Advancing Safety Leadership on the Ground: EY & Forwood in Action
Early morning along one of Italy’s busiest infrastructure corridors, the first operational teams gather for the day’s briefing. The atmosphere is focused: traffic is already building, weather conditions are changing, and maintenance crews are preparing for complex activities on the network. It’s here—on the ground, in real operational environments—that the partnership between EY and Forwood is making a tangible difference.
Over the past weeks, EY has been supporting a major Italian infrastructure management group in the deployment of Forwood’s Critical Risk Management (CRM) methodology. Together, we are helping operational managers and field supervisors recognise fatality exposures, strengthen critical controls, and build a consistent, proactive safety culture across an extensive and demanding asset network.
Turning CRM Principles into Practice
During field visits, EY and Forwood facilitators work side‑by‑side with local HSE teams and operational staff. The practical approach—combining classroom learning with direct application on active worksites—is enabling managers to clearly identify high‑risk scenarios such as equipment handling, and roadside operations. Through structured observation sessions, participants rapidly gain confidence in using the CRM tool, understanding what “effective control implementation” looks like, and how to spot weak signals that often go unnoticed.
One manager reflected after a field session:
“Seeing the methodology applied directly to our daily operations helped us understand not only what to check, but why each control matters. It changes the way you look at a worksite.”
Building Capability Through Immersive Coaching
A key success factor has been the coaching‑based immersion that Forwood is known for. EY’s continuous presence on site helps ensure alignment, logistical coordination and integration with existing HSE processes—allowing the CRM methodology to be fully internalised rather than perceived as an external audit.
Training sessions for supervisors and engineers alternate with on‑site assessments where teams jointly evaluate real situations. These sessions typically uncover improvement opportunities related to control verification, coordination between teams, or clarity of roles—areas where the structured Forwood framework brings immediate value.
From Insight to Impact
Beyond field execution, EY supports the client in analysing high‑potential events (HIPO), extracting recurring patterns and linking them back to CRM findings. This creates a closed‑loop learning system: insights from incident reviews inform upcoming field visits, and observations on site generate targeted actions for improvement.
This integrated approach is accelerating the organisation’s journey toward a more resilient safety culture—one that does not wait for incidents to provide lessons, but actively looks for early indicators to prevent them.
A Partnership That Drives Cultural Change
The collaboration between EY and Forwood blends global expertise with local understanding. Forwood provides the scientific, field‑tested CRM methodology; EY ensures its seamless adoption within the operational and cultural context of the Italian infrastructure group.
Together, we are strengthening leadership awareness, supporting frontline decision‑making, and enabling the organisation to manage fatality risks with greater clarity, consistency and confidence.
On the roadside, as teams disperse after another field assessment, the change is visible. Conversations are more focused, critical controls are better understood, and managers walk away with a shared sense of purpose: keeping people safe, every day, through disciplined, proactive risk management.
