionally, management conducts safety walks, actively observing and discussing safety with employees.

– It’s about embedding safety, health, and wellbeing into the organisation. If we don’t keep reinforcing it, it won’t stick, emphasises Sune Holm.

Safety is Good Business

For Evida, workplace safety is not just about compliance – it is an integral part of the daily operations.

– Workplace safety, wellbeing, and health are not project-based tasks – they are operational priorities. It’s about disciplined execution, maintaining the small daily routines that ensure safety becomes a natural part of our work, says Sune Holm.

He emphasises that safety is not just about rules but also about culture, behaviour, and leadership’s approach to occupational safety and health.

– It is just as important to talk about workplace safety as it is to discuss financial performance. Creating a safe and secure working environment is not just a moral responsibility – it is also good business. Employees who feel safe are more productive and deliver higher-quality work. In other words, this is where ethics, responsibility, and business align in the best possible way, he concludes.

The Future: Maintaining and Advancing Progress

Evida has already achieved impressive results with Vision Zero as its guiding principle, but the work does not stop here.

– Our most important goal is to sustain this positive development: fewer workplace accidents and a stronger safety culture. We must continue to create a workplace where everyone feels safe coming to work and returns home safely at the end of the day, concludes Sune Holm.