Human House and Vision Zero: Sharing with the world how we do safety and health in Denmark

As one of the first companies worldwide, Human House has established a national Vision Zero network – The Danish Vision Zero Council – and for a good reason: The Danish way of doing safety and health work attracts international attention and the consultants at Human House are increasingly busy traveling the world to spread the important message about a safe, sustainable, and healthy working environment. Head of Department at Human House Pernille Thau gives an account of the current international activities in Human House.

”We’ve been a part of the global Vision Zero campaign since its very beginning, and we have worked hard to help spread the Vision Zero message to the rest of the world. Personally, I am proud of this hard work and how far we’ve come, and it makes me very happy to experience the great interest there is in how we do safety and health in Denmark”.

Together with her colleague Lars Tornvig, Pernille Thau has spent a great amount of time participating in international conferences all over the world this past year – either as presenter or moderator. Following the re-opening in the Spring of 2021, Pernille Thau and Human House have had a lot of activities around the world in connection to the global campaign Vision Zero and the Great Reset and Vision Zero and the Great Reset for the Americas.

The Great Reset

Vision Zero and The Great Reset is based on the World Economic Forum’s initiative, The Great Reset, that urges global stakeholders to jointly engage in improving the state of the world post COVID-19. Vision Zero joins this ambition by inviting the world to re-think the world of work and contribute to secure a safer, healthier, and more sustainable working environment globally.

By the end of this month, Human House and the Danish Vision Zero Council will be co-hosting the next step in the Reset campaign: Vision Zero and the Great Reset for Europe. Also at this event, Pernille Thau and Lars Tornvig will be giving presentations.

Danish traditions and unique knowledge

”In Denmark, we hold unique knowledge when it comes to health and safety work, and we are experiencing an increasing demand for insight into this from our colleagues all over the rest of the world. Especially in the field of mental health, psycho-social risks, and well-being in the working environment,” Pernille Thau says and further explains:

”The knowledge we have in Denmark and the safety and health culture we are known for in especially these areas, gain a lot of international attention now. At Human House Leadership & OSH, we work with mental health and well-being in the Vision Zero framework, and we are aware that we have a highly demanded ‘product’ that is based on years of Danish tradition for securing safe and fair working conditions for everyone. It is our pride and pleasure to be able to share this knowledge and tradition through the Vision Zero Campaign.”

”Denmark is internationally known and respected for its welfare system, for being one of the world’s happiest countries, for the way our labour market is structured, and the Danish approach to the relation between employer and employee based on dialogue and a sustainable work life: In Denmark we strive to take care of each other – not only in the sense that we want to avoid work accidents from happening, but in a broader sense; we are culturally focused on securing a high level of job satisfaction and well-being to make sure that we are happy when we go to and from work. In other words, we try to invest in each other’s well-being – on all levels, from leaders and management to workers and employees. It proves valuable in many aspects including profitability. These are some of the main messages and philosophies we export when we give presentations about safety and health seen from a Danish perspective,” Pernille Thau says.

Building on newest research

In October 2020, the Danish Vision Zero Council came off to a great start when the first council meeting was held in Copenhagen. As one of the first companies in the world, Human House has established a national council for the global Vision Zero campaign and now, one year later, the council continuously experiences great interest and support from its now 20 members from the biggest international organisations based in Denmark. Through years of working closely together with researchers from the NFA (Danish National Research Centre for the Working Environment) – among these Pete Kines, one of the researchers behind the scientific basis of Vision Zero – Human House has been a part of the Vision Zero campaign for several years. And one of the greatest gains Human House brings home from the many international Vision Zero activities is the unique insight into recent research and the opportunity to further develop networks and knowledge-sharing with some of the leading researchers in the area, Pernille Thau says:

”In Human House, we are highly experienced in the work with Vision Zero: We’ve assisted customers and organisations in the implementation of the Vision Zero mindset for years. However, it is extremely important for us to keep developing and be up to date with research, so we can continue communicating the important messages and recent studies in our field to our global network and customers as well as to our Danish customers. Just last month, we had the pleasure of inviting the members of the Danish Vision Zero Council to a presentation held by Dutch researcher and professor Gerard Zwetsloot, who gave a lecture on i.a. safety culture.”

”These days, I am – together with Lars Tornvig – joining a work group in preparation for the upcoming Vision Zero Summit in Japan in May 2022. Together with researchers and other experts from all over the world we are defining the content for the presentations for the summit. This really illustrates perfectly how much we get to bring with us home when we take part in the global Vision Zero network,” says Pernille Thau.

ABOUT HUMAN HOUSE AND VISION ZERO

• On 27 – 28 October, Human House is co-organising the Vision Zero and the Great Reset for Europe conference in Düsseldorf in collaboration with ORP. The conference takes place at the international trade fair A+A in Düsseldorf. You can stream the presentations – sign up here.
• On 11 – 13 May 2022, Human House are among the presenters at the Vision Zero Summit in Japan.
• On 21 October, the Danish Vision Zero Council can celebrate their one year anniversary. The Danish Vision Zero Council is one of the first national networks of the global Vision Zero campaign and now has about 20 members from the leading Danish international organisations; among these Novozymes, Hempel, PPG, NCC, DS Smith, Sanistål, MTHøjgaard, Grundfos, FLSmidt, Babcock & Wilcox, and KK Wind Solutions.