Safety culture ladder nen
DEKRA Audit Netherlands

How high is the safety awareness in your organization?

Safety Culture Ladder

Because a safe work environment is vital

Is your organization’s work environment safe? Do your employees consciously do the right thing? And are you paying attention to safety risks in your company? Gain an insight into the role safety plays in your organization with the Safety Culture Ladder. Become certified by DEKRA. Our auditors have years of expertise with the Safety Culture Ladder, letting you protect yourself and your company.

Safety awareness and employees’ safe conduct plays a crucial role in occupational safety​. The Safety Culture Ladder lets you measure the safety awareness of your own employees, contractors or suppliers. The result lets you target safety awareness and behaviour improvement, reducing the risks of accidents and staff absenteeism. And you can do targeted business with organizations that are also safety-conscious. Meanwhile your organization becomes an attractive partner.

About the Safety Culture Ladder

The Safety Culture Ladder is managed by NEN, the Royal Netherlands Standardization Institute. The Safety Culture Ladder lets you protect the health and well-being of your employees. Your organization shows that it really pays attention to safety. The Safety Culture Ladder features five steps:
Step 5 of the Safety Culture Ladder: Progressive – Safety is integrated fully into all business processes.
Step 4 of the Safety Culture Ladder: Proactive – Safety is a high priority and is improved continuously.
Step 3 of the Safety Culture Ladder: Calculating – Safety rules are considered important.
Step 2 of the Safety Culture Ladder: Reactive – Safety is not a priority and only plays a role when something goes wrong.
Step 1 of the Safety Culture Ladder: Pathological – Safety is not on the organization’s agenda.
Organizations can progress from Step 1 to 5 and determine the step at which they want to start. So they decide how high to set the bar. The more safely a company operates, the higher its position on the ladder. And the higher the position on the ladder, the higher the advantage in tenders.

Certification against the Safety Culture Ladder

Safety Culture Ladder certification is of particular interest to high-risk industries. But ideally all organizations where safety is paramount would do well to certify. If you’re a partner of an organization that works with the Safety Culture Ladder? Then it’s essential that the Safety Culture Ladder is applied throughout the chain, including you. Certification lets you show that your company is ready for any collaboration.

Certification within the Safety Culture Ladder

Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) Original
Certification against the Safety Culture Ladder Original involves a 100% audit every year. An organization receives the SCL Original certificate when it completes the audit successfully. The certificate shows which step has been achieved.
Safety Culture Ladder (SCL)
Safety Culture Ladder (SCL) Light
Approved Self Assessment (ASA)
Safety Culture Ladder step 2 mandatory in construction
Step 2 of the Safety Culture Ladder has been mandatory in construction tenders since 2022. Step 3 will become mandatory from 1 January 2025. Your organization has not yet fulfilled Step 2? Then act quickly and contact DEKRA with the details below. We are also happy to help you prepare for Step 3, which will be mandatory for construction from 2025.
Development of the Safety Culture Ladder
Safety Culture Ladder for all organizations

Dutch rail network infrastructure organization ProRail developed the Safety Culture Ladder for working safely on the tracks. The Ladder also proved relevant to other organizations. NEN, the Royal Netherlands Standardization Institute, thus adopted this standard from 1 July 2016: the NEN Safety Culture Ladder.

Safety Culture Ladder spreads internationally

After many audits by DEKRA in the Netherlands, the first processes have now been completed in Germany. There is also considerable interest from Scandinavia and the United Kingdom. DEKRA Netherlands is the driving force in the international spread of the Safety Culture Ladder.

SAQ Compact permitted for all SCL products

Use of the SAQ Compact (a compact questionnaire) is now permitted when certifying against all Safety Culture Ladder products. This was decided by the Board of Stakeholders (BoS). An SCL Light statement formerly required the use of the SAQ Extended.

DEKRA’s expertise

DEKRA is your global partner for a safe world. DEKRA’s auditors have extensive knowledge and experience with the Safety Culture Ladder. Our experts perform audits in the Dutch and German markets, for both large organizations and SMEs. Always having a single point of contact at DEKRA makes things easy for you. You can also contact us for other audits. Want to know more about our certification process? Feel free to ask one of our experts.

Book a free session with our expert

Would you like to know how a DEKRA audit takes your organization to a higher level? We are happy to help you! Fill in the form below to get in touch with an SCL expert for free to discuss the process and aks questions about the audit.
Safety Culture Ladder blogs