Marrickville Council in inner western Sydney has won a host of awards for its occupational health, injury and environment management system, otherwise known as SAFE. Perhaps the most prestigious honour was being named the inaugural 2002 WorkCover NSW Employer of the Year.
SAFE was also a finalist in the 2002 National Safety Council of Australia Awards of Excellence for the Best Implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems.
There are three elements to SAFE – a work review team project, a quality systems policy framework and integrated workers, compensation case management – that have been used since 2001 to fundamentally change Council’s workplace culture. In 2000, a work review team analysed the work processes used by Council’s business units, which comprise Marrickville’s 217 strong operational workforce. The result was the development of 115 safe working procedures and operating instructions, which cover more than 85 per cent of business unit activities.
There is now a safety induction program for new employees, while project safety plans are prepared for all major capital works. Contractors must provide a safety induction program for any new tender, and a short induction program is available for existing contractors.
The work review team project won the 2002 Institute of Public Works Engineers Australia Occupational Health and Safety Implementation Award and the 2002 IPWEA Engineering Excellence Award. The entire review was completed in house, with the complete support of senior and middle management, and is subject to a major review every three years.
Manager of Business Units, Michael Messner, said the project has fundamentally changed the safety culture within Marrickville.
“We have developed a consultative approach to problem solving, helping our work teams develop shared views of the jobs they do, which is making their work inherently safer,” Michael Messner said. “Business units no longer accept injury as part of the job.”
As a result, Council’s workers’ compensation claims dropped from 80 in 1999/2000 to 49 in 2002/03, with a corresponding drop in premiums (from $2 million down to $732,500) and lost time (from 1,889 days down to 374) for the same period. The Work Review Team project is now being applied across all Council activities, involving 500 staff.
“Safety has become the first priority, not only in the business units, but across Council,” Michael Messner said.
For further information contact Michael Messner, email mbu@marrickville.nsw.gov.au, or telephone (02) 8595 2411.
