Forests NSW has come a  long way in safety management since the organisation first became self-insured  12 years ago. Being self-insured allows Forests NSW to manage its own risk by  taking claims management in-house and being directly responsible for the costs  of injuries. Today, Forests NSW holds a three-year licence and safety  performance is continually improved. With the firmly held belief that a safe  business is a profitable business, the organisation is well placed to take the  next step in its safety journey.

Forests NSW chief executive,  Nick Roberts, and his senior management team have a vast array of experience  and knowledge of safety within a broad range of businesses and industries. The  team all subscribe to the theory that strong and unwavering leadership from the  top is the key to driving an embedded culture of safety leadership throughout  the entire business.

It is this diversity of  experience and strong views that has driven the development of Forests NSW new  safety strategy, published under the title ‘First Priority’.
  The strategy was  developed by a group of employees selected to participate in a benchmarking  exercise. The group visited some key businesses with similar risk profiles, but  renown for having a strong safety culture and excellence in safety performance.

The exercise proved  worthwhile with each organisation willing to share their own safety journey and  the information gained. This proved invaluable in the development of our new  strategy.

‘First Priority’ is based  on the premise that individual behaviour, underpinned by a robust management  system, is the key to having a safe workplace. Having a system alone, without  the employees having the right attitude and displaying leadership in safety, is  not enough to achieve excellence in safety performance.
  Safety is about people,  and about doing everything we can to make sure that our employees go home safe  and well each day. The responsibility for that lies with each and every  employee.

Based on this philosophy,  the strategy has three pillars – leadership, engagement and system.

The leadership component  focuses on personally demonstrating safety leadership behaviour at all levels.  Organisations with a strong safety culture have employees who display solid  safety leadership. Safety leadership is where every employee understands how  they contribute to the safety culture, take ownership of their own behaviour  and lead by example in safety, regardless of their hierarchical position.

Engagement is targeted at  initiatives that provide all employees with opportunity, skill and knowledge to  participate in safety initiatives. This is driven by education sessions,  marketing initiatives and other safety programs such as ongoing benchmarking  exercises where all employees have opportunities to engage in safety as part of  everyday business.

The system component of  the strategy keeps much needed attention on the framework that underpins the  daily work that is carried out and meets our licensing requirements.  It is the safety management system that guides  our everyday work, and manages the risk of harm to our employees.

There are many  initiatives that fall under each of those pillars, which will be implemented  over the next three years.

With the implementation  of the strategy, Forests NSW has already seen a significant improvement in its  safety performance in 2008-2009 over the previous year. However, that  improvement is not viewed as a reason to reduce the level of attention to  safety across the business.  

The focus remains high  and will continue until employees are no longer harmed at work.

This article appears in the Autumn/Winter 2010 edition of Bush Telegraph Magazine.