| 65 INDUSTRY Major Consulting Group Board game helps to engage people Major Consulting Group’s Shelley Major has invented a board game around the Health and Safety at Work Act, the General Risk in Workplace Management Regulations and the Asbestos regulations.” T Virginia Wright Shelley Major takes the notion of Health and Safety seriously, whether you’re a big company or small. She’s spent many years working hard to help companies keep their staff safe both practically and in terms of meeting their legislative obligations. With a degree in Business Administration which included Industrial Relations and HR management, and experience working with big players like Ernst and Young, and KPMG, Shelley saw the writing on the wall in 2014 and set up her company Major Consulting Group, a year ahead of the 2015 Health and Safety legislation. Furthermore given that company directors, boards, and senior management are ultimately liable if something goes wrong in the workplace, regardless of the circumstances, she knew they really needed to upskill. “If you’re sitting in the boardroom you cannot insure yourself against penalties if it goes pear-shaped,” Shelley explains, “and saying ‘I didn’t know’ is not a defence.” As far as Shelley’s concerned it’s about ‘working smart and working safer’, and her approach is straightforward. “It’s actually about designing the processes so that working safely is just part of the way things are done, not an extra to be bolted on. ‘It’s just how we roll’,” she explains. Or, in a more detailed explanation, “it’s helping organisations to ensure they’ve got the right culture and processes to support a safe and healthy workplace. “In practice that means doing a base-line assessment of what’s currently happening while at the same time doing a survey of staff to see if management’s expectations and the staff’s understanding of those expectations are in alignment.” Essentially what Shelley’s talking about is staff taking risks that their employers would prefer they didn’t. Her clients have ranged from councils to construction companies, and generally speaking she’s talking about people who are out in the field in industries like construction, utilities (power, phone, water), infrastructure (roads, drainage), or any of the trades. What’s common is that the management’s low tolerance for risk may not filter through to the level of risk which is accepted in practical terms in the workplace. “A risk might be ‘we’ve got to get the job done, and so I know I haven’t actually got all the tools I need but I can make do, and I probably won’t’ get hurt,” explains Shelley. “It could be anything from digging a hole which could fall in if it’s not shored properly, to people on a roof in a howling gale feeling unsafe but feeling that they have to be there because the job’s got to be finished.” Shelley’s job has been to work out how and why things are happening the way they are and what can be done to rectify the situation. Asbestos has been a big focus over recent years and Shelley is concerned that its potential for harm is still being seriously underestimated given its presence in 1.5 million homes around the country. For many it’s simply in the too hard basket and recognizing that is one of the things that encouraged Shelley to take her work to another level. Taking all her practical knowledge from years on the job and combining it with her theoretical know how, she’s created a board game called ‘Don’t Lose Your Head.’ “I needed a way to engage with people to help them find out what they needed to know at whatever level they are whether they’re commissioning workers or doing the work,” says Shelley. “So I gamified the legislation: the Health and Safety at Work Act, the General Risk in Workplace Management Regulations and the Asbestos regulations.” In what resembles a combination of Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit the board game offers rewards or sanctions depending on where you land and what card you pull as a result, with the whole game designed to give players easily absorbed bits of the knowledge they need to navigate workplace safety. “We’ve trained furniture removalists, security guards, plumbers, and facilities managers, and we’re also playing it with the companies who are engaging those contractors,” says Shelley. Clearly learning with laughter has a lot going for it and Shelley’s now looking at creating a similar game for other industries, anything from electricity to financial services, that might need help navigating around their complex regulations. “It’s actually about designing the processes so that working safely is just part of the way things are done, not an extra to be bolted on.” Phone: 03 983 5500 waterfordpress.co.nz Your Business, Your Industry, Your News. DO OUR READERS KNOW YOU EXIST? LPHA TRACKER Asbestos Auditing and Surveying Software • CRM system including quoting/proposals • Project management with diary and resource management • Onsite data collection with photos • Choice and flexibility of handset options • Report and register production at the click of a button • Online access for your clients to view their asbestos registers Judy Key judy.key@alpha-tracker.com.au Leanne Helle-Broe leanne.hellebroe@alpha-tracker.com.au +61 (0)8 6311 2845 / Aus: 1300 946 310 www.alpha-tracker.com.au Speak to us about a demo! Don’t lose your head Play AS-BEST-OS you can Play AS-BEST-OS You Can is a fun and engaging way to test knowledge of health and safety and asbestos management duties. Don’t Lose Your Head board game is an innovativeway to test workers’ legislative knowledge! Contact Shelley to play or design a game for your legislative environment! info@majorconsulting.co.nz majorconsulting.co.nz
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