New safety initiative for NRW

Western Australian-based diversified services and earthmoving contractor, NRW has partnered with Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) to develop and implement an occupational health and safety competency development program.

It is SKM's first major venture into providing OHS consultancy services to an organisation in the resources and infrastructure sector. NRW is hoping the new program will differentiate it from its competitors in the civil and mining industries.

The partnership will begin with the design of NRW's OHS culture by NRW leadership and extend to the confirmation and development of individual competencies and personal safety plans.

This approach is intended to ensure the company's safety culture will be based on actions and practices that remain relevant to all employees of the company regardless of their role, according to Michael Walsh, SKM group safety manager.

The program will involve a $1 million investment by NRW.

"SKM's highly credentialed Safety Performance Group (SPG) will design a series of programs for the staged development of NRW's knowledge and skill levels across the workforce," Walsh said.

NRW considers its performance in the areas of safety and health as one of the significant factors in its success to date as an earthmoving contractor in the mining and civil construction industries.

Workplace accidents are unwanted events that have consequences in terms of personal injury, poor work quality and financial loss, according to NRW's general manager HSE and Training, Bob McNair.

"It is the strongly held view of the directors of NRW that all accidents are preventable and, as a result, we have set a goal for the organisation of "Zero Accidents'," McNair said.

Under the partnership model, NRW Contracting will benefit from using current and future employees to conduct training and initial assessments.

Competencies will be captured as they are demonstrated as part of the daily work routine, with candidates observed and assessed without disruption to workplace operations.

SKM will support NRW by training and certifying selected candidates to Certificate IV Training and Assessment (TAA) standards.

Nominated trainers will participate in additional professional development sessions designed to exceed national standards in workplace skills.