Skyline Landscape Services were fortunate to be accepted this week as a finalist in the QLD Safe Work and Return to Work Awards, in the category of ‘Most Significant Improvement to Work Health & Safety Performance. These awards, hosted by Workplace Health & Safety Queensland, WorkCover Queensland and the Office of Industrial Relations, recognise businesses and individuals in a number of categories, for their commitment, innovation and leadership in Workplace Health and Safety. Around 150 organisations lodged submissions for the awards, and Shane Webcke, former Brisbane Broncos and Australian Kangaroos footballer, and Safety Ambassador for the Safe Work and Return to Work Awards, hosted the event.
Skyline had identified opportunities to improve the ongoing management and improvement of injury prevention within the Company, and worked closely with the Injury Management and Prevention Program (IPaM), an initiative between Workplace Health & Safety Queensland and Workcover Queensland to achieve positive results. The results were significant in that Skyline has been able to reduce the number of Workers Compensation claims, and return workers to their duties in a timely and safe manner.
Other initiatives that have been implement and recognised include:
- improving training for new, unskilled and young staff
- focusing on high-risk activities to ensure more time is spent instructing, observing and monitoring staff before they are deemed competent to operate equipment unsupervised
- company directors actively involved in the day-to-day safety of Skyline staff
- developing relationships with preferred GPs, and working closely with them to develop suitable duties for injured workers
- ensuring early intervention and constant communication between all key parties in rehabilitation and return to work
Congratulations to everyone involved in the awards and to the ongoing commitment to injury management and prevention within Skyline.