Safe Work Month 2022: Know Safety, Work Safely

October is National Safe Work Month and reminds us about the importance of Health and Safety in the workplace.

At Blackwoods, we’re proud to continue our support of Safe Work Month, as it aligns with our core business values and objectives, both externally with our safety product and service offerings, and internally with our four pillars of safety.

Partnerships, Presence Problems and Preventions - the 4P’s.

PROBLEMS

Our problem-solving activities have been centred around our introduction of the SAM (Stop Access Move) program. SAM encourages staff to think about ways to negotiate situations to avoid injury, no matter where our people are working – in the warehouse, the office or at a customer site.

PREVENTION

In terms of prevention, a major focus has been supporting our team members wellbeing and psychological fitness. We empowered all of our leaders across Australia with a wellbeing toolkit. “This toolkit included activities to support team members during COVID-19 lockdowns and provided multiple pathways for staff and leaders to seek support if required," says Amanda Haddad, Head of Health, Safety and Wellbeing at Blackwoods.

PARTNERSHIP

Improving engagement in our Monthly Safety Leadership forums, has been one of our key focus’s. “Meetings are now structured to ensure every participant is contributing to the key agenda items of personal safety ‘shares’, incident learnings and celebrating success. Whilst we have the safety lead team supporting the structure of these meetings, they are no longer a stand-alone voice.”

PRESENCE

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the HSW’s team presence being of the utmost importance, whether it be communicating Government Health directions, issuing training on prevention protocols, or creating robust tools to assist with something we have never seen before. “A great safety team in any business, is created through the eyes and ears of how our people are feeling. They will often be trusted advisors,” says Amanda.