We’ve released our next six-monthly Bulletin – keep up to date with the latest news about what’s happening in safety across our Industry.  Industry safety performance declined through 2021. We experienced an increased number of significant incidents – primarily involving musculoskeletal injuries. In most cases the consequence of these incidents was fully realised.

Consistent causal themes presented across all sectors of industry (onshore and offshore, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and in Queensland):

  1. worker mental fatigue (distraction), and a
  2. dilution of workforce experience via:
          i) worker activity and productivity returning to pre-covid levels
          ii) closed borders during the pandemic reducing access to experienced staff
          iii) increased competition for existing labour
          iv) loss of experienced workers to other sectors (resource and non-resource)
          v) increased number new starts across industry.

There was one notable exception. The Qld Drilling and Completions sector of our Industry has turned their safety performance around, going from ‘worst in class’ to ‘best in class’ in a few short years.

In Q1 2022, Industry Leaders at Safer Together have agreed to focus on the strategies used by the Qld Drilling and Completions sector of our Industry to arrest our declining safety performance.

Consistent with the Safer Together strategic focus for 2022 to ‘deploy existing programs via engaging with our frontline workforce’, Industry Leaders at Safer Together have agreed to:

  1. Engage new starts via the Industry Safety Induction
  2. Improve sharing of High Value Learning Events – via our Incident Review Panels (Drilling and Completions, Land Transport, Process Safety and Marine) and via Learning Event Bulletins
  3. Listen to the frontline workforce by conducting site leadership visits
  4. Help work teams in their transition to work via deployment of programs such as Assist & Assure
  5. Support HSERs – via the Frontline HSER Engagement Framework, the HSER Connect Bulletin and HSER Forum
  6. Develop a training Program for frontline supervisors – a new Project for Safer Together in 2022

In 1H 2022, Safer Together Working Groups continued to deliver fantastic output including:

  • Fitness to Work Medical Assessment Guideline implemented in WA/NT
  • Packaging Handling & Movement of Materials Specification released
  • Common Industry Competences Specification Rev 6 published
  • Cranes and Lifting Project Team established
  • 2021 Member Survey data published

The Bulletin briefly summaries:

  • New member companies that joined Safer Together in the past six months
  • What did we achieve in the second half of 2021?
  • Recent Deployment Case Studies from 2 member companies
  • Look Ahead - what’s coming in the next 6 months?

The Bulletin is available in two versions for member companies to choose their preferred option and use:

  1. A non-editable, general version.
  2. An editable version that you can customise to include company-specific content such as your company logo, key company contacts, and details of how your company internally manages assessment, prioritisation, implementation, and monitoring of progress of Safer Together products and programs across the business.

Safer Together focal points from all Member Companies are encouraged to:

  1. Download the general version of the Bulletin (or download the editable version and produce your own customised Bulletin) and then circulate it by email to all your employees.
  2. Review the suite of products and programs mentioned in the Bulletin and identify those that relate to your company’s business activities and risk profile.
  3. Prioritise the products and programs that you think will have the most impact in helping to improve safety within your company, then develop an implementation plan for each that details how you will adopt, communicate, and roll it out within your company.

Click here to download the 1H 2022 Bulletin.

If you need any help to get started with identifying and prioritising Safer Together initiatives for adoption and implementation, please contact us at [email protected].