We are committed to extraordinary places being safe places. Our focus on 'people protecting people' has seen a shift in behaviours and attitudes towards safety.
Workplace Health and Safety Strategy
In 2015 we undertook a Safety Maturity Assessment. The results told us that, like most organisations, there is opportunity to improve and develop a ‘generative’ safety culture within our business. We released our Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Strategy and set-up a diverse WHS Steering Committee, charged with changing behaviours, values and attitudes around safety.
We want everyone to speak up if they see something unsafe.
This year, we have focussed on three strategic elements: implementing the strategy, developing visible leadership and engaging our workforce. Concentrating on the highest risk area for our business, Design and Construction, our effort has certainly paid off. During 2016 our performance in Lost Time Days across the whole business, despite four active major construction projects, has significantly improved.
“Safety is embedded into everything we do. Rigorous safety procedures are important, but without personal accountability, it’s not sustainable.”
– Ian Irving, Director, Design and Construction.
Safety culture
Over 150 people from head office and construction projects have participated in our alignment workshops, which support our shift to a generative safety culture. These workshops brought commitments and expectations around safety in line with our core business values. A further leadership commitment has been the implementation of a best-in-class electrical hazard identification to improve our safety around electrical works.
“Our focus is on building a genuine community of care and concern, supported by consistent and positive leadership. We want everyone to speak up if they see something unsafe.”
– Paul Farrell, Life Safety Manager.
Campaigns
To engage our workforce, new initiatives have been rolled out this year. Our monthly safety newsletters share positive safety initiatives and stories throughout Design and Construction teams.
On construction sites, everyone is engaged in our ‘5-in, 5-out’ safety campaign. Upon entry, five signs communicate site-specific safety messages, and upon leaving, five safety messages are displayed for everyone to think about as they leave the site. The messages are developed by the site teams to make them relevant for each site.
Our safety purpose statement: ‘people protecting people’, underpins our efforts in creating a generative safety culture.
Our site toolbox meetings give everyone the freedom and confidence to speak up about any new ideas, identified risks or opportunities. We rebranded our personal protective equipment (PPE) and put up branded safety barricading on major projects to give a sense of area ownership and accountability for safety.
All of these efforts have been underpinned by our new safety purpose statement ‘people protecting people’. The statement reinforces how a generative safety culture is about looking out for one another.
The year ahead
Next year, we will continue to rollout the program across Facilities Management and the Customer Experience areas of the business. We will expand behavioural safety training, using our ‘Did you PAT that?’ campaign, where ‘PAT’ ensures people ‘Pause, Analyse and Think’ before they start work. We will implement our Wellbeing Policy, expand our leadership training and complete the refresh of our e-learning safety training to make the content more relevant and engaging.
