10 | 2022 Grand Business South Awards: Downer - Otago Ange Davidson Award ‘massive boost for our team’ Downer Otago has taken out the top award in the Workplace Injury Prevention category at the 2022 Grand Business South Awards. “Our people know that they are making a difference and that there is value in what they do.” REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT Downer takes work safety seriously, and with 10,000 employees across the country, it’s a big job. Downer Otago’s innovative and authentic approach to work safety has earned them accolades and the top award in the Workplace Injury Prevention category at the 2022 Grand Business South Awards. “The win has been a massive boost for our team and an opportunity to be publicly recognised for their hard work,” says Chris Jones, Otago Regional Manager. The award recognised Downer Otago’s monthly Regional Toolbox Meeting which has enabled its people to become fully involved in improving the region’s safety culture. Toolbox Meetings bring Downer’s 140 Otago team mates together to share kai and to work together to improve safety outcomes. To bolster engagement, the local leadership team developed a framework that promotes psychological safety for employees and challenges how leaders know if they’ve been successful in their safety engagement. “We want to take any fear out of reporting incidents so we can get the facts and learn from them,” says Chris. “We want our people to know that we’re listening, that we care, and that there is no negative response to what they’ve shared. We want to ensure our improvements and ideas come from our people and that they can hold leaders accountable along the way. “Caring for our people’s safety and wellbeing is our number 1 priority.” Downer has a well-developed workplace safety programme running called Stand in the Gap. The initiative empowers people to be a voice for safety and is incorporated into the Toolboxes to get people talking about specific safety issues and opportunities for improvement. Smaller interactive sessions are held to maximise engagement by addressing people’s hesitation to speak to a large group and develop confidence in sharing. Leaders use feedback from these sessions and, following a proven framework for collaboration, they base the content of the monthly Toolbox meeting on five questions: • How can we ensure people know they are valued? • How can we clarify where they stand and what’s coming next for them? • How can we provide them with opportunity to have input and choice? • How can we make them feel part of the team? • How can we ensure we are treating everyone fairly? “Magic happens when we follow this model and we truly engage with each other. Each month we ask our teams to answer an anonymous five question survey and we use this honest feedback to improve what we do,” believes Chris. “We get some easy wins, while some improvements take a bit longer. To ensure we remain accountable for these wins and improvements, we continuously rank our progress and share it at every toolbox. Most importantly we celebrate our successes by recognising and rewarding the efforts of our people through Downer’s Own’d Awards initiative,” he says. The regional Transport business employs around 140 people with many involved in maintaining the Coastal Otago State Highway network, a vast area from Lindis Pass through to Balclutha. It is the backbone of the region and a huge responsibility. “Everything we do has an impact on people’s journeys, for business, pleasure, picking up kids from school and everything in-between. “How we impact people’s lives and their dayto-day commute is what motivates us. Around 20,000 vehicles use the road network each day and rely on the Downer team to keep them safe. Our job is often invisible, well apart from the road cones!” laughs Chris. “Our people know that they are making a difference and that there is value in what they do. That helps to lift morale, engagement and, in turn, creates long lasting employees. “We’ve seen immediate improved results in our safety stats from using the Toolbox, and our focus is fully embedding these changes. We are developing a culture that doesn’t rely on a select few people but the whole team.” 0800 COM HIRE (0800 266 447) info@commercialhire.com www.commercialhire.co.nz DUNEDIN 23 Gow Street, Mosgiel, Dunedin Proudly supporting Downer Otago janine@mcdonough.co.nz 03 203 8245 Contact us for: Vegetation control • Concrete works • Trenching Thrusting • Excavation • Traffic Management Driveways • Civil Construction
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