National Safe Work Month has wrapped up for another year, with the Safe Work campaign encouraging businesses, employers and workers across Australia to continue to make health and safety at work a priority.
With the latest work-related statistics revealing the devastating impact of injury and death across industries and roles in Australia, Woody and the team took the time to reflect on how conversations are evolving in the workplace and what challenges remain ahead.
Conversations Are Changing
The CNB Speakers have noticed a shift in safety conversations, with Woody reflecting, “safety conversations are becoming much more involved…guys and girls on the shop floor, and right up to the board room are involved in safety”. As a result of teams listening to the real-life stories that CNB brings, Alan Newey observes that the conversations are moving from reactive to safety prevention. Michael Weston has been buoyed by a new acknowledgment of psychosocial injury, e.g. harassment, bullying, and stress, and the acceptance of the need for effective management of workers’ mental health.
Every statistic has a story
Alan reflects that National Safe Work Month focuses on safety in organisations and helps “waking up people that have lost their way and become complacent”, a phenomenon Michael describes as “sign-blindness” when we hear the same message over and over. Michael also reflected that it’s the power of sharing the stories of lived experiences that raises safety awareness and drives lasting change in people. This insight was further reiterated by Michelle Rath’s observation: “People often don’t get it until they hear it from those of us that can bring raw and honest depth by telling our experiences first hand.”
Let’s Talk Safety Every Month
October 2022 has seen the CNB team deliver back-to-back sessions across Australia, but Woody reminds us that “it can’t just be one month a year, safety month needs to be every month”.
Watch Woody’s video reflections here.
Chat with the CNB team today about your 2023 safety program.
