NS contributes to safety in society by providing safe transport and a safe environment to its passengers and employees. We constantly work to guarantee occupational safety, personal safety and safe travel.
The social costs of occupational safety in 2019 were €15 million. To improve occupational safety at NS, we are working on preventing physical or mental harm to our employees that may occur as a result of, for instance, unsafe working conditions, which could mean they are unable to work (or to work full-time) or need care. NS took further steps in 2019 to encourage staff to report unsafe situations and to reduce unsafe working conditions, for instance through sound risk assessment and evaluation reports.
In recent years we have taken several measures to improve personal safety, such as the use of cameras, bodycams and security guards at stations where perception of safety is low. We cooperate closely with the police and municipalities, and with other carriers. We have made agreements with our partners to carry out joint actions to increase the level of safety. This has improved customer satisfaction with personal safety. The social impact of personal safety was just under €10 million in 2019.
Travelling in safety
To provide safe travel, NS is working with its partners on preventing collisions, derailments and unsafe situations at the stations. The social costs were less than €0.5 million in 2019 (same as in 2018). The number of traffic accidents during the first and last mile and the impact of these accidents were much higher, amounting to approximately €117 million in 2019. Rail travel train is relatively safe compared to transport by car. The positive impact resulting from accidents that are avoided because of people actively choosing the train was only calculated for ‘elective passengers’. The societal benefits of safe transport by train were approximately €629 million in 2019 (2018: €620 million).