Nearly a third (31%) of construction companies currently do not meet the minimum safety requirement to participate in government tenders. As of July 1, step 3 of the Safety Culture Ladder (SCL), also known as the safety ladder, has been made mandatory by the Governance Code Safety in Construction and Rijkswaterstaat, ProRail, and TenneT. With 43 days remaining until the deadline, the pace towards step 3 is too slow. As a result, hundreds of construction companies risk missing the deadline, and their safety approach no longer meets the minimum safety standard.
This is evident from a new analysis by safety platform VeiligWerk, part of Pro4all, based on the public NEN SCL register covering the period from November 2025 to April 2026.
“Anyone currently at step 1 or 2 who does not yet have a serious safety process underway has a major problem. An audit and implementation process take months. That is time that is no longer available,” says Pieter Beuker, CCO at Pro4all, parent company of VeiligWerk.
The SCL is not only important for participating in government tenders. The ladder also shows how safety is secured within an organization. While awareness is the primary focus at step 2, step 3 demonstrates that safety is structurally embedded in business operations. Companies are actively identifying risks and taking measures to prevent accidents.
“This means that at one in three companies, safety on the construction site is still insufficiently structurally guaranteed,” says Beuker. “That is too large a share in a sector where thousands of people work every day.”
At the same time, the construction sector is making progress. Growth at level 3 is strong: from 1,244 companies in November to 1,374 in April. Notably, 65% of newcomers entered directly at level 3 or higher – they are aiming straight for the level required for government tenders.
However, this offers little certainty for the group that is not yet compliant. Of the 426 companies that were at level 2 in November 2025, only 15% had moved up to level 3 or higher within five months. At this pace, most Level 2 companies are not expected to meet the 1 July deadline.
The analysis shows the following distribution and growth between November 2025 and April 2026:
Of the 403 companies at Level 2, nearly half (199) have chosen the SCL Light certification. This certification route extends up to a maximum of Level 3. The regular SCL certification does offer the possibility to progress to Levels 4 and 5. “While companies with SCL Light can still meet the deadline, they are building a ceiling on their growth opportunities and will miss out on more opportunities in the future,” says Beuker. “Safety must always come first. Ultimately, every company should aim to progress to Level 5, where safe working practices are not only demonstrated but are a full part of daily practice.”
VeiligWerk and Pro4all call on companies to utilize the remaining time: the path to Level 3 is achievable, but requires immediate action.
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