'Health and safety is always continuous improvement, so we certainly are constantly aware that you gotta keep evolving and keep going'
Tradestaff has achieved notable success in its workplace safety culture, with significant injury reduction rates and higher employee engagement.
In the last financial year ending March 2024, the labour hire agency reported a 30% reduction in lost time injuries, building on the 26% reduction in the prior year.
It also demonstrated a proactive approach in identifying potential hazards, as it saw a 20% increase in Band-aid and Near-hit reporting.
Engagement in workplace safety matters also went up, after the organisation saw a 65% open rate for its Safetytalk newsletter.
These achievements were recently recognised at TradeStaff's annual excellence awards, now on its 10th year, with Recruitment Support Advisor Claire Pattinson attributing their safety culture's success to their continuous commitment to it.
"It's always ongoing," she told HRD. "Health and safety is always continuous improvement, so we certainly are constantly aware that you gotta keep evolving and keep going."
She also cited the willing participation of their workforce in their success.
"I think that's why it has been successful is that all participants are willing," Pattinson said. "The different departments in TradeStaff - they saw we had so much passion to enhance what we're doing."
Understanding individual safety challenges
Pattinson works at TradeStaff's health and safety department and was among those recognised with Injury Claims & Compliance Manager Amanda Flavell in raising the safety culture at the organisation.
Some advice on workplace safety that she was wanted to share to other businesses is to recognise and address the unique challenges faced by each department, branch, and employee.
"It's about honing you and doing your homework and doing the work in the background. So that when you're having conversations with them, you're not talking about what the whole company needs or what the whole company goals are, but they can see that you have you paid attention to their work," she stated.
Blueprint to workplace safety
Tradestaff, as a labour hire agency with 10 branches across New Zealand, faces the unique challenge of overseeing the safety of employees it deploys to a variety of sectors.
Being data-driven and collaborative with their consultants were their approaches to this challenge.
"Our consultants are around the country in the 10 different branches and they're interviewing workers and then placing them onto the job," Pattinson explained.
Tradestaff hones these consultants, as well as their branches, to improve workplace safety.
"We wanted the branch to know that we are looking at their marketplace, their placements, their people, and each quarter," she said. "We are doing some data metrics and looking at the specific branch and telling them: 'Here are your improvements, and here's an area that you could improve on, and we're seeing this trend in your marketplace in your area, so here are some initiatives or strategies."
The organisation also engages its consultants via safety sessions, where they outline their responsibilities and what they're in control of in terms of safety and relay them to the consultants.
"But what we did in terms of strategy is really understand what we're in control of and get really good at that," she added. "So, we're honing the things that really are part of fostering the good safety culture, the good reporting, and engaging with meaning."
Engaging with departments, employees
Beyond consultants, Tradestaff also spreads its message of workplace safety to departments and employees through various channels.
"You've got e-mail, you've got teams, we've got TVs in our branches that we can get with updating with new and different information," Pattinson said.
For departments, Tradestaff ensures that they understand what their duties are in terms of health and safety.
"We bring everybody in and essentially take the health and safety legislation and then break that down or translate it into what that looks like in our business, what our actions are, what our tools and systems are," Pattinson said.
For their partner businesses, who are coming to Tradestaff for employees, Pattinson said they engage in "meaningful conversation" with them about their work.
This includes speaking with them on the phone weekly or going on to the site.
"That's something TradeStaff is always done, but we really wanted to make it clear and make our conversations more dynamic across the board," she said.
