About the Dutch Safety Board Evaluations
Several evaluations have been conducted in recent years that provide insight into the efficiency and effectiveness of the Dutch Safety Board. See below the 2024 and 2020 publications.
Study of effectiveness of recommendations (2024)
Commissioned by the Dutch Safety Board, consulting firm Berenschot examined the effectiveness of the Dutch Safety Board’s recommendations. Berenschot’s study was completed in July 2024 with a final report. This study shows that 85 percent of the recommendations are followed up according to the written and spoken words of parties involved in an investigation of the Board.
The final report contains 8 conclusions about the quality factors that influence the acceptance and impact of our recommendations. Based on these conclusions, Berenschot formulated 5 recommendations to improve the internal and external process that leads to the creation of recommendations in investigations conducted by the Dutch Safety Board.
Response from the Dutch Safety Board
Chris van Dam, Chair of the Dutch Safety Board: ‘The Board takes the recommendations from Berenschot’s final report to heart. The recommendations address the question how we can increase the effectiveness of our recommendations. In my words: there are gains to be made if we explain rather than impose recommendations. So it’s good to involve the parties we address with our recommendations more in the bigger picture around recommendations. We see the report as a clear invitation to connect even better with the challenges that current times bring to our organization.’
About the study
In the study, consulting firm Berenschot looked at questions such as:
- to how much safety gain do our recommendations lead
- what are the factors that determine success
- what are the non-helpful factors
- and how can we improve the effectiveness of our recommendations?
For the study, Berenschot conducted interviews with representatives of parties that received recommendations from us, with members of the Board and with employees of the Dutch Safety Board. The reason for the study was recommendation from the Dutch Safety Board Review Committee in 2020.
Review of the Dutch Safety Board (2020)
A committee led by Prof. Dr. P. Schnabel reviewed the effectiveness and efficiency of the Dutch Safety Board over the period 2013 – 2018.
This committee considered questions such as:
- how effectively and efficiently does the Dutch Safety Board function
- to what extent has the Board followed the recommendations of the previous review committee
- and what is the Dutch Safety Board’s effectiveness on society?
