Higgins Group Holdings Ltd

Roading and infrastructure firm Higgins became a Partner in Action with the Department of Labour in mid 2011. The company introduced its ‘Our Way’ culture change programme in late 2010, which aligns with the key outcomes of the Pledge.

Keith Herlihy, the company’s Group Safety and Quality Manager, explains that the programme developed out of “the company’s desire to achieve a zero harm work environment for our people and those affected by our activities.”

“For us it is about doing a task the right way – what we at Higgins call ‘Our Way’,” Mr Herlihy says.

After much research, including a company-wide safety climate survey, the Palmerston North-based business realised it was clear that to achieve zero harm, safety could not be treated in isolation.

“Safety has to be built into the way we complete any job or task,” says Mr Herlihy.

“The ‘Our Way’ programme has four key goals:

• achieve zero safety harms, zero quality impacts and zero environmental damage
• empower the workforce to improve their workplace and support them with appropriate coaching or training, time and resources
• ensure all staff are energised and committed to targets with high levels of knowledge and skills
• organise teams to have a planned approach to every job – where there is clarity of objectives and expectations, clarity of the task involved, each person’s responsibilities, understanding of the process, and the timing.”

Key developments during the programme’s first 12 months include issuing every employee with a pocket book containing essential safety information.

“This includes things like task risk assessments, emergency response and event report forms,” Mr Herlihy explains.

“The pocket book has also introduced the concept of our Stop Think Go work process. The philosophy was introduced to staff to provide them with a very basic work flow for every task they undertake”.

Higgins is also committed to engineering improvements. “Working with heavy mobile plant is a significant risk for our people,” Mr Herlihy says.

“We are undertaking engineering changes to our fleet to replace the old reversing beepers with broadband sound alarms which cut down noise pollution and lower the risk of staff tuning out to the sound of reversing alarms,” he says.

The company has also developed a streamlined event reporting and data capture process to enable staff to quickly and easily report issues or suggest improvements.

Other key developments in the first year of the programme include a winter training programme to improve skill levels in key risk areas and injury cause activities, and the establishment of an effective career development program for staff at all levels.

“We realise that this is just the start,” says Mr Herlihy.

“More work is required to fully imbed these processes and further develop our work methods to ensure best practice and to find engineering solutions to workplace risks wherever possible.”

The company’s ultimate goal is enthusiastic skilled staff completing quality work, safely and efficiently.