HOST Case Study

HOST delivers accommodation management solutions at the UK’s Hinkley Point C (HPC) project, working for the New Nuclear Build Generation Company (NNBGenCo). Its housekeeping, security and FM teams manage a campus accommodating 1500 construction workers and apprentices. Using SafeZone®, the company has transformed health & safety culture at the site

With two campuses to manage at the UK critical infrastructure nuclear site Hinkley Point C, including 1500 bedrooms, communal facilities, parking areas, and grounds, HOST needed the most powerful safety and security management technology – a solution to ensure it met its duty of care and health & safety responsibilities towards staff and residents, a population that includes seasoned nuclear industry workers and apprentices as young as 17. Initially, the company was looking for the best lone worker technology, particularly to protect those cleaning empty rooms, but soon discovered that CriticalArc’s SafeZone solution offered wide-ranging benefits covering every aspect of its operations.

SafeZone, which combines safety, security and emergency management functions under a unified platform, enables HOST’s control room team to respond immediately to any issue or call for assistance triggered by an employee using their smartphone, or a dedicated wearable device. SafeZone shows the exact location of every checked-in user, and the locations of all available responders, including security officers and other colleagues nearby.

To enhance health and safety, every HOST employee can use SafeZone to report issues whenever they see a potential hazard, maintenance fault, breach of standard operating practice, involving a resident, colleague, or the general facilities. As soon as the report is registered on SafeZone, a process is initiated to resolve it, with every stage logged – for example, from the hazard being made safe to full repaired, followed by a review of what caused the problem. This creates a culture of safety as every employee, not just security and safety officers, is empowered to contribute to keeping the site safe and secure, from faulty lights to broken glass, from vehicles being parked too close to perimeters causing a potential security vulnerability, everyone is alert to risks.

Crucially, the person who reported the problem is kept appraised of status via SafeZone direct communications, giving them confidence that every time they report something it will be handled, swiftly and appropriately. SafeZone’s heat-mapping and audit tools allow senior managers to review activity across the site, end to end, every day, interrogating both specific incidents and trends over time, to reveal opportunities to further improve operations.

SafeZone has transformed HOST’s operations at both the Sedgemoor and Hinkley campuses, enabling it to achieve industry leading health and safety scores. HOST’s adoption and use of SafeZone has also fostered a positive workplace culture with a renewed focus on risk prevention, safety and service efficiency. This stronger safety culture also translates to improved employee satisfaction and retention. While a new hospitality operation would typically experience workforce turnover between 50% and 100% in its first year, HOST’s staff turnover has been just 7% over three years.

HOST also earned the top rating for environmental and sustainability performance in NNBGenCo’s audit of contractors – the only business on the whole project to achieve this – and SafeZone underpinned this outstanding achievement. As a result, HOST is now well positioned to win future contracts in the nuclear sector and other critical infrastructure settings.

Major benefits set new performance benchmarks in campus management:

• Team performance and job satisfaction boosted; turnover reduced to record low levels, resulting in significant recruitment and training cost savings.
• HOST management has maximum possible visibility and control over operations, with SafeZone data now incorporated into reporting systems including iAuditor.
• Risk of accidents across the entire site now minimised, with SafeZone reporting enabling rapid action before problems develop.
• Duty of care compliance guaranteed by 24/7 lone worker protection of cleaning, maintenance, security and safety staff, including those working alone.
• Streamlined operations combining disparate security, safety, communications and operational control systems into a unified solution with improved functionality.