PX Update: Safety First, All the Time
As we edge closer and closer to Silly Season, this week we?re talking all things safety, as it is safety first, all the time.
While our work in the recruitment office isn’t particularly high risk (unless we?re talking the mental risks associated with delving to the deepest parts of the industry to identify the best-fit candidates for our clients), our contractors and associates spend much of their time in high risk environments. Due to this, safety needs to be front of mind for us each and every day.
Our designated Emergency Warden and WHS coordinator, Dane Leeson attended a Warden training refresher this week at our HQ in Brisbane’s Christie Centre. While this is not the forum to go into all of the details and each of you will have your own Wardens and WHS representatives that will be across all things safety relating to your work environment, there are two points of note we wanted to mention.
Firstly, take responsibility for ensuring you are in a safe work environment. Ask your safety contacts about updates and changes or just have a general conversation to pick their brains (no Halloween pun intended) to learn from their knowledge. Identify your exits, keep your work site ordered, know what your emergency alarm tones mean and remember to communicate any safety concerns.
Secondly, fortunately emergency situations like evacuations and lockdowns aren’t too common occurrence and due to that we are often complacent or forget processes. In an emergency situation, Wardens have full authority to direct you, regardless of your level in the organisation. What the Warden says goes. They will direct you twice and if you choose to ignore that, you’re on your own.
One story that was brought up through the training was regarding a private bank CEO who wanted to take their brand new $5000 chair with them down the fire exit. After negotiating his way past their company warden (in fear of losing his job), he struggled down 2 flights of stairs before being told off by a Warden on a lower floor. Providing the ultimatum, ‘safely evacuate the building or stay on this level with your chair because you’re not going past here with that mate!? As there was an actual fire in the building, he wisely left the chair.
We live by the philosophy that nothing is worth doing if we can’t do it safely. As a provider of contractor management services across Australia and the Pacific, safety is at the forefront of what we do every day. We firmly believe in having one standard for all our operations ? in Australia and Papua New Guinea. What we do here in our Brisbane, we do in PNG (no exceptions!)