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New Code
New Code of Practice vs ISO 45003: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work
In July 2022, SafeWork Australia released new Model Code of Practice: Managing psychosocial hazards at work. This new Code of Practice outlines psychosocial factors in the workplace:
Contact us to understand more or request a demo of our Psychosocial Diagnostic (Dx) Survey.
OKR’s
Facilitating Safety Strategy with OKR’s
FEFO Consulting was recently engaged to assist a large organisation going through significant growth with a Health & Safety Strategy. This involved a series of site visits and workshops to engage frontline operations in the development of Objectives and Key Results Areas (OKR) and actions for improvement.
We’re excited to enter into a partnership with Australia-based VR specialists, Next World to offer the future of safety training in VR!
Next World is a Virtual Reality (VR) training ecosystem that has developed the world’s first VR Learning Management System (LMS) containing an extensive library of ready-to-go VR training. Next World’s LMS is designed around the unique power of VR, combining game-changing eye tracking technology with immersive, memorable training realities.
Meet our Facilitators! FEFO Consulting have a created a hybrid model of expert leadership facilitators and safety trainers.
Our approach provides a great cross section of talent that can support organisational development, team improvements and individual growth through coaching.
For an overview of our capability training options visit our Training page.
Dates for the Diary
Training: Leadership Development – contact us to learn more Training: Mental Health & Wellbeing – contact us to learn more
Training: Psychological case investigations – contact us to learn more
Training: Incident investigations – contact us to learn more
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Strategy at Speed
Agile Health & Safety Strategy 2022-23
To take advantage of the strategic benefits of speed, organizations need to marry fast strategy to fast execution.
In a tempo-driven organization, everyone’s attention is focused on the strategic Objectives and Key Results (OKR) and how to achieve them effectively at speed.
Grosvenor coal mine explosion in Queensland in 2020
When the strategy goes wrong.
Anglo American’s Grosvenor coal mine explosion in Queensland in 2020 is ultimately attributable to overwhelming production pressures. Underground coal mining is a particularly dangerous activity, requiring delicate engineering judgements to manage a variety of hazards in an ever-changing geological environment. These judgements need to be protected from commercial pressures.
However, Anglo had set production targets and provided incentives to reach and exceed these targets, which inevitably corrupted judgements about how to produce coal safely. The Grosvenor explosion demonstrates how disastrous these targets and incentives can be in highly hazardous environments.
Sacrificing Safety draws on the Board of Inquiry Report into the Grosvenor accident, and also on insights from other hazardous industries, particularly the oil and gas industry. The author was originally appointed to the Board of Inquiry, but withdrew, in circumstances that are explained in an appendix.
On 10 June 2022, Mark Wright Managing Director ad FEFO Consulting was asked to present at the annual Quarrying & Mining Safety & Health Conference in Brisbane co-hosted by the Institute of Quarrying Australian (IQA) and Resources Safety & Health Queensland.
Mark shared learning on Critical Control Effectiveness, making reference to several case studies, international leading practices and simple solutions for developing businesses.
Rebecca’s core capabilities are in strategy, leadership development, management systems, critical risk management, contractor management, and critical incident response.
Rebecca has previously held head of health and safety roles with publicly listed organisations and worked directly with boards and senior executives to deliver simple, targeted initiatives to improve health and safety outcomes.
Rebecca’s experience extends across a diverse range of projects and clients across multiple high risk industries including Construction, Telecommunications, Mechanical Services and Petrochemical.
Dates for the Diary
Training: Develop and deploy an effective WHS Strategy – contact us to learn more
Training: Federal Safety Commissioner Accreditation Tips – contact us to learn more
Training: Mental Health case investigations – contact us to learn more
Training: WHS Director & Officer Due Diligence – contact us to learn more
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Is your health & safety strategy right for 2022-23?
Is your health & safety strategy effective? Do your metrics allow you to learn, adjust and improve?
If either your strategy is wrong or metrics are in effective, there is a good chance there are lost opportunities for success.
FEFO Consulting was recently engaged by a major council to assist with the development and deployment of health & safety strategy.
Our recent blog shared learning from this experience:
OKR vs KPI: Measuring Health and Safety Metrics that Matter
The Objective Results (OKR) approach to setting goals is a great way to effectively support a strategy and has been used at Google, LinkedIn Airbnb, and many more. OKR’s are often complimented by Key Performance Indicators (KPI).
FEFO Consulting recently is introducing new contractor safety assurance services to assist clients with ensuring effective procurement of services. To support these services, we are leading a 5-part webinar series on contractor safety in partnership with myosh. The 5-part webinar series covered:
FEFO Consulting was recently engaged to lead an evaluation of material unwanted events and critical controls across multiple NBN service providers.
One reason for this project was an industry led response to the tragic fatality in 2016 related to a worker completing horizontal directional drilling. To find out more about FEFO Consulting critical control services, refer to our blog or contact us to find out more.
Dates for the Diary
Training: Develop and deploy an effective WHS Strategy – contact us to learn more
Training: Federal Safety Commissioner Accreditation Tips – contact us to learn more
Training: Mental Health case investigations – contact us to learn more
Training: WHS Director & Officer Due Diligence – contact us to learn more
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Are you having difficulty sourcing talent?
In late 2021, FEFO Consulting was approached to help and organisation source talent and mobilise at speed.
Within a 4-week period over the Christmas/New Year shutdown, FEFO Consulting was able to source, mobilise and induct 10 short-term personnel to assist one of the largest employers in the southern hemisphere tackle an emerging risk profile.
We are proud to operate at speed to support changing organisation demands and business outcomes
Refer to our Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) blog to hear more about our services and how we can help with short-term health & safety staff in a very tough labour market.
Building Leadership Talent: Chronic Unease
How to create a healthy sense of chronic unease?
Chronic unease is the feeling of discomfort and concern about the management of risk. Having a healthy level of chronic unease can help identify weak danger signals, reduce complacency, and improve alertness. And just because a catastrophic event hasn’t happened, doesn’t mean it won’t!
Examples of weak danger signals can include:
Unexpected maintenance results
Variations from good practice that has become tolerated
Noticing a colleague is distracted while carrying out a critical process
A decision to carry on that we think was made too quickly.
Check out the above video on more about chronic unease, or contact us to understand how we can help build leadership talent in your organisation.
In addition, FEFO Consulting was engaged by a global services company to deliver three days of safety leadership training after completing the Health and Safety Index to help build targeted capability.
For more information on how we help organisations, teams and individuals measure, focus and act using the Health and Safety Index and facilitated workshops, contact us any time.
Meet the Team
Our team is growing!
Heather Leach recently joined our team to support client demand across Victoria, Australia. Heather has an extensive training and operations background with retail giants Coles and Liquorland.
We value diverse backgrounds and thinking, so Heather was a perfect fit to provide a fresh perspective to our clients and team.
Heather has real life experience, and can empathise with frontline personnel and help provide value and practical solutions.
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Belgravia Health and Leisure Group (Belgravia) is the fastest growing leisure management organisation in Australia and has over 30 years’ industry experience.
Belgravia recently engaged FEFO Consulting to provide independent verification of systems and operational activity across Australia and New Zealand, which reinforces our ability to be an additional trusted resource to compliment existing teams.
Often referred to as Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), this is a method of using third-parties to add business value.
BPO’s have traditionally been used for Customer Service, Accounting, Payroll and Human Resource Management.
Trent O’Hara, Group Manager Workplace Health and Safety at Belgravia Health and Leisure Group provides commentary with an interview on his experience using a BPO for health and safety.
Critical Control Management – Unintended Consequences of Getting it Wrong!
Critical Control Management (CCM) is an internationally recognised approach for organisations to improve the management of potentially fatal and major unwanted events.
Is a CCM program relevant for you?
Are your metrics driving the right behaviour?
Are you overly reliant on injury statistics?
Are you focused on quantity of activity, rather than quality of controls?
Do your operations have a health level of chronic unease?
But where do you start?
Often organisations struggle to understand how to get started, how to deploy effective programs or avoid unintended consequences. By nature, critical controls are critical, so understanding how to manage CCM is often a key strategic priority for most organisations.
This 6-part series will provide simple and effective tips on how to deliver a CCM.
This will include case studies, shared learning, and guest speakers from several multinational organisations eg, Lockheed Martin, Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) and Natural Resource Australasia.
What Makes a Great Leader: Authenticity, empathy and more!
An effective safety leadership program can transform culture, drive strategy and prevent unwanted events.
The video below is 2 of a 5-part series. These five videos form the backbone of our leadership program and the ingredients to build a high-performance culture!
FEFO Consulting have a pool of great leadership facilitators who are now looking forward to COVID freedom and ready for some face-to-face facilitation time!
Contact us to discuss how we can help you measure, focus and act on creating great leaders.
Contractor Safety: How much is too much?
FEFO Consulting recently delivered a webinar with the Australian Institute of Health and Safety (AIHS) on contractor safety.
How much influence and control is reasonable when managing contractor health and safety?
Key takeaways:
Different types of contractors
Segmenting contractors
Collaborating with contractors
Measuring contractor safety performance
Click here to read more about this webinar, or contact us for a free 2-hour discovery session during the month of November 2021 to assist with contractor safety and an outline of our new Contractor Safety Workbook.
Managing safety in the lead up to Christmas will be different this year… but how?
Across many industries and business sectors, the end-of-year festive season can see an increase in the risk of workplace injuries (GIO, 20201).
In recent years the causes of workplace incidents in the lead up to Christmas often include rushing, overtime, stress (work and personal) and simply not focusing on the task at hand.
This year as we get closer to the festive season, we will also be emerging from our second year of lockdowns and Covid-19 restrictions. Many workers might be returning already fatigued from a second year of lockdown!
A few questions for your teams:
Mind on Task: How can we work with our teams to mind on task?
Eyes on Task: What are you doing today to keep your eyes on task?
Line-of-Fire: What can we do to keep on track and out of the line-of-fire?
Critical Few: Are you focused on the critical few – your critical controls?
How are you preparing for the Xmas rush?
Dates for the Diary
Critical Control Management (CCM)
6-part webinar series every weekly, starting 27 October.
FEFO Consulting offers free assessments to organisations considering management system improvements. If this sounds like something your organisation could benefit from, get in touch today.
With very mixed emotions, we would like to wish Kate Power farewell and all the best for her new adventures!
Kate has been instrumental in building a strong FEFO Consulting brand over the previous three years and will be missed by many. Her unique skills set of mental health and safety led to the creation of very strong relationships with clients, partners and our team.
There are too many achievements to list, so above is a snapshot (1 of 5 videos on our YouTube Channel) of Kate in action as part of our Safety Leadership Program.
We sincerely wish you all the best Kapow! Your legacy will continue to support our team and many others.
Start a conversation on social media with the hashtags #safeworkmonth and #ThinkWorkBeSafe
Spotlight: Mental Health and Wellbeing
Maintaining health and wellbeing in drivers working within the transport industry is essential.
Brake Global Fleet Champions have an informative fact sheet – Driver Mental Health and Wellbeing – which details the best ways to support the mental health and wellbeing of drivers.
To find out typical Health and Wellbeing outcomes, check out the above video.
Luke is a driven and energetic Graduate with strong communication and problem-solving skills.
He has a broad level of experience working with Dyno Nobel Asia Pacific supporting their Critical Control Verification (CCV) program and Fatal Risk Program.
Luke has also delivered consulting services to maintain management system procedures, reporting, coaching activities, and plant risk assessments.
“Taking the knowledge from my studies and applying in practice across multiple industries has enabled me to gain invaluable experience that delivers practical solutions.”- Luke Nye
Since starting in July, Luke has been leading a national contract with a large industrial equipment company, assisting with Property Risk Assessments, providing outsourced health and safety services in New Zealand for a multi-national services company, and development management systems for small-to-medium sized construction companies.
Luke has a Bachelor, Diploma and Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety. He also holds certificates in Workplace Practices and Construction.
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Industry News: Contractor Safety
Managing contractor safety and segmenting suppliers is key to reducing risk. This month FEFO presented on contractor safety at two major events, including the facilitation of a masterclass and speaking to over 130 attendees at the NSCA breakfast in Brisbane on contractor safety.
Key themes included segmenting suppliers, Health and Safety Index contractor benchmark results and enabling innovation. The attendees from the masterclass left with relevant and practical tips, based on our “4 Steps to Contractor Safety” guide. Download the guide below or click here to contact us to arrange your own personalised contractor safety review.
This month, FEFO recorded a podcast with SAP, discussing the safety risks in procurement and supply chain in mining.
Mark Wright reflected on his previous work with Rio Tinto managing safety across a global supply chain and spend of approx $15 billion / year.
Moving beyond basic contractor compliance to building high performance cultures was also discussed. The Health and Safety Index is a great way to collaborate with contractors, benchmark results and understand focus areas, eg time pressures, shortcuts and bullying.
To learn more about safety contractor benchmark results, refer to our Contractor Safety Blog.
FEFO is proud to announce a new partnership with Gotcha4Life, a not-for-profit foundation that funds sustainable educational workshops, training and products building mental fitness.
FEFO and the Health and Safety Index will provide key data and support to track, review and implement the training provided by Gotcha4life in communities across Australia.
100% of profit of projects with partnered with Gotcha4Life donated to the Gotcha4Life charity to help continue their important work in our communities.
Read more about our partnerships, click the link below.
Being selected as a finalist recognises the tremendous FEFO team effort, and the support from our valued clients and partners.
The Gap Between Tools and Best Practice: An analysis of Safety Prequalification Surveys in the Construction Industry
This study characterises safety prequalification surveys currently in use in the construction industry to identify approaches that include leading indicators of worker safety performance.
It’s an interesting collection of data, collated from surveys available in the public domain from internet searches, construction company websites, published literature, and construction industry partners. The authors have utilised a conceptual framework, based on safety theory and best practices, to categorise survey questions and find the gaps between tools and best practice.
Please contact us if you would like a full copy of this article.
Dates for the Diary
You will find us here, come along and be sure to say hello, either in person or virtually!
National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA) 21st July, Canberra: Managing Mental Health We will be sharing industry insights & practical tips at a National Safety Council of Australia workshop, on the topic of managing mental health.Australasian Reporting Awards 31st August, Sydney The Health and Safety Index is leading a seminar with the Australasian Reporting Awards (ARA) on practical tips for using health and safety metrics to build high performance and improve Annual Reports.Workplace Health and Safety Show 7–8th September, Sydney Come and see us at the upcoming Workplace Health and Safety Show, where you can discover the latest solutions to make your workplace safer.
Meet the team: Marina Reid Wilson, Senior Associate
As an experienced Registered Psychologist and Masters-qualified Coach with over 15 years’ experience in executive coaching, workshop design and facilitation, and psychological assessment, Marina brings a wealth of knowledge to the FEFO Consulting team.
Throughout her career, Marina has assisted many organisations and teams to understand the elements of healthy work cultures, and to recognise signs and symptoms of psychological distress.
Marina is currently leading the design and delivery of mental health and wellbeing training for a number of major clients, in a number of industries from broadcasting to aerospace defence.
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Supporting Aboriginal Projects
We are proud to be supporting Birubi as they improve their WHS practices.
Since its beginning, BirubiAustralia has made a strong commitment to driving Aboriginal employment outcomes; this was, and always will remain a core objective of the business.
Incident Causation
The modern view of incident causation explains the complexity of incident causation and what to do about it, with powerful questions to discuss as a team, like:
• “What areas of your job are working well?” • “What’s preventing your job from being effective? What’s getting in the way?” • “How can your team operate more productively at work?”
We engaged Mark and his FEFO team to review our Supplier and Contractor management program. Mark is a highly skilled professional who can engage at all levels of an organisation.
His ability to assess the organisation and tailor a program that was suited our organisation were exceptional. I would have no hesitation in recommending Mark or his team.”
Fefo Consulting will be partnering with the Health and Safety Index to present at the National AIHS conference: The Health and Safety Index: An Integrated Approach
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The month of February is flying by. The FEFO team have been collaborating with clients, forging new partnerships and securing speaking opportunities for 2021.
Health & Wellbeing Insight: Hierarchy of Controls
Too often organisations focus on individuals and lower order controls such as training, rather than focusing on job design, resources and demands.
The ‘Hierarchy of Controls Applied to NIOSH Total Worker Health’ provides a conceptual model for prioritising efforts to advance the safety, health, and wellbeing of all workers.
Have you completed a formal assessment to determine the health and wellbeing controls that are relevant to your organisation?
“In the absence of information, we jump to the worst conclusions.” – Myra Kassim
Industry News: Knowledge Hub
Have you checked out the NSW Centre of Work Health and Safety ‘Knowledge Hub’ yet? It’s a repository of research, insights and other valuable information available to everyone. It’s a useful resource for developing harm prevention strategies and being across the current best practice in Work Health and Safety.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is often a final layer of defence that requires effective solutions.
We are excited to announce a new partnership with Paramount Safety Products to provide specialist safety advice and also offer attractive discounts on the full suite of their brands, including:
“Mark and his team are very easy to work with. They have excellent industry knowledge and go above and beyond to answer any queries from us and our clients in regards to safety. Highly recommended.”
The FEFO Consulting team will attend the Australian Small Business Champion Awards this month as a Finalist in the Striving for Excellence and Preventing Harm category.
Being selected as a finalist recognises the tremendous FEFO team effort and the support from our valued clients and partners.
You will find us here in 2021! Come along and be sure to say hello, either in person or virtually!
Fefo Consulting will be partnering with the Health and Safety Index to present at the National AIHS conference: The Health and Safety Index: An Integrated Approach
With specialist skills in psychology, mental health and wellbeing, Sally brings a focus on championing and developing people.
Sally’s career has spanned the public and private sectors, not-for-profit organisations and the management of small businesses offering counselling and consulting services.
Sally is currently leading the design and delivery of mental health and wellbeing training for clients across Asia Pacific (APAC). In addition, Sally is also heavily involved in an organisational assessment of psychosocial risk factors for a national media and broadcast company.
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It’s been a challenging year for many and also a year that risk, health and safety management has never been more critical. Thank you for your support. With the support of our clients, partners and expert team, in 2020 the FEFO team:
Partnered with 30+ new customers
Launched new leadership, health and wellbeing programs to an international audience
Received 120,000+ Health & Safety Index responses
Was humbled to be a Finalist in Australian Small Business Champion Awards.
Psychological safety & high performance: go hand in hand
Managing the risk, health and safety of an organisation goes well beyond the physical.
“There’s no team without trust,” says Paul Santagata, Head of Industry at Google. The results of the tech giant’s massive two-year study on team performance, revealed that the highest-performing teams have one thing in common: psychological safety, the belief that you won’t be punished when you make a mistake.” Harvard Business Review
FEFO’s Mental Health & Wellbeing team specialise in helping organisations apply practical research and informed tools to achieve psychological safety. Hear from Sally Boucher, FEFO Senior Consultant, in this 1 minute video touching on psychological safety and how to build an effective team culture.
Client Review:
“The FEFO Mental Health & Wellbeing training facilitated by Kate and Sally provided excellent, valuable information. It was presented clearly and in an appealing format and we received lots of positive feedback. 94% of attendees surveyed recommended their colleagues to attend the Mental Health & Wellbeing training.”
Caitlin Walkenhorst Asia Pacific ESH Senior Manager Lockheed Martin
Working in Partnership: keeping people safe
FEFO teamed up with Disaster Relief Australia, a not-for-profit organisation supporting communities devastated by disaster, to create a new Workplace Health & Safety Manual.
The Disaster Relief Australia team and all the selfless volunteers do an amazing job for communities throughout Australia. Watch this 30 second Disaster Recover Support video created by JMAcreative to find out more about our collaboration.
Case Study
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” -Peter Buckley
Building Capability: Facilitating nine interactive workshops across New Zealand
Sustaining: Helping leaders with new learnings and continuous improvement.
Find out more by reading the brief FEFO case study Building an Effective Culture. Be sure to view the video featuring Kate Power, FEFO Director, by clicking the ‘What’s in it for you’ link contained within the article.
Connect with us
We’d love you to jump on-board and join our LinkedIn community. You can expect:
Our take on the latest risk, health and safety industry news
Top tips from our expert team
Case studies showcasing real risk, health and safety challenges and solutions
Brief videos with helpful insights
Events to participate in, both face-to-face and virtual
Senior Experienced and Ready to Partner
The FEFO team is agile and experienced, with a small number of hand-picked, senior-level risk, health and safety experts at the helm. Find out more about our seasoned team, their specialist expertise and our research-backed approach.
