At an airport, people working alongside one another may have different employers, responsibilities and operational pressures. Creating a shared understanding of safety means reaching across those boundaries and making it easier for everyone to raise concerns and contribute to improvements.

For Bristol Airport, this challenge sits at the centre of a programme focused on care, trust and everyday behaviour. In its submission to The SHE Show Inspiring Change Awards 2026, the airport describes how it is strengthening leadership engagement and working with business partners to help everyone go home safe and well.

The airport’s submission lists around 400 direct employees and 3,000 indirect workers. With much of its operation delivered through external organisations, its ambition is to create one safety culture across the airport community, regardless of who employs each person.

Head of Health and Safety Sarah Kerr identified a strong foundation: people already cared about doing the right thing. The opportunity was to help them understand how their own decisions and conversations could influence safety, and give them greater confidence to act.

Feedback from the airport’s 2025 culture survey helped us better understand what matters most to our people. Colleagues expressed a desire for more involvement in decisions that affect them, greater consistency in how safety expectations are applied, and clearer evidence that feedback is being heard and acted upon. The findings also highlighted opportunities to strengthen relationships with our business partners and further embed a culture of care and support following incidents.

The airport translated these findings into commitments for 2026: listen before acting, apply standards consistently and explain what happens after feedback. It also committed to removing barriers between organisations and approaching incidents with care and curiosity. Linking commitments directly to what people had said gave leaders a clear basis for action.

Leadership development became a central part of the response. Executive coaching and safety leadership training helped senior leaders understand their influence on culture and support an environment where people could speak openly. Leaders and contractor managers also received support to improve the quality of their safety conversations. The CEO visibly reinforced the message that safety is never a negotiation.

Executive safety tours evolved to place greater emphasis on understanding the day-to-day realities of work. Leaders were encouraged to spend time with colleagues, explore the risks and challenges they face, and understand what helps or hinders safe performance. These conversations were intended to identify practical improvements while reinforcing that speaking up can make a meaningful difference.

Supporting materials describe leadership tours and conversations resulting in funding for day-to-day safety issues. They also record the trial of spill-response kits following an increase in slips, trips and falls in the terminal. The airport reports that the successful trial led to wider use of the kits and a decline in reported slips on spillages, although the evidence does not provide numerical results.

A Safety Partner Summit on 18 June 2026 brought senior leaders and key business partners together for a full day of discussion. The airport openly shared areas needing improvement and invited partners to challenge its approach. Participants explored their biggest safety challenges, what good practice should look like and how they could contribute to a common standard.

The summit materials encouraged leaders to acknowledge operational pressures while asking constructive questions about what could change. Discussions considered how safety could be designed into work when time was limited, and how people could influence issues involving another organisation. Care, curiosity and contribution provided a shared basis for these conversations.

The airport also addressed perceptions that cost efficiency meant compromising safety. A myth-busting briefing invited colleagues to discuss pressures to cut corners and reinforced the commitment to maintaining safety measures. It explained how to report concerns through the OSHENS system or the Airport Community App, including an option for people without a login.

Bristol Airport describes the programme as an early-stage transformation. Its submission reports stronger engagement, more open dialogue and greater shared ownership, supported by feedback from colleagues and partners. These are encouraging signs, while longer-term evidence will be needed to establish the programme’s effect on safety performance.

The airport also recognises continuing work around contractor management, assurance and consistent expectations across its supply chain. For the wider SHE community, its experience shows the value of turning feedback into visible commitments and giving partners a meaningful role in shaping improvements. Trust grows when people can see that their concerns are heard and that leaders are prepared to respond.

Based on Bristol Airport’s submission and supporting materials for The SHE Show Inspiring Change Awards 2026. Programme progress and outcomes are as reported by the airport in August 2026.