Site representatives at Christiansen & Essenbæk: induction, peer training and working environment

The challenge

On a building site, new colleagues are trained by the people working alongside them. The quality of that training determines productivity, safety and the working environment — and it depended on whoever you happened to be working next to.

The company therefore wanted to make training systematic and place responsibility where the work is done: in the work crew.

The assignment

We trained 12 hourly-paid concrete workers for the role of site representative, so they could take responsibility for induction, peer training, communication and the working environment in their own crew.

How the programme was structured

• Two residential courses of two days each.
• Part one: VITEK — peer training and instruction technique.
• Part two: communication and collaboration, plus working environment and ergonomics.
• The group was given full mandate to organise a joint company day with activities themselves.
• The following cohort included two assistant instructors from the first cohort — leading by example as a method.

Methods and learning arenas

The teaching was practical: participants trained in instructing, giving feedback and having a conversation about safety with a colleague. Responsibility for the company day was not a social extra but a real task, in which the group had to plan, prioritise and execute together.

In parallel, Cronquist Consult ran an intensive leadership training programme in the company, so management backed the new behaviour.

Documented result

The company reported at the time that sickness absence had been reduced by two thirds — which led the Danish national radio news, Radioavisen, to broadcast live from the company day.

The company also calculated a preliminary saving of approximately DKK 3.5 million, partly as a result of a 30% reduction in risk factors and higher production efficiency, to which the leadership training programme also contributed.

The figures are the company's own, reported in connection with the programme. We have not verified them independently, and they cannot be attributed to the leadership training alone: the programme was one of several initiatives the company carried out during the period.