survey highlights safety threats

As Australia attempts to reduce the high number of workplace fatalities and injuries, a major new survey has revealed that poor leadership and productivity concerns are impacting on the safety of our worksites.

The survey by the Australian Institute of Management VT (AIM VT) and the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) was undertaken in response to the level of workplace fatalities and injuries across the nation. Last year in Australia there were more than 175 ‘notified’ work-related fatalities and over 131,000 serious workers’ compensated claims related to work injury or illness.

‘The Business of Safety’ survey attracted 2,815 participants including CEOs; Board members; managers; support personnel and OHS specialists. Participants were drawn from the broad cross section of Australian industry.

The CEO of AIM VT, Susan Heron and the CEO of the SIA, Gary Lawson-Smith said they were most disturbed by the survey findings that occupational health and safety (OHS) standards were being compromised by concerns about reduced productivity.

Exactly 50 per cent of the 657 OHS personnel involved in the survey said efforts to minimise OHS risks in their organisations were being impacted by fears about reduced productivity. The opinions of OHS personnel were supported by almost a quarter (23%) of the senior managers surveyed.

“Workplace health and safety standards are being undermined by leadership teams who are too focussed on short-term performance and productivity goals,” said CEOs Susan Heron and Gary Lawson-Smith.

Susan Heron said: “A safe work environment is not only every employee’s most basic right, it is the platform on which you build a successful business.”

“You can’t expect to see effective leadership at all levels of a business, innovation and committed employees without a safe workplace,” she said.

Further, a significant number of survey participants said they did not agree that OHS performance in their organisations ‘is considered crucial to my company’s success’. That was the view of 47 per cent of team members, 39 per cent of OHS specialists and 34 per cent of CEOs and Board members.

The survey found that 70 per cent of OHS personnel said there was a gap between the commitment shown to workplace health and safety by top-level management and lower level personnel.

Gary Lawson-Smith said: “This should be a big wake up call to the business world. It really is time for change. Organisations need to start believing that OHS is the responsibility of every employee regardless of structural hierarchy.”

“OHS practitioners are critical in turning around Australia’s record on workplace fatalities and injuries, but they need to be equipped with the management and leadership capabilities to enable them to achieve improved outcomes,” he said.

Additional evidence about the poor status of workplace health and safety in Australian organisations and the lack of influence of OHS personnel is that 24 per cent of OHS practitioners said they were ‘unsure’ about the approximate amount of money their organisations spent on OHS measures each year.

The two CEOs said this finding pointed to a lack of transparency on OHS expenditure in Australian organisations and to the possibility that the cost of corrective OHS action is being absorbed by line management as part of the ‘mainstream’ operating budget and expenditure system. The CEOs said that meant, “an organisation’s ‘real’ OHS costs would be unclear, OHS priorities would be confused and the authority of OHS personnel would be undermined.”

Looking ahead, Susan Heron said: Australia’s growing skills crisis meant that OHS performance would be crucial for organisations if they were to attract and retain the best of the next generation of skilled people.

Other key survey highlights:

• Only 49% of CEOs and 44% of senior managers ‘Strongly Agreed’ that ‘There is OHS leadership within my organisation’
• 32% of all respondents do not believe their organisation ‘has a well entrenched OHS culture’. 26% of CEOs and Board directors, 24% of senior managers and 44% of OHS personnel do not believe their organisation ‘has a well entrenched OHS culture’.
• 75% of respondents say they ‘Strongly Agree’ or ‘Agree’ their organisations monitor OHS performance. Large organisations are more likely to monitor their OHS performance, in particular those that employ 1001+ employees (81%).
• 36% of organisations are intending to increase OHS expenditure and 44% are planning to maintain the same budget over the next 12 months.
• 77% of CEOs and Board members said OHS is an integral part of the approach to corporate governance within their organisation.