We’re proud of our people who demonstrate exceptional safety performance and champion new, smarter and safer ways of working.
Kayley Zuhorn and Wendy Reddicliffe from our Visionstream SHEQ team.
The Ventia Awards are our way of celebrating excellence, and this year’s program will be getting underway soon. But we don’t have to wait for then to recognise our people doing great things. In this feature we share stories about two of our 2018 Ventia Awards nominations.
EARLY INTERVENTION – THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT
Early intervention is the key to achieving good health and safety outcomes – but how do you reach people with the right information at the right time?
The Visionstream SHEQ team came up with a simple solution – the VFit App – to give workers some simple safety tools, when they need them.
Led by Sonia Fourie, SHEQ Manager for the Visionstream Carrier business and Chris Horner from Fixed Network Services, the team knew the success of the App would depend on making it part of people’s daily routine. The team also included Josh Yates, Wendy Reddicliffe, Rob Green, Kayley Zuhorn, Glen Cowin and Gavin Hainsworth.
“The implementation of an early intervention safety program was critical for Fixed Network Services’ overall business performance,” Chris said.
“We needed it to be user-friendly and seamless so people could go through the necessary steps and then get on with their work.”
Using a combination of videos, written content and surveys, the App focuses on four important areas of health:
- Prevention and management of injuries
- Managing fatigue and sleep
- Overall mental wellbeing
- General lifestyle health
The App was successfully rolled out as part of an injury reduction program in 2018. It was supported by training programs to drive awareness and increase the focus on early intervention, as well as reviews of Safety Health Environment Work Method Statements (SHEWMS) and consultation with our workforce.
The injury reduction program, combined with the App, saw Fixed Networks achieve a 40% reduction in the number of reported recordable injuries compared to the previous year – with improved early intervention treatment for at-risk workers.
This is a good example of our people leading safety innovation with new ideas and different approaches.
Charlton Lidstone
VIRTUAL TRAINING – REAL SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS
Our Gateway Motorway Services (GMS) incident response team in Brisbane manage over 750 traffic incidents per month and support ‘safe lane availability’ for 300,000 passengers a day. Good training is crucial to ensure our team is equipped for times of high stress during critical incidents.
Charlton Lidstone, GMS Maintenance Planner has played an important role in rolling out an award-winning Virtual Reality training program for the team.
Known as VEST (Virtual Emergency Simulation Training), the training platform creates a virtual open road environment to help staff understand and manage the potential hazards of working in and around live traffic – one of the 11 critical risks addressed by our CRPs.
As a VEST ‘super user’ – or on-site expert – Charlton works closely with supplier XVR to design new training scenarios, test the platform, trouble-shoot, and provide feedback on any issues.
VEST provides a more realistic experience than classroom or web-based training, simulating the exact hazard scenarios that our team are expected to be able to respond to – from major accidents to vehicle fires. It also avoids the time and cost of real-life drills.
Simon Kirkpatrick, I&M Manager at GMS, said that the system has helped with more accurate assessments of performance and decision-making in a high-pressure training environment.
“The result is a better prepared team with greater confidence in their skills, safer roads for drivers and passengers, and a satisfied client – a fantastic outcome for everyone” added Simon.
Main image above: Our Virtual Emergency Simulation Training
