The New South Wales Government has announced the winners of this year’s 2012 NSW WorkCover SafeWork Awards at a gala night in Sydney.

 

State Minister for Services, Greg Pearce, congratulated the six winners of the prestigious awards, saying all winners showed common themes of strong workplace communication, improved morale and a dedication to safety.

 

“All of the winners have successfully made inroads within the workplace to reduce injuries and save lives,” Mr Pearce said.

 

“The awards show that sustainable safety outcomes are achievable and can have far reaching effects on the financial viability of a business.”

 

Mr Pearce said a judging panel made up of representatives from trade unions, employer groups and WorkCover selected the winners.

 

“I congratulate all of the 2012 entrants for their commitment to reducing injuries and taking steps to build robust safety systems across their industries,” he said.

 

The winners from categories one to four will now have a chance to receive national recognition for their initiatives, competing with entrants from across the country in the 2013 National Safe Work Australia Awards to be held in Canberra in April.

 

The winners of this year’s awards are:

 

Best workplace health and safety management system

 

Bega Cheese Bega

 

For their ‘safety first’ initiative designed to improve the health and wellbeing of its  workers and overall safety culture. This included major revisions to existing workplace safety systems, including the introduction of automation for high risk manual handling tasks, and a behavioural safety program.

 

Best solution to an identified workplace health and safety issue

 

Agi-Kleen Pty Ltd Sydney

 

Agi-Kleen staff developed an innovative safety solution to the high-risk and  physically demanding method of cleaning concrete agitator bowls. An automated robotic system was created that removes the need to a person to physically enter the agitator to clean it. The initiative has reduced costs and the length of time trucks are out of service.

 

Best workplace health and safety practices in a small business

 

NA Group Pty Ltd Padstow

 

To improve safety performance during road works, NA Group introduced a paperless document management system for their work sites that include zero harm operational forms and for „near miss‟ and incident management reporting. The electronic system could be rolled out across the road works industry.

 

Best individual contribution to workplace health and safety

 

Ben Woodbridge, Daracon Group Pty Ltd Wallsend

 

Ben Woodbridge identified risks in the storage and manual handling of welding materials, including gas bottles. Ben took the initiative to design and fabricate a new crate that allows for the safe storage of tools during transportation and has significantly reduced manual handling activities.

 

Jennifer Ringor, Aristocrat Technologies North Ryde

 

With the introduction of harmonised work health and safety laws, Jennifer developed a due diligence framework to raise awareness among management of their new obligations. Jennifer also introduced lead indicator reporting and measuring systems establishing more realistic safety performance indicators.

 

WorkCover NSW Safety Leadership Award

 

Construction Safety Education Forum Sydney

 

Operating for more than 18 years, the forum has proved to be effective way to raise awareness across the high-risk construction industry to help save lives. The 40 member forum includes volunteers from regulators, unions and employer groups, contractors and large construction companies that identify solutions to safety issues.