Melbourne Water wins top award at the National Safety Awards of Excellence
The winners of the NSCA Foundation/GIO Workers Compensation 26th Annual National Safety Awards of Excellence were announced during a gala luncheon in Sydney on 11 October.
Melbourne Water won the prestigious Pinnacle Award for its ‘Safer Together’ safety leadership initiative. The program was developed in order to improve safety performance with its construction partners and has resulted in dramatic improvements in safety outcomes. It has also led to the development of other initiatives, such as subcontractor forums, joint KPIs and dashboards.
Michelle Riley, Manager, Safe People and Culture at Melbourne Water, was thrilled to accept the award and said, “We were trying to do safety in an incredibly different way and make safety sexy.”
When asked how do you do that, she said: “You make it fun, you empower people to make it relevant and treat safety like it’s a whole-of-life experience, not just what happens at work.”
Riley’s advice to other safety leaders is to put people at the heart of safety and not lie to yourself about what makes people safe. She said it was liberating when you realise that some of what we do in safety, such as adding more bureaucracy, doesn’t add value to the way people work. And when you look at safety differently — “empowering people to switch their brains on” — she said you can achieve greater outcomes.
The full list of winners and finalists is included below:
Category 1 — Best Continuous Improvement of a WHS Management System
- Winner: Defence Housing Australia
- Highly Commended: ASC and TFE Hotels
- Finalists: BMD Constructions, CV Services Group and Kordia Solutions Australia
Category 2A — Best Solution of a WHS Risk (Small Business)
- Winner: Fremantle Commercial Diving
- Finalists: Makinex Construction Products, Pacific Hoists and P.T. Automation Solutions
Category 2B — Best Solution of a WHS Risk (Medium to Large Business)
- Winner: Centurion
- Highly Commended: Melbourne Water
- Finalists: Otraco International, Port of Brisbane and The University of Newcastle
Category 3 — Best WHS Training Program
- Winner: Shadforth Civil Contractors
- Highly Commended: FirstAction
- Finalist: Australian Red Cross Blood Service
Category 4 — Best Communication of a Safety Message
- Winner: Moly-Cop Australia
- Highly Commended: Australian Red Cross Blood Service
- Finalists: Centurion, KFC Australia and Probuild & Jaxzyn
Category 5 — Ian Chisholm Award for the Best Individual WHS Achievement
- Winner: Paul Lyndon (Diona)
- Finalists: Matt Campbell (Rio Tinto Emergency Services) and Neal Smith (FDC Construction & Fitout QLD)
Category 6 — Best Safety Leadership Program/Initiative
- Winner: Melbourne Water
- Highly Commended: Greening Australia
- Finalists: Global Construction Services and Stockland Corporation
Category 7 — Best Health and Wellbeing Program
- Winners: Monash University and Pearson Australia
- Finalists: Easternwell, ReturnToWorkSA and Stanwell Corporation
NSCA Foundation Member of the Year
- Winner: Greencap
Pinnacle Award: GIO Workers Compensation Award for Excellence in WHS
- Winner: Melbourne Water
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