Safety is Never Plain Sailing

Yesterday marked World Day for Safety and Health at Work and is an important reminder to anyone in engineering, construction and project management. Some of the injury figures from our industry are sobering. They’re improving – sure – from the ‘bad old days’. But when you consider that workplace injuries are accidents, it typically means the incidents are avoidable.

While I have worked in the engineering industry for over 30 years, a large part of my reference point for safety is thanks to the hobby and sport that I have also enjoyed for many years – sailing. In sailing, it doesn’t matter if it’s short harbour courses, offshore races or longer coastal races that last three or four days. The skill and training of our crew is always paramount. The crew that can handle a short harbour race or day race off the heads is very different to the crew that you want to take on an offshore race.

You need to take into account the weather forecast and likely conditions and whether you have the crew suitable for those conditions. If the answer is “no” then you don’t go. In yachting, we’re doing it for enjoyment and everyone wants to go home at the end of the race. And it’s the same at work: if you don’t have the right people, properly trained and equipped for the requirements of the site, then you don’t go. Instead, you address the requirements.

Similarly, everyone on a yacht needs to be trained in the safety systems, how to handle emergency situations like person-overboard, or a major first aid event. When it all turns to custard, you want people who instinctively know what to do. Just as people have to be trained to be on the yacht, the boat itself needs to be fit for purpose. It has to be strong enough for the conditions and carry all the necessary safety equipment, from life jackets to emergency beacons and many items in between. The crew have to be trained in the equipment’s location and how to use it.

And don't forget experience and expertise – critical elements on a yacht, just as they are on a site. You can gather experience over the years which you accumulate and you can always draw on. However, expertise is important too and regular updates and training refresher courses are as important on sites as they are on yachts. I personally do a sea safety survival course every five years so I’m allowed to compete in the longer offshore races. This is always an eye-opener that brings course participants up to date with changes in techniques and equipment with life rafts, emergency beacons, flares and helicopter rescues.

Perhaps the greatest use of experience and expertise in yachting is to make the call to not go out. From the sailing clubs that organise the races, to the single sailor on a small boat, the exercise of judgement is safety in action: you look at the weather, the weather forecast, the equipment and the people, and you assess if you can mitigate the risk. If you can’t, you make the call to not take the risk. In engineering, I make the point to our teams there is always the option to not proceed with the activity if the risks are considered too great and cannot be suitably mitigated. Regardless of the circumstances, it is always better to err on the side of caution and raise the issue with the client, rather than put yourself or your team into a dangerous situation.

I always question the concept of a day for safety, because every day is a day for safety and the best safety results come from a safety culture. It doesn’t start when you walk in the door to start work; you don't switch it off when you finish for the day.

For me safety is a state of mind and it’s one I try to engender in Aurecon employees and the sites we share with clients. We called our recent internal safety campaign Because People Depend on You, to reinforce the idea that our 7500 employees’ actions have a safety impact on the colleagues and partners who are around them. And because so many of our employees have dependents and caring responsibilities.

For us a safe workplace comes down to assessing the risks and what can go wrong. How can I mitigate those risks? Can I remove the risk altogether? If I can’t, can I manage the risks? And can I invoke the choice to not undertake the action altogether, until the risks are mitigated?

Whatever happens at the assessment level, there’s always something I can do: I can wear the appropriate protective equipment, and I can call-out my workmates if they’re not wearing it.

Lately I’ve been teaching my son to drive and it has really focused me on the importance of being well-trained and well-equipped. In driving – as on a site – your own actions affect many people around you. Whether we’re on the roads, on the ocean or on a site, we’re all responsible for one another’s safety. We all depend on one another having the training, the equipment and the state of mind.

So don't just think about this year's World Day for Safety and Health at Work as one day. It should be about how you think about your daily routine and how you approach your life, because the beneficiaries of your safety mindset are not just you – they’re your family, your friends, your colleagues and clients. You do it because people depend on you.