Safe below ground: How Verkley reaches its teams via WhatsApp

By Kees van Nuland  |  9 March 2026

For Verkley, safety is not a choice — it is a prerequisite. With hundreds of skilled professionals working every day on the underground infrastructure of the Netherlands, the safety culture needs to be equally strong everywhere.

To safeguard this, Verkley chose a modern approach: digital toolbox talks via E-lia.

The challenge: dispersed work, one safety standard

Verkley employees lay, install and test vital cables and pipes for gas, water and electricity. This specialist work takes place on projects across the north of the Netherlands: from urban areas to solar parks.

Traditional toolbox talks created logistical headaches:

• Teams are everywhere: Bringing employees to one central location for a safety briefing? That costs not only travel time, but also productivity. Work on the energy grid simply has to continue.
• Dynamic project locations: Where a team is working today may be somewhere else tomorrow. A fixed meeting at a fixed location does not work for project-based work that is constantly moving.
• Administrative burden: Keeping paper attendance lists is error-prone and takes up valuable time for project leaders. During VCA audits, everything also needs to be traceable — a challenge when dealing with piles of paper.

The solution: safety via WhatsApp

Verkley understands that innovation is not only about trenchless excavation techniques and advanced installation methods. It is also about how you reach your people. That is why the toolbox talk was transformed into a short, digital moment via WhatsApp.

Why WhatsApp? Simple: it has the lowest threshold. Almost every technician already uses it every day. No extra apps to download, no complicated login procedures — just the phone already in their pocket.

In practice, it works like this:

• Employees receive a short video instruction about current risks. Think of working safely with medium voltage, preventing excavation damage or recognising hazardous situations.
• The instruction is followed by a short quiz. Not a complex exam, but a few questions to check whether the core message has landed.
• Management can immediately see who has viewed and understood the instruction. Essential for the safety culture and for VCA certification.

The result: everyone on board

The digital approach delivers concrete benefits for Verkley:

• No one is missed: Whether you are a technician in the field or an engineer in the office, everyone receives the same safety information. No exceptions, no missed sessions because someone was at a different location.
• Safety becomes routine: Where a physical toolbox talk was often a monthly moment, safety is now a fixed, short check during the working week. It becomes part of the routine instead of a tick-box exercise.
• Audits become easier: All participation and results are automatically logged in the system. During a VCA audit, the required evidence is available in just a few clicks. No hours spent searching for old attendance lists or scanning paper signatures.

Looking ahead with safety first

The energy transition calls for craftsmanship, speed and — above all — safety. Verkley shows that these values also apply to its own internal processes. By digitising toolbox talks, the organisation saves time that can be invested directly into what really matters: high-quality, safe work on our national infrastructure.

Because safe working starts with smart communication. And at Verkley, that communication now simply fits in a pocket.

Would you also like to modernise your safety communication? Discover the possibilities of E-lia and see how you can reach your teams anytime, anywhere — without bringing work to a standstill.