The Norwegian Public Roads Administration: “Colleague of the Year”

Wanted something out of the box

The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has employees in office environments, out at facilities and traffic stations. In other words, their HSE needs are varied. Their prior experience with HSE courses is that they quickly become technical and long-winded, and therefore not very engaging for the employees. So they wanted a course that was completely different from what it had before, something to break convention.

HSE – a shared responsibility

We landed on “Colleague of the Year” because HSE is a shared responsibility. We can all take responsibility for HSE – together. Both in terms of the physical and the psychosocial work environment, we have a common responsibility to feel safe, and create safety at work. We created a concept where you as an employee are on your way to the award ceremony for the “Colleague of the Year”. Before you get there, you have to play through five levels where you handle HSE situations in practice. Depending on how well you handle the situations, you earn points and get the chance to win the award for “Colleague of the Year”!

A refreshing boost

The game was launched to all employees throughout the business, and all new employees must play the game. It has been well received – the feedback is that it’s a playful and motivating way to learn about an important topic.

«There was some skepticism about using game-based learning, but the feedback has been very positive, from both young and old in the agency.»

Inger Helene Grøstad, HSE consultant at the Norwegian Public Roads Administration

The game characters, which look like jelly beans, were the figureheads of the implementation campaign. With the jelly beans on posters, banner ads and in goody bags, “Colleague of the Year” put HSE on the agenda throughout the Norwegian Public Roads Administration.

Method/instrument: Games and gamification, e-learning, campaign, animation