Don’t learn about safety by accident

CPA Group Team,

Coming from a heavy construction industry background I know the importance of safety. I have seen very minor innocuous slips that have devasted someone’s working life with chronic back pain or, at the other end of the scale, hands cut off or crushed but fully recovered from surgery.

Your safety is very important to us and mostly to your family. We want to make sure that you always return home in good health.

From my experience within the construction industry the biggest issue I had to deal with was complacency. In other words  “ It will never happen to me.” This isn’t the right attitude no matter how safe you may feel.

Always take precautions, consider your work hazards and be careful. An accident can happen in very simple environments. I’ve had experience with working fatalities and it’s very unpleasant for all people involved.

Further to this, be a good friend to your team members and their families. Stop and advise them if you think they are doing something risky that may cause harm to themselves or others. It’s better to have this small challenge than the regret of not helping your mate.

Recently  we have assessed and approved the implementation of a new safety software system. In the next few months we will appoint a safety champion to manage the software and we expect it will be rolled out to the sites in the same time frame. It will have the benefits of an App which will allow audits, incident reports and checklists to be input via your phone at the scene on site. With this we also expect that site Supervisors / Team Leaders will have more responsibility in driving a safe working culture by conducting audits and implementing safety instructions.

One of the areas we intend to focus on in the near future is Journey management. It is imperative that after a long week of shifts you don’t drive when you are fatigued or in dangerous conditions. We currently have a Journey Management process in place to gauge your condition and track your journey home. Please follow the process and be honest about your condition. Take note that a Paramedic working for QAS recently lost his life when his Ambulance crashed on a regional country road. He left behind a wife and twins – a baby boy and a baby girl – tragic.

All in all  good safety means good business and I can happily report that your efforts in safety have not gone unnoticed. Recent data shows that all divisions have improved in safety performance which is reflected in our reduction in insurance premiums and better than average industry rating.

Well Done !!

I will keep you updated on any development in the near future.

Tony Mitchell

CEO