Thank you Phil, your message in the following article is a true reflection of Annecto’s focus on helping people.

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Why do we view occupational health and safety as a problem at work and trying to get people enthused to take up the cause is almost impossible? Is it because our policies and procedures dictate what we have to do to the extent that we become robots and are not given the chance to discuss other options?

Look at it this way, take the word occupational out of the equation and replace it with the word wellbeing so that you have health, safety and wellbeing and it immediately changes the focus from occupational to something a bit more personal.

When you use the word occupational it is related to the occupation, something you collect when you start work and leave behind when you finish work. If you are unfortunate to be injured at work it is not something that only relates to your occupational time, it is something that is with you 24/7.

So let’s focus on the 24/7 approach of health safety and wellbeing. When you are at home there are unwritten ground rules like you spill something you clean it up, but when at work you do not do it. Is it because rigid policies and procedures dictate what we do, and it is not included in your job description? Or is that there is a blame policy within the organisation? At home we look out for each other, but get to work and we don’t give a rats.

To give you an example, someone spilled coffee on the floor and didn’t clean it up. Another person slipped on the spilt coffee and ended up fracturing her back and has been in agony for the last 10 months. When you speak to this person and listen to how it has affected them and their family it is heartbreaking. The injury is 24/7 not just restricted to work hours, and in hindsight the person who spilled the coffee wished they had cleaned it up.

My induction for new employees focuses on this story (not policies or procedures) and the importance of looking out for each other because if we don’t one day it may be you that is on the receiving end. I ask them how it would affect their life if they were seriously injured, or how they would cope, physically, mentally and financially if a family member was seriously injured.

In changing the focus, people are beginning to see the importance of health and safety and it certainly makes it easier to get them involved. Health, safety and wellbeing is discussed at all levels, not so much through committees but through every meeting that is held throughout the organisation as health, safety and wellbeing is a standard agenda item.

Health, safety and wellbeing has become part of our work, and our theme of looking out for each other is changing the approach in the organisation, and as it is a case of continuous improvement, we still have a long way to go.