At Octavius, safety isn’t just a policy—it’s a culture. Since launching our award-winning STOPThink! programme in 2011, we’ve remained committed to fostering a mindset where everyone—colleagues, suppliers, and partners—feels empowered to think differently, make better decisions, and put safety first.
Five years ago, we implemented our STOPThink! safety critical communications workshops, to reinforce our safety objectives with our safety-critical colleagues and so far we over delivered over 400 sessions. These sessions have been designed to reinforce best practices, encourage open discussions, and help our teams make safer choices in real time. We have now mandated this training for all COSSs that set up protection for safe systems of work on Octavius sites – setting the standard in the industry.
Held with operatives across various safety roles including COSSs, these workshops focus on:
✅ Understanding Common Close Calls – Reflecting on recent incidents and learning from shared experiences.
✅ Enhancing Safety Critical Communication – Making conversations clearer, more accurate, and more effective.
✅ Addressing Human & Environmental Challenges – Identifying barriers to good communication and ways to overcome them.
✅ Learning from Real-Life Scenarios – Using Network Rail films and actual signal box recordings to highlight the impact of communication failures.
After completing the workshops several attendees have since stopped works and replanned for another time as they believed works couldn’t be carried out safely and with all the key fundamentals and processes in place.
By equipping our teams with practical tools and training , we’re strengthening our culture of safety—ensuring that every decision made in keeps people safe. Because at Octavius, we know that when it comes to safety, effective communication is the key.
We hold regular safety critical workshops for daytime and nighttime shift workers. If you would like to join upcoming sessions, please contact Mick Reeves, we welcome operatives across Octavius and our supply chain partners. Together, we can help to foster the challenging culture and work together across the industry to deliver safely.
Thank you to everyone who has attended a session so far.
Also, thank you to Daren Noris, Mick Reeves, Mat Hewitt, Pete Palmer and Bruce Williams for delivering these sessions to help everyone become leaders in the health, safety and wellbeing culture.
