1. Compelling case for change
How LORA have created a roadmap for change from the traditional safety approach.
LORA have been on this new ‘journey’ for about 3 years now.
It has been challenging but also very rewarding. We started the transition with the board and through engagement and involvement at all levels have introduced Next Gear to the business.
We are still early in our change transformation and we can share with you what we have done so far, some of the tools we have employed and some of the challenges we have faced in trying to do safety differently.

2. When environment is typed into Google search we see inspiring, positive images of progress, growth and success.

3. You don’t have the same experience when you google safety
You don’t have the same experience when you google safety. You see constraint, yellow, warning signs, not much positive. Why is that? Why can’t safety be safety as innovative, creative and positive.
We are conditioned to think negatively about safety. Our experiences of safety often have negative connotations – accidents, injuries, inspections, audits and compliance.
David Cameron the British Prime Minister actually said that ‘health and safety is the albatross around the neck of business’.

4. When these brands are shown, what do you think of?
You generally think of - success, innovation and aspiration.
They are generally brands associated with progress.
How can we make safety be seen as successful and innovative?

5. Fascination with numbers
We are fascinated by numbers
And yet there has been “no decrease in the fatality and serious injury rate over the last 15 years” in the construction industry, and furthermore that there is “no correlation between low-level AFR’s indicating Major Accident Hazards”.
Yet – as a function and in fact an industry we have become obsessed with the notion of numbers.

6. METRICS AND CONVERSATIONS
Within Laing O’Rourke our injury rate performance has continued to improve over the last 7 years.
This has been through a steady set of campaigns, workforce engagement workshops, visible leadership and a focus on eliminating all lost time injuries from the business.
Our injury rate had started to flat line in 2014 – conversations were in danger of becoming stale and we recognised a need for change.
We get that there is the fascination with metrics, they can be easily measured and truthfully can be easily manipulated.
Many low order incidents are not the result of a breakdown of well functioning systems and processes – they are simply by-products of system’s normal functioning.
When we looked at our flat lining injury rate it looked like other organisations
It reveals high level of investment in engineering, training and admin solutions – the flat line indicated a diminishing return on investment
It revealed a pretty bleak picture- most organisations with periods of low injury rates are often struck with tragedy
The tragedy seems to come out of no where- we didn’t have precursors of lots of incidents, injuries or near misses- that birds pyramid predicts

7. INCIDENT PERFORMANCE Disabling Injury
Wheatstone DI: Groin in jury during fall from height (05/15)
APLNG DI: Finger injury from closing truck tailgate (05/15)
SIL 901 LTI: Pipe dislodged from forklift hitting worker in the face (06/15)
C811A DI: Shoulder was struck by steel bar (06/15)
Blacktown LTI: Strain to calf by pushing a full 2m bin (07/15)
SIL 901 LTI: Finger crush between angle bar and ground (08/15)
SIL 901 LTI: Twisted knee due to pallet shifting (08/15)
HVRO LTI: Muscle strain while assisting load railway sleepers (08/15)
SIL 901 LTI: Laceration to finger due to pinch point (10/15)
Wheatstone MTI: Chest made contact with handrail after fall (10/15)
SIL 901 MTI: wrist pain following use of vibratory tools (07/13)
SIL 901 LTI: Crush injury to finger due to lost grip of rebar (10/15)
SIL 901 LTI: Laceration to thumb pulling out lead (10/15)
Stadium Rail LTI: Back injury due to slip 11/15
Wheatstone MTI: Groin strain from lifting 20L water bottle (11/15)
SIL 901 LTI: Stitches to shin due to stumble (12/15)
SIL 901 LTI: Fractured finger from pinch (12/15)
SIL 901 MTI: Neck strain from hit in the head by falling material (01/16)
SIL 901 LTI: Fractured finger due to pinch from jack (01/16)
SIL 901 MTI: Finger laceration due to scaffolding tubes (02/16)
SIL 901 MTI: Laceration to finger due to making contact with blade on saw (03/16)
Class 1 Near Miss
Select Near Miss: Car rollover from swerving to not hit kangaroo (04/15)
Tanks Near Miss: Component dislodged making contact with person and puncturing arm (05/15)
Austrak Near Miss: Electric shock from trolley hoist (06/15)
AEP Near Miss: EWP stuck on crossing with train approaching (03/14)
CSIRO Near Miss: Excavator hit a gas pipe & natural gas was released (07/15)
Novo Near Miss: Electric shock from energised 240V cable (08/15)
Select Near Miss: Lighting tower came loose from back of truck & fell to the road (09/15)
Wheatstone Near Miss: Rigger’s glove got caught on wire rope & came in contact with the cable spool of the winch drum 09/15
Novo Near Miss: 11KV was re-energised by Sydney Trains without notifying WHV Holder 10/15

8. The DANGEROUS ASSUMPTION
What was celebrated as a measure of effective safety management the day before? The absence of one thing …
Overlay a more complex world, where we have a lot of parts all interacting with each other (a lot like a construction company) with some of the dangerous assumptions.
The measure of performance was striving for zero injuries.
LTIFR awards were handed out the day before this tragedy, Director Safety Visits were completed the day before the tragedy.
There are many cases that occur on a day to day basis where statistics become the primary measure of performance.
We recently hunted out many metrics and statistics…. and listened to the changing conversations.

9. THE DANGEROUS ASSUMPTION
‘The fatality rate in the construction industry increases when the accident frequency declines’
Jun 1, Accidents and fatal accidents-some paradoxes.
Authors: Saloniemi, A.; Oksanen, H.
Source: Safety Science, Volume 29, Number 1, June 1998
Incident rate
Fatality rate
The absence of negatives isn't an indicator of good safety management.
Conversely accidents are not the result of a breakdown of a well functioning systems and processes – they are structured by-products of system’s normal functioning.
A study of fatality and accident rates in the Finnish construction industry over 15 years showed that:
‘the fatality rate in the construction industry increases when the accident frequency declines’

10. CONTROL AND Constraint
Traditional safety methods have required us to constrain, control and monitor
This is often achieved through complex systems in highly regulated environments.
When we think of safety issues and problems we usually think of people being the cause of the event,
….PEOPLE ARE UNRELIABLE
….NEED TO BE CONSTRAINED AND CONTROLLED
….MAIN REASON FOR OUR TROUBLES
We look to reinduct, retrain, redo their competency, send them on a behavioural based safety program.
We usually say that supervision was inadequate, we create further audit regimes and more process, that serve to increase bureaucracy.
We even try to get the person who was injured to talk about his injury.
Our behavioural based safety approach determines that they are unsafe or safe.
Behaviour Based Safety -ZAP, PASS, IIF, Mission Zero, Zero Harm
Based on stories of tragedy
Finding deviations and stopping them
Constraint and control
Assumes that workers unsafe acts are the cause of incident
There are limitations to this behaviour based approach.

11. Based on achieving constraint and control
Behaviour Based
Safety I
Next Gear
Safety II
Based on achieving constraint and control
Directs task based activity
Goal is to remove variability
Finds and stops deviations
Linear view of cause and effect
Workers unsafe acts are the cause
Protective
Based on premise of developing mutual trust
Asks curious questions
Goal is to understand workarounds
Focusses on high consequence
Sees adaptability as a strength
Assumes a complex world
Focusses on enabling workers
Productive
What is Behaviour Based Safety
Behavioural Based Safety is an approach to safety that focuses on workers' behaviour as the cause of most work-related injuries and illnesses.
The goal is to remove performance variability through constraint and control.
Behavior-based safety programs appeal to many companies because they make health and safety seem simple, do not require management change, focus on workers and seem cheaper than correcting health and safety hazards.
This is because they focus on lower end of control hierarchy.
It is considered to be a protective form of safety
What is Relationship and Empowerment Safety
Is about understanding variability and workarounds that are an inevitable part of a functioning system.
We live in a complex world with interconnecting parts and systems.
It promotes empowerment and drives innovation to support safer outcomes.
Places people at the centre of decision making.
It is considered to be a productive form of safety.

12. DISRUPT TRADITIONAL SAFETY THINKING & LANGUAGE
People are the solution –
people should be placed at the centre of solutions
2. Safety is the presence of positives – recognises and measures the things that go well
3. Safety is an ethical responsibility – safety systems that enable safer work.
Next Gear is our agenda that builds safety resilience into the organisation, founded on engagement and trust.
We place our people at the heart of safety decision making and where safety performance focusses on understanding success and the many things that go right.
Next Gear challenges us to move beyond traditional safety practices and measures, by applying a framework described in the three principles:
People are the solution (vs people are the problem)
Safety in the presence of positives (vs safety is the absence of negatives)
Safety is an ethical responsibility (vs safety is a bureaucratic activity).
We are now trying to live into these principles in our everyday work.

13. PRINCIPLE 1 Traditional Next Gear People are the problem
People are the solution
People are unreliable
People cause accidents
People need to be controlled
People need to be constrained, monitored and supervised
People are the main reason for your troubles
People have the answers
People are adaptive and often this different way is more efficient
People are empowered beyond the rhetoric to deliver work
People are placed at the centre of decision making

14. PRINCIPLE 2 Traditional Next Gear Absence of negatives
Presence of positives
Nil non-compliance in an audit
No deviations in an inspection
Low injury frequency rates
Mission zero
Understanding work
Investigating success
Brings innovation and efficiency
Understand high conseq risks
Mutual trust and engagement
Recognises the things that go well

15. PRINCIPLE 3 Traditional Next Gear An ethical responsibility
Bureaucratic activity
An ethical responsibility
Systems designed to protect upwards against litigation
Paperwork is completed in case of incident
More rules are created in the event of incidents
“You can stop the task” whenever you like
Paperwork & systems are enablers
Authority is vested in those who “do”
We seek everyone’s views
We understand the workarounds and how the work is delivered
We focus on the things that will cause harm

16. TACTICS THAT BUILD RESILIENCE
Focusing on high consequence risks
Understanding and Enabling Work
Freedom within a framework
Empowering our workforce through engagement and trust
Leadership that challenges traditional thinking
SAFETY AS AN ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY
Moving from procedural control and constraint towards an era of engagement and trust.
Safety needs to be from the ‘heart’ rather than from the requirement of a KPI. It needs to be personal, not business.
Be wary of metrics of both the lag and lead variety. Once a target or number is established people create processes, often subconsciously, to achieve that target.
Centering inspection and monitoring around Fatal and Severe Risks promotes authenticity and believability by the workforce. This provides a more robust approach to risk management. It doesn’t mean more low level incidents.
A fascination with class 1 near miss places the important elements of events at the forefront of teams. This isn’t about creating alerts- its about eliminating the risk profile.
We need to understand work as done vs work as imagined. This is critical to be able to talk about workarounds and support them.
Systems should promote efficiency and innovation and the paperwork acts as an enabler. In highly regulated industries- we cant fall into the trap of quoting legislation.
People work within a framework to support them – not one that prescribes how to work.

17. LIVING INTO THE PRINCIPLES
TACTICS & TOOLS
People are the Solution
Pit Crews
Collective Insights
Safety critical messages delivered by the business for the business
Pit Stops
Frontline Leadership Programme
Coaching philosophy and programme
Next Gear engagement workshop
Safety is the Presence of Positives
Micro Experiments
Positive Performance Indicators:
Fatal and Severe Risk Controls
Leadership Engagement
Investigating Success
Class 1 Near Miss
Safety is an Ethical Responsibility
System Simplification
Focus on high consequence risk management
Class 1 Near Miss protocols
Understanding work as done vs imagined
Focus sessions
Authority/decisions vested in those that do
Tools enable teams to apply tangible activity at the workface to promote the principles and tactics.
We have a number of tools that promote empowerment and engagement supporting the Principle that People are the Solution. Critical to these tools is that safety critical messages are delivered by the business for the business. Some of the tools are Pit Crews, Collective Insights, Pit Stops and the workshop.
Systems should promote efficiency and innovation and the paperwork acts as an enabler. In highly regulated industries- we cant fall into the trap of quoting legislation.
People work within a framework to support them – not one that prescribes how to work.
Micro experiments are a controlled way of allowing projects to challenge processes and come up with smarter, safer ways.
We need to understand work as done vs work as imagined. This is critical to be able to talk about workarounds and support them.

18. Safety critical messages by the business for the business
Safety engagement programs delivered by the business
Operational delivery of safety critical messages
Pit Crews
Master Trainers
Supervisor-workforce engagement
So how are Laing O’Rourke living into a relationship and empowerment based safety vision. Firstly, safety critical messages are delivered by the business for the business.
Our primary engagement workshop rolled out to everyone who works for or with LOR is delivered by 156 volunteer facilitators from all walks of life in the business.
Why? Because we believe this is the best way of delivering our key messages. That the best people to talk about safety are the people who are doing the work.
Operational leaders deliver all safety critical messages, including the rollout of safety campaigns, this is a differentiator.
An example are one to ones. Where traditional inductions are transformed from a compliance based activity to a user experience.
Pit crews are individuals on projects that focus as a team on engagement with those at the workface. They are truly passionate individuals that our PLs place key safety decision making into their hands. Pit Crews measure the pulse of our Next Gear program, including the effectiveness of tactics and tools and levels of engagement.
Supervisor-workforce communication is vital to empowering and ensuring the workforce don’t see safety as rhetoric.
Our supervisors are empowered to develop their own forms of communication. For example: working for a sophisticated global Oil and Gas client we have implemented chalk boards as the primary tool for prestart meetings.

19. What would the future of safety at work look like?
Would we recognise the health and safety leader of tomorrow if they walked in today?
The world of work is changing and we as a function need to adapt and be flexible or else run the risk of becoming irrelevant
Safety professionals need to improve how they communicate with their workforce in a way that enables their message to resonate.
This means learning how to be a story-teller, so that the safety professional can connect and communicate ideas and concepts.
Likewise, being a safety leader means having the skills to network with everyone throughout the organisation, in order to quickly transmit ideas and get buy-in.

20. storytelling
Safety is shaped by the stories we tell and now it is time to tell different stories of success and resilience rather than blame and doom.

21. Era of engagement & trust
Check out our publically available Safety Management System
We would love to hear your feedback!
We have entered into an era of engagement and trust.
The tools will evolve and emerge over time but we as an industry need to take this opportunity to step out from the crowd and position ourselves at the forefront of safety leadership.