Client context and challenge

BAE Systems operates large, complex shipbuilding facilities with high-hazard activities, multiple contractors, and constant schedule pressure. Like many major industrial organisations, BAE had strong procedures and compliance systems, but wanted to go further by changing how people talked about safety in real time. The brief to Integrity QHSE was clear: help move safety from being “policed” to being led through everyday conversations and visible frontline leadership.

BAE also recognised that supervisors and SHE Advisors were often drawn into conflict when challenging unsafe behaviours, particularly around PPE, working at height and adherence to procedures. The organisation wanted a practical, operational model that would de-escalate conflict, build trust, and create a more proactive, coaching-based approach on the shop floor.

Programme design and structure

Integrity QHSE designed a nine-month Safety Coach pilot for BAE’s Govan and Scotstoun shipyards, combining intensive training with sustained on-the-job support. The programme ran from June 2025 to March 2026 and was delivered to a cohort of Safety Coaches drawn from SHE and operational roles.

The pilot had two main phases:

• An initial five-day foundation course focused on core competencies: effective communication for safety, verbal and non-verbal communication, conflict avoidance and de-escalation, giving and receiving feedback, and stress and coping mechanisms. This included realistic role-plays around PPE non-compliance, near-miss blame, equipment disputes and unsafe behaviour reporting, tailored to shipyard conditions.
  
• Six monthly continuation workshops combining morning classroom sessions with afternoon on-site deployments, where Integrity QHSE coaches accompanied BAE Safety Coaches in the field, observing, mentoring and refining their practice in real time.

This blended approach ensured the programme was not “one-and-done” training, but a sustained development process embedded in day-to-day operations.

Implementation on the shop floor

Once trained, Safety Coaches were deployed across the yards for focused coaching sessions, typically working in pairs or small teams as they engaged directly with the workforce. They were given protected time – one hour every two days – to carry out dedicated safety coaching activity, supported by the SHE function.

During each operational deployment, Safety Coaches:

• Observed work in progress, identifying unsafe acts and conditions.
• Engaged individuals and teams in coaching conversations, using open questions, active listening and the Situation–Behaviour–Impact model to explore what was happening and why.
• Focused on de-escalation and understanding, rather than blame or instruction, which significantly reduced defensiveness and confrontation.
• Captured basic data on the number and type of interventions to build an evidence base for the pilot.

Integrity QHSE mentors shadowed the coaches, providing immediate feedback, reinforcing good practice and helping them handle more complex or contentious situations.

Quantified outcomes and field results

Even with significant attrition in the original cohort, the pilot generated a substantial volume of real-time interventions and clear operational learning. In the first full deployment alone, eight Safety Coaches delivered 42 separate safety interventions in a 90-minute session, coaching 38 people across the site. These interventions covered:

• 31 PPE violations.
  
• 7 working at height issues.
• 2 risk assessment non-compliances.
• 2 equipment use violations.

Subsequent sessions maintained a similar rate of intervention, with Safety Coaches addressing both minor and serious issues, including gas cylinder storage, controlled access failures and lock-out/tag-out breaches. Importantly, these were handled through coaching conversations rather than confrontational enforcement, helping to maintain relationships and encourage repeat engagement.

By the end of the programme, Integrity QHSE assessed the remaining operational coaches as demonstrating excellent coaching skills and safety observation capability, with 100% commitment to driving genuine change in BAE’s safety culture.

Behavioural and cultural impact

Beyond the numbers, the pilot produced clear behavioural and cultural benefits:

• Coaches reported a noticeable improvement in the quality of safety conversations on the shop floor, with workers more willing to talk openly about real constraints, pressures and near misses.
• Supervisors and line managers began to see coaching as a leadership behaviour, not a “soft” alternative to enforcement, and recognised its value in reducing conflict and resistance.
• Safety Coaches developed mature, personal coaching styles while still working within a common methodology, increasing authenticity and trust with the workforce.
• Human factors principles started to appear in everyday discussions, with coaches and workers exploring why unsafe behaviours occurred instead of simply demanding compliance.

Guest speakers from high-risk sectors such as policing, NATO counterintelligence and UK Special Forces also reinforced the message that strong safety performance and effective de-escalation are complementary, not competing priorities.

Organisational infrastructure and scalability

One of the most important outcomes for BAE was the creation of a functioning Safety Coach infrastructure that can be scaled. By the end of the pilot, the following elements were in place:

• Dedicated coaching time: one hour every two days formally allocated to Safety Coach activity.
• Regular coordination meetings and Safety Council attendance, giving Safety Coaches a collective voice and structure.
• Clear Safety Coach role definition and expectations, improving legitimacy and clarity across the organisation.
• Simple reporting mechanisms into the SHE department, enabling basic data capture on interventions and emerging trends.
• A Safety Coach coordination committee with an identified chair, providing local governance and continuity.

These foundations mean that BAE now has a practical, replicable framework for expanding safety coaching beyond the initial pilot sites.

Constraints, lessons and recommendations

The pilot deliberately surfaced critical organisational issues that would need to be addressed for a full rollout. The most significant constraint was resource attrition: BAE lost around 60% of its original Safety Coach cohort during the programme due to abstraction, role changes and other pressures. This limited coverage at key times (including nightshift and weekends) and completely removed Safety Coach presence from one site for part of the pilot.

Safety Coaches also highlighted gaps in consequence management for repeat offenders and inconsistent support from some line managers, which occasionally undermined the programme’s credibility. These issues did not reflect on the quality of the coaching itself but pointed to wider systemic changes required to fully embed the model.

As a result, the final recommendation was that BAE should:

• Expand and protect Safety Coach resources, ensuring sufficient numbers per site and shift to absorb natural attrition.
• Introduce a clear, tiered consequence management framework to support coaching and address persistent non-compliance.
• Strengthen senior leadership and line manager communication, ensuring consistent backing and visibility for Safety Coaches.
• Maintain programme governance and data reporting to track impact over time and inform continuous improvement.

Value proposition for new clients

For new clients, this case study demonstrates that a structured Safety Coach programme can deliver:

• High volumes of constructive, real-time safety interventions without increasing conflict.
• Tangible improvements in safety dialogue, trust and behavioural awareness in high-hazard environments.
• A scalable organisational framework – roles, time, meetings and reporting – that can be replicated across sites.
• Clear insight into organisational barriers (resources, leadership, consequence management) that need to be addressed to sustain a proactive safety culture.

The BAE Systems pilot shows that safety coaching is not a theoretical concept but a practical, tested model that can be implemented, measured and expanded in complex industrial operations.