Sustainability

Looking Ahead

Projects and activities planned for the next financial year, some of which have already commenced include the following:

• There will be a strong focus on significantly reducing the number of low frequency high consequence incidents during the 2021-22 period.
• There will be a continued focus on the delivery of our Safety Health and Wellbeing 2021-2024 three-year strategy with the coming years deliverables centred around:
• the transition to impending Work, Health and Safety (WHS) legislation.
• reviewing our ISO 45001 accredited Safety, Health and Wellbeing Management System
• WHS requirements incorporated into our Contractor Management and procurement processes.
• Training will also be provided to the business on the new WHS laws and tailored to the roles, responsibilities and accountabilities through all levels within the organisation.
• A number of other areas will be focused on in the coming year, such as COVID-19 incident response management control.
• Mental wellbeing in the workplace based on our Mental Wellbeing Strategy.

Our Safety Performance

There is nothing more important than the safety, health and wellbeing of our people, the contractors who work on our behalf and the customers who access our network across the state.

Poor safety and health outcomes have a detrimental impact on the lives and livelihoods of workers and their families. We are a learning organisation committed to zero fatalities, preventing serious and catastrophic incident events and reducing injuries. We keep safety at the core of our operations by tailoring our safety strategy and initiatives based on business needs. This is driven by a dedicated and committed executive team who cares and wants to protect human life for all who work and travel on the road network.

With the embedding of the incident and event reporting system, EQSafe, used by our workers and Contractors, there has been a focus on detailed, timely and accurate information being entered into the system. The system starting to mature in its capability, coupled with the strong incident reporting culture of our workers and that of our Contractors, has allowed us to move into a position to analyse safety and health information in more detail.

The data from last year has shown that of all the injuries recorded, 13.2 per cent are Main Roads employees and 86.8 per cent are contractor injuries. This information helps identify critical issues, trends and emerging challenges that assist Corporate Executive to make strategic decisions to ensure the safety of our workforce and those that work with us in delivering our services.

Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate

Over the last 12 months our Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate has exceeded our target with the worst result we have seen for many years. It is of great concern across the organisation and a significant focus is being put on our Critical Risks and mitigating actions to address them.

The graphics below show our top three critical risks over the last 12 months and the root causes enabling us to focus our attention on the areas that matter the most.

Total Injuries on Body

An analysis of where injuries occurred shows a slight change from last year with both contractors and Main Roads employees showing more back injuries this year, but hands and fingers still feature prominently.

Workers Compensation and Injury Management

There was a total of 12 workers compensation claims lodged. Five were linked to a work-related Lost Time Injury (LTI). Of the five LTI’s, three workers returned to work within 13 weeks, one returned within 26 weeks and one was greater than 26 weeks.

Safety Banner Alerts

We regularly communicate alerts across the organisation and to our contractors providing lessons learned from serious incidents. A more collaborative approach to investigating contractor safety has been encouraged, with an increase in the quality and clarity of investigation reports. In the last 12 months we released 115 Banner Alerts.

Enhanced Reporting and Analysis

We have recently developed dashboards that enable anyone to access safety and health performance data. This information allows safety champions and our leaders to make informed decisions using lead and lag indicators and trend analysis. We can also use the data to support those who have an inherently higher risk profile due to the nature of the work performed. By providing our industry partners with meaningful trend analysis information we can support their business in preventing injuries and illness. This is a new era for us as we are now able to share data and information that was previously only available to safety practitioners.

Preventative Health and Wellbeing

Information received from our employees, through an online health survey, enabled us to tailor our health and wellbeing program towards their needs. This drove our health and wellbeing focus over the 2020–21 period. We encouraged healthier habits to prevent illness and chronic disease, and to promote a healthier lifestyle for our workforce. 

Initiatives included healthy heart checks, which had a high participation rate, influenza vaccinations in our metropolitan and regional offices, lunch and learn sessions, and health and wellbeing video resources. We understand a healthy workforce is a happy and productive workforce, able to achieve the challenges ahead of us.

COVID-19 Response

We quickly adapted business operations to prioritise the health and wellbeing of our workers, and all Western Australians, when COVID-19 pandemic impacts began. With the fast-moving nature of the virus and the volume of information available, we had to identify trusted information sources and use clear communications as the foundation for making good decisions to protect everyone in the state.

During our response to the pandemic we partnered with other government agencies and industry stakeholders to reduce transmission pathways of COVID-19 and to keep Western Australia moving. This could not have been achieved without the help and support of our colleagues at WA Police and traffic management organisations throughout the state, especially in setting up, monitoring and controlling regional boundary checkpoints within the state.

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant major impacts and disruptions to everyone’s life; however, Main Roads wanted to keep one thing constant – our organisational commitment to delivering for the people of Western Australia and future visitors to our great state.

Occupational Safety and Health in Procurement

With the support of a dedicated team from across the organisation, Specification 203 Safety and Health Management was published. The specification update gives clear and direct information on safety and health requirements for construction work on our behalf.

In support of all contractors performing work on our behalf and our shared and concurrent duty under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 (WA), our Safety, Health and Wellbeing Branch carried out this update following a full review.

Mental Health Strategy

We have an organisation-wide Mental Wellness Strategic Framework and a Mental Wellness Action Plan 2019–2022. We assess mental health risks and focus on building a positive workplace culture with internal capability to ensure early access to effective care and rehabilitation.

We have in place policies, procedures and guidelines to support employees with mental health conditions. This has been complemented with the development of a Guideline on Psychosocial Hazards, which includes an audit tool, to help manage those risks.

In recognition of this year’s National Mental Health Week and R U OK? Day, we launched our new Mental Health and Wellbeing Guideline for Managers to boost their response to, and support of mental health issues through early recognition and intervention. We also offered additional learning and development opportunities on First Aid for Mental Health, Resilience and Change, and Workplace Mental Health for Leaders.

For our high-risk employees responding to critical incidents such as road crashes, bushfires, cyclones and floods, we provided refresher training on Coping with Trauma covering psychological preparedness pre-incident, providing a supportive and responsive work environment post-incident, peer support and general information on trauma, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Employee Assistance Programs

Our Employee Assistance Program allows employees to access registered psychologists to help them cope with the challenges that they may face, either work related, or non-work related. In addition, a Management Coaching and Development Program provides support and guidance to managers overseeing employees with mental health and other issues. Whilst confidential, statistics, broadly, show use of the program is similar between genders and generally attended on a voluntary and self-referred basis. There is, overall significantly improved results to wellbeing or referral to more specialised practitioners.

We continue increasing the capability of our employees through a Mental Health, Wellbeing and Workplace Program, and continue to create a culture of disclosure and peer support.