Environmental Protection Agency (Qld)
Category 4: Public sector leadership award for injury prevention and management
Many of the Environmental Protection Agency’s staff work in potentially hazardous and stressful conditions – on national parks, industrial sites, marine environments and in emergencies responding to fires and floods.
The Environmental Protection Agency declared a goal of zero injuries and in 2003 created a dynamic whole of agency campaign “Not One Not Ever” (NONE). By publicly affirming its commitment and determination to stop accepting staff injuries, accidents and psycho-social problems as inevitable and normal, the agency embarked on a process with external consultants to ensure it performed at ‘world best practice’ level in employee health and safety.
Safety leadership training for management, followed by ‘action employees can take’ sessions for staff, successfully helped keep NONE’s principles active and visible in all of the Environmental Protection Agency’s hundreds of workplaces.
Improvements quickly followed. Surveys show that two-thirds of staff have become conscious of workplace safety since the NONE initiative and they recognise changes in the Environmental Protection Agency’s attitude and commitment to safer work.
Through NONE, the agency is delivering innovative psychological advisory and counselling services, offering information on the warning signs of stress and publicising help available to employees.
NONE has been able to help staff from the early stages of their medical condition and allowed them to return to work much sooner, an ideal outcome for both the employee and the agency.
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Page last updated: 03/05/2007