Client A is a high tech, local, small enterprise that really gets safety and risk.  The in house Safety Champion has pulled together a de facto working party of three disparately skilled people that has brought up to date and are addressing the hazards in an existing but previously idle risk register at a great rate.  As well as dealing with their risks they are starting to build a policy framework and have created a training schedule with training of all staff to occur in February as well as assessments of all workstations.   BFA, sub-contracting to Work Safety Hub, has a role here to mentor, second opinion, nudge and also seek out best practice information such as lone worker safety devices.  We are oiling their wheels but they are driving.  They are a joy to work with.

Client B is a large enterprise subsidiary of an international organisation.  BFA role here has been to help this firm try to build its risk register, create a training matrix and a calendar of actions to create a WHS system applicable across Australia.  This firm has allocated a one-person link through a Quality professional who seems not to be trying to resolve safety issues but to meet budget and complete task boxes.  We know Client B will not succeed until they pick the right person and engender some momentum addressing risk.  Here we have provided training and our expertise but the getting of the advice seems to be the outcome – not the acting on it.  We have provided wheels, oil, engine and road but no-one is driving.  They have been “disappointing” to deal with.

Client A – nimble, enthusiastic, achieving rapid risk reduction.

Client B – ponderous, tick-the-box compliance, achieving nothing

As consultants we wish all clients could be like Client A.  The crucial difference – not size, not history, not level of risk, the crucial difference is the mindset of the internal champion.  rarely if ever described in safety research or blogs, the internal practitioner or champion is one of the keys to the success or failure of a safety transformation.

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I have delivered a Government training product that reinforces all the negative perceptions about OHS and, in contrast, continued to participate in a Government program fostering grassroots safety support for small business.  Guess which one is more widely known and has more traction in Exhibition St?

And rounding out the year I have lowered my blood pressure by raising my blood pressure.  Yes, 10 years later I finally returned to the dojo and have begun the long road back to healthiness.  It is not just the weight loss (down 7 and counting), the blood pressure improvement, the increased stamina and reducing breathlessness – it is the euphoric natural uppers my body is producing.  Wow, how good can life be.  Learn to fight and feel so peaceful.

BFA has had a mixed year in workflow but at the time of writing has an almost unhealthy supply of work in this normally sparse time of the consultancy calendar, and a good looking order book in pipeline.  I am looking forward to 2016 – may it be another year of contrasts – but maybe  I’ll avoid the slow payers this year!

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20 – 25 years ago – hire them and let them do their thing – check work quality at job end, pay them.  A few businesses check for insurance cover.

15-20 years ago – councils, some corporations demand insurances, safety management systems (SMS) – check at tender, check work at job end, pay.

10 -15 years ago – many large businesses demand insurances, SMS, Job Safety Analyses (JSA) – check existence at tender, check work at job end and pay.

Now – Many large businesses demand insurances, check quality of SMS and Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) at tender, check work quality at job end and pay them.  Many smaller and medium businesses are buying off-the-shelf SMS and SWMS to submit at tender or before jobs.  A very few know how to create a SWMS for a job.  Some sectors are very good – mining, unionised construction, government (parts).  Unlike big business, most small and medium businesses are doing nothing when they engage contractors or, if anything, are asking for but not checking their SWMS.

Many organisations still do not monitor the compliance of their contractors with the SWMS they submit before work.  If they did they might be surprised what little protection they are actually getting by asking for the SWMS.  Don’t be another one of the businesses that are stuck in the unfinished evolution of contractor safety management.

Of course I may have just been unlucky in my dealings but I know when I walk into a small or medium business I can almost guarantee there is inadequate contractor management.  There may well be poor safety in their business operations but there will be poor contractor safety management.

Any ideas on effecting some widespread societal change Safety Institute Members?

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