On complex aviation and infrastructure projects, a shared approach to safety depends on the relationships between people working for different teams and organisations. Lagan Aviation & Infrastructure has made those relationships central to a programme focused on visible leadership, workforce involvement and learning across projects.

In its submission to The SHE Show Inspiring Change Awards 2026, the company describes an opportunity to strengthen the culture supporting its existing safety systems. With 96 employees listed in the application and projects involving contractors and supply chain partners, the challenge was to create consistent expectations while encouraging everyone to contribute.

Lagan recognised that people needed confidence that their concerns would be heard and acted upon. Leaders therefore committed to spending more time on site, talking with frontline teams about the work, the pressures they faced and what could improve safety. These conversations were intended to build trust and help managers understand the circumstances influencing everyday decisions.

The approach also examined how the working environment shapes behaviour. Supporting materials describe a behavioural science programme based on the influence of prompts and feedback: what encourages a particular action, and what response follows it. This gave the company a way to consider the conditions surrounding decisions alongside individual responsibility.

Regular Safety Stand Down events became a central part of the programme. Employees, contractors and supply chain partners pause work to discuss risks, human factors, wellbeing and lessons learned. The sessions create dedicated time for people to reflect on experience, raise concerns and work through problems together.

The value lies in the discussion as well as the message being delivered. Lagan’s submission describes an emphasis on honest dialogue, with workers encouraged to question unsafe conditions and contribute ideas. Leaders are expected to listen and respond, helping colleagues see a connection between speaking up and improving the workplace.

Practical briefing materials support these conversations. A toolbox talk on complacency explores how familiar tasks can lead people to overlook checks, assume conditions are unchanged or take shortcuts. Its reflective questions invite workers to consider their own experience and discuss how they can challenge complacency without criticising colleagues.

Another briefing addresses the interaction between people, plant and vehicles. It highlights the pressures created by busy work areas, deliveries, distractions and changing routes, linking the discussion to the realities of infrastructure work. Together, these resources give project teams concrete topics to explore and opportunities to revisit assumptions about routine activities.

To help learning travel beyond individual sites, Lagan introduced HSE Connect. The programme provides a structured way to share safety information, good practice and lessons across projects and partner organisations. Its purpose is to improve consistency and enable teams to learn from experiences elsewhere in the business and supply chain.

This collaboration matters where different employers work alongside one another. Safety Stand Downs bring those groups into the same discussion, while HSE Connect supports continuing exchange between projects. The intention is that useful learning can inform other teams’ decisions and become part of how work is planned and delivered.

Mental health, resilience and wellbeing also became regular topics within safety engagement. Lagan describes this as part of understanding the whole person and the pressures affecting their work. Integrating these subjects into established conversations creates opportunities to discuss support alongside physical risks.

The programme operates alongside formal assurance. Supporting materials describe three levels: checks by operational teams, independent reviews of procedures and projects, and further scrutiny by senior SHEQ leaders and external parties. This retains a structure for checking arrangements while the engagement programme develops the conversations around them.

Lagan reports greater workforce participation, stronger relationships between leaders and frontline teams, and increased confidence in challenging unsafe conditions. It also describes improved collaboration and more routine discussion of wellbeing. These are the company’s reported observations; the submission does not quantify the extent of those changes in engagement or trust.

The continuing task is to sustain participation and demonstrate that concerns lead to action as projects develop. For the wider SHE community, Lagan’s approach offers practical ways to connect leadership with daily work: make time to listen on site, create shared opportunities for discussion and provide a route for useful learning to reach other teams. The credibility of those activities rests on what people see happen afterwards.

Based on Lagan Aviation & Infrastructure’s submission and supporting materials for The SHE Show Inspiring Change Awards 2026. Programme progress and outcomes are as reported by the company in August 2026.