Creating a new culture of safety has led to measurable results for Downer New Zealand. As a major player in the national infrastructure sector, it wanted to tackle behavioural issues that were the final obstacle to a true, positive ‘safety culture’ among its employees and subcontractors.
The introduction of the Zero Harm model three years ago engaged workers at all levels and gave them unique tools to take back on the job. The results have been dramatic. Since 2008, there have been:
- 50% fewer plant incidents
- a 75% drop in incident severity rates
- an 84% reduction in the number of insurance claims
These improvements have been reflected in a decrease in injury-related costs from NZ$69 to NZ$41 per employee over the same period, and have also earned Downer New Zealand the Industry Best Practice Award – People in the Roading New Zealand Excellence Awards 2010.
The judges said: “The organisation has made a radical shift from using a compliance-based Health and Safety system to the development of an overarching culture promoting
a standard where anything less than Zero Harm is not acceptable. This has been accomplished by shifting people’s mindsets from ‘having to’ to ‘wanting to’ when it comes to Zero Harm.”