Creating safer workplaces.

October is National Safe Work Month, an annual initiative that encourages employers and workers across Australia to commit to creating safe and healthy workplaces. This national campaign has been running since 2009 to raise awareness of work health and safety (WHS) across Australia, and it’s an important initiative here at Zeal Futures, with a large proportion of our workforce aged between 16-24 years.

As an employer of more than 640 apprentices and trainees, many of whom are entering the workforce for the first time, campaigns are a valuable tool used to complement our WHS training and education, boosting team engagement and morale, while refreshing employees on topical WHS trends or issues. But how effective are campaigns at really getting the message across?

When you look at our own campaigns, the data speaks for itself. In 2021 we launched our Incident Reporting…It’s a Life Saver’ campaign to resolve concerns around incidents and near misses being reported too late, or not at all. This impacts on our ability to provide the apprentice/trainee with appropriate and timely medical attention and care and effectively manage their recovery at work. It is important that we are aware of any incidents or near misses that occur, no matter how minor, so we can intervene but also so we can learn from it and put strategies in place to prevent the same incident from happening again in the future.

We also found that incidents were reported to host representatives, but not Zeal Futures, which demonstrated a lack of understanding of the correct reporting procedures. It became clear that we needed to invest in an education and awareness campaign.

In the first year alone, we achieved a 26% increase in proactive safety reporting. A year later we were recognised as a WHS Champion in the 2022 Safe Work NSW Excellence in WHS Awards, for the effectiveness of the Life Saver campaign as part of our overall WHS management.

Another priority for our organisation has been hand safety. Using our safety management system, we identified a growing trend in hand and finger injuries among our hosted employee cohort, which resulted in various education pieces to promote hand safety. In 2023 we also developed a ‘catch on to hand safety’ campaign to spread awareness of hand safety.

According to Zeal Futures HR and Safety Manager, Allyson Malloy, the key to the success of our campaigns is that they are driven by data, ensuring they are meaningful and relevant.

“After three years, we’re still seeing the impact of our Life Saver campaign, with a further 24% increase in proactive safety reporting in FY23/24,” she said.

“Maintaining efficacy has been a process of continuous improvement and refinement, to instill the message into our people at various touch points throughout the lifecycle of their training and employment.

“For example, the Life Saver campaign is now the first Safety Focus every year for all new starters but is also a refresher for our more experienced apprentices and trainees. It features in toolbox talks, monitoring visits, text messages, emails, social content and our monthly Health, Safety and Wellbeing newsletter.

“This year we’ve also made incident reporting stickers as part of a Safe Work Month competition. Now more than just a campaign, it is our mantra and is an ongoing engagement piece that we will continue to improve on each year.”

Changing behaviour is one of the key objectives of any WHS campaign, and strategies to engage audiences might involve enforcement, education or a combination of both.

Comparatively, the Life Saver campaign has proven the effectiveness of safety engagement by empowering employees to take ownership of their health and safety. Safe Work Australia says that when you involve workers in WHS, it helps develop a safe and productive workplace, which can contribute to better overall performance and productivity.

“How you approach a campaign depends on your business, your culture, safety results and a range of other factors,” Mrs Malloy said.

“For example, road safety campaigns might use the threat of law enforcement to get the point across, while a workplace campaign focused on psychosocial safety might focus on education to drive awareness.

“All I know is, by focusing on safety engagement rather than safety compliance, we’ve not only seen a year-on-year increase in proactive safety reporting, but also a cultural shift within our staff, students and hosted employees.

“This is why we will continue to prioritise data-informed and creative WHS campaigns to keep safety at front of mind. In doing so, we can boost engagement and morale, ensure compliance with safety regulations, and ultimately, keep our people safe.”