By JESSE GRAHAM
HEALESVILLE Sanctuary has been marked as safer than the rest, scooping the WorkSafe Award for Health and Safety Committee of the Year last week.
On Wednesday 23 October, the Occupational Health and Safety Committee from the sanctuary were named the winners of the award as part of the annual WorkSafe Awards.
The Health and Safety Committee of the Year award recognises performance and achievements of committees, in committing to health and safety in their workplaces.
Healesville Sanctuary’s 12-person Occupational Health and Safety Committee were announced as finalists for the award, alongside Rowville’s Parmalat Safety Committee, on 27 June.
The committee use a range of initiatives to promote safety in the workplace, including a daily safety message over the radio to staff and encouragement for staff to report near-misses.
Curator of Life Sciences at Healesville Sanctuary Bronwyn Macreadie said the award was exciting for the committee and gave recognition for the work done to reduce risks.
“The health and safety committee has done a lot of work, getting the whole staff involved in safety cultures,” she said.
“The hard work has paid off.”
In the last financial year, Healesville Sanctuary had no lost time injuries, which require employees to take time off of work, recorded.
Ms Macreadie said the committee follow up on all incidents at the sanctuary, including near-misse immediately, and try to tackle the often-dry subject of safety with campaigns and posters each month.
“We’re not waiting for things to happen – if something almost happens, it’s just as important for us to investigate,” she said.
“We make sure that we always follow up on incidents immediately.”
Healesville Sanctuary’s Occupational Health and Safety Committee create procedures which care for the sanctuary’s 75 employees and more than 300,000 annual visitors.
“At Healesville … it’s a big family culture, where we look after each other,” Ms Macreadie said.
