Safety doesn’t stop when you leave the site

Health and Safety, Workplace Health and Safety or Occupational Health and Safety, a collective meaning concerned with the safety, health and welfare of our people. It’s no longer just about being safe on a construction site, it’s about maintaining that safety and wellbeing throughout all aspects of your life.

As one of the highest risk industries, construction is up there when it comes to safety. It is also one of the most stressful and high pressured environments with often tough and demanding work conditions. It is therefore no surprise that the construction industry holds one of the highest rates of suicide in the country.

At Hansen Yuncken our teams invest heavily in the management of safety and wellbeing. Around the country, our projects teams have adopted the Mates in Construction Program to help raise awareness and provide our people with the knowledge and skills to monitor and manage the wellbeing of our fellow workforce.

This year, on RUOK Day and National Mates in Construction Fly the Flag Day, our project team at Flinders Medical Centre received the first Hansen Yuncken accreditation in South Australia. Since the project commenced 12 months ago, 190 of the workforce have received General Awareness Training. 15 of those have gone on to be a Connector and 3 of those are fully trained ASIST workers. The Flinders site joins many around the country in a mission to reduce suicide rates in construction.

These things do not happen without a substantial amount of commitment from our project teams. The teams on many of our sites have implemented numerous initiatives that has encouraged collaboration, transparency and open communication not only with our subcontractors but also clients and consultants too. Most importantly, this has been openly recognised and celebrated as a team.

When it comes to safety, it’s not just about leading the way, it’s how we do business.