WesTrac takes out best enterprise safety initiative award

Leading Caterpillar dealer WesTrac has been recognised for its cultural and safety transformation program in this year’s Australian Workplace Health and Safety Awards. The company, which services customers across WA, NSW and the ACT, received the national award from the Australian Institute of Health and Safety for the best enterprise health and safety initiative.

For the past two years, WesTrac has been working with culture partner Interchange to identify a roadmap to improve safety performance and overall team member engagement.

A discovery phase identified an opportunity for WesTrac to make a difference in safety performance and team member engagement, leading to a focus on several key behaviours aimed at shifting workplace culture.

Using a human centred design approach, WesTrac and Interchange co-designed and developed the cultural and safety transformation program, known as the Built By Us Program, with the goal to create a workplace that was safe, productive, engaged and customer focused.

The program involved a series of five phases, which included a range of engagement and learning activities, and for leaders, a series of coaching sessions. A key element of the program was the embed phase, which relied on WesTrac continuing to implement a range of initiatives to support further improvements to company culture and safety performance.

Chief Executive for WesTrac WA Jarvas Croome said since the implementation of the program, there had been a visible change in culture.

“I am proud to see a shift in our culture, with our team members embracing Built By Us, looking out for each other and displaying our values in action,” Mr Croome said.

“With the mindset that culture is a driver and safety is an outcome, we are also seeing a decreasing trend in lagging measures such as TRIFR and increased quality in leading measures since commencing the program.”

NSW/ACT Chief Executive Greg Graham said engagement scores across the business had improved, with WA seeing a 21 per cent lift and NSW an increase of 16 per cent over a 12-month period.

“We can already see the shift in our culture and look forward to continuing in the direction we’re headed,” Mr Graham said.

WesTrac was also nominated as a finalist for two other awards including best health and wellbeing initiative, and health and safety innovation, which Mr Graham said was a demonstration of WesTrac’s strong commitment to improving safety and wellbeing for all team members.

Authorised Images

• (NSW) - “WesTrac teams drawn from every level of the business were involved in the Built By Us Program, which has led to improvements not just in safety performance, but in the overall culture of the company.”
• (WA) - “WesTrac teams drawn from every level of the business were involved in the Built By Us Program, which has led to improvements not just in safety performance, but in the overall culture of the company.”

WesTrac Media Contact

Spoke

Marissa Taddeo
marissa @ hellospoke [dot] com.au
0401 019 885

Emily Evans
emily @ hellospoke [dot] com.au
0401 337 959

About WesTrac

As one of the largest authorised Cat equipment dealers in the world, WesTrac provides customers with a wide range of machinery and construction equipment as well as comprehensive whole-of-life management solutions designed to make owning and operating equipment as easy, profitable and safe as possible.

With more than 4,500 team members, WesTrac is dedicated to creating and delivering outstanding value for our team, customers, shareholders and the community. We are committed to excellence and are focused on long-term customer relationships and a dedication to customer service, safety, quality and the environment.

Community involvement is an important part of the WesTrac philosophy, and we are proud to support local activities, events and charities in the regions we are based.

As part of Seven Group Holdings Ltd, WesTrac also has strong alliances with other leading Australian businesses, including Seven West Media, Coates Hire and SITECH.