Blue Amber Spotlight Interview with - Safety Australia Group

We have been working with?Robert and Lee Keft?for over 10 years now, providing them with a full range of bookkeeping services. They are wonderful clients with an exceptional business, and we are delighted to have been a part of their journey thus far. Robert and Lee are both excellent communicators and great listeners too. Always professional, and open to suggestions for change. They are always polite and lovely to the Blue Amber Bookkeeping team, who all enjoy working with them.

So, without further ado,?Let’s shine the spotlight on Safety Australia Group

Robert and Lee; please tell us about your business and what you do.

“We prevent workplace injuries and fatalities by assisting our clients in 3 ways:

Safety Consultancy

This includes performing internal safety audits to ensure that companies not only have an effective process in place for WHS, but also that it is being followed by the company management and staff.

We also provide incident investigations, attending site in the event of a workplace accident to investigate the cause and use the results to develop safety management systems.

Safety Training

We offer 12 different safety courses, which can be done face to face or virtually.

Some examples are:

·???????????????? WHS awareness?

·???????????????? Psychosocial risk awareness?

·???????????????? Mock trials are a unique service where we set up a mock prosecution against the company, using WHS rules and regulations.?

·???????????????? Occupational Violence and aggression courses. This is great for front line staff, as it helps them identity the signs and gives them skills to de-escalate a situation.

Recruitment

We find permanent or contracting solutions for any role that relates to safety, from Safety Advisors to General Managers of safety, and safety executives.”??

How did you get started in your industry and what has your journey been like?

Robert;?“We established the business 17 years ago after leaving my corporate job of 25 years. I was introduced by a colleague to a business that was very run down. We purchased it and gave it a whole new lease of life. You have to have a passion for safety, if not, don’t do it.??Australia averages 180 workplace fatalities per year and tens of thousands of serious injuries. Our goal is to prevent accidents from occurring in the first place.”??

How would you describe your leadership style and how does it influence your team?

Lee;?“I’d say it’s consultative. The whole team meets twice every week to review what is on the working platform. We ensure everyone is coping ok and work bases are covered. We’re agile and responsive, responding to enquiries within a couple of hours, and have a proposal out within 24 hours, which gives us a competitive advantage.”

What makes your company stand out in the market?

“Responsiveness, and communication. We have national, consultants in every state, which is a great advantage for clients with multi-state operations.”????????

Please share a little a little about your purpose, and aspirations for the business.

“The purpose of everything we do is to reduce workplace injuries and fatalities.??Everything comes back to this.”

How would you describe your core values?

“Professionalism, honesty and courtesy.”

What drives you every day? What feels most important about the service you provide?

Robert;?“I would like to think we are making a positive difference.??It’s not just about making money but helping companies protect themselves and protect their workers.??Those two things are the underlying drivers.”

What advice would you give to others looking to solve similar challenges?

“Be clear about the markets you are targeting and be selective with who you work with.??Ensure client intent is genuine and that you are a good fit for each other.?

What innovations in your industry are you most excited about?

“Psychosocial Risk is a brand-new area for safety, which used to be part of the HR remit, but now sits under WHS legislation.??Australia went from having a national standard to an international standard, and Psychosocial Risk was then included. Occupational violence is sadly growing, and an area in which we are passionate to make an impact.”

What’s the best piece of feedback you’ve ever received from a customer?

“This was from Fraser Coast Council. we worked on the WHS due diligence with the executive team.??The training instigated a whole change project around the WHS process.??They then referred us to Bundaberg Council.??The biggest compliment you can get from a client is a referral.

More generally, we always ask clients for a project rating upon completion, and we have a net promoter score for customer satisfaction averaging 9/10, which we’re pretty happy with.”

we’d love to ask a few questions about the service we provide to you…

Firstly, can you tell us what were you looking for in a bookkeeping service?

Lee;?“We were taking care of the bookkeeping inhouse and had employees who changed constantly.??They either didn’t fit in, didn’t want to be there, or were overqualified - we even had once instance of fraud. This resulted in turnover and lots of training for the same role. We wanted someone who took the work away from the business and stopped it from being a distraction.??

What made you choose Blue Amber?

Lee;?“I didn’t want to have to be cross the accounts all the time and wanted someone I could trust to take it all over. We were looking for expertise and wanted a trusted and loyal supplier.??Someone who knew what they were doing.??Blue Amber came highly recommended.”

How would you describe the value of our product/service in one sentence?

“Invaluable. You make our jobs easier.??You allow us to concentrate on the core of our business and not be distracted by other things. Your people make our work life easier.”

Huge thanks, Robert and Lee for your time and for trusting us with your bookkeeping for the last 10 years.?It is such a pleasure to work with you and I thoroughly enjoyed our catch-up and finding out more about your business and your passions.

You can find Safety Australia Group?HERE

And connect with Robert and Lee on LinkedIn: ?Robert?? | ??Lee

?