News

Nilsen NSW wins icare Aware Award

September 2020

Nilsen (NSW) have won the icare Aware Award for July 2020 for Nilsen’s safety strategy and safety mantra “Think Safe, Act Safe” that has been communicated and implemented across all of the Nilsen businesses. This is a major credit to the Nilsen NSW team as well to the whole of Nilsen for what has been achieved because everyone of you is helping with the success of Nilsen’s safety strategy Australia Wide.

Think Safe Act Safe—Nilsen's safety mantra

By bringing to life their safety mantra Think Safe Act Safe, Nilsen (NSW) Pty Ltd has reduced their workers compensation claims by 75 per cent.

This safety mantra has also embedded a strong safety culture across their 100-year-old business. Their success has been recognised with an icare Aware Award for excellence in injury prevention.

Nilsen is a family-owned leading Australian electro-technology business, founded in 1916. With over 100 years of continuous service in the electrical industry, Nilsen maintains the traditions on which the company was built: service, reliability and quality.

Operating in a high-risk industry with their workers geographically dispersed and often working alone, Nilsen has worked hard to build a sustainable safety culture supported by a simple but strong safety management system. Through Nilsen's consultative approach, managers and technicians now take full accountability for safety and workers feel confident to speak up openly and regularly about safety matters

Operating throughout Australia to deliver installation, maintenance and manufacturing services to clients such as Coles Myer, Sydney Airport and Sydney Light Rail, Nilsen has experienced rapid growth over recent years. To keep their people safe into the future, Nilsen knew it must build safety capacity at a pace that exceeds the growth of their business.

"As our business grows and technology changes, the risks and risk controls can change quickly. It was therefore crucial for us to ensure that safety is top of mind for our workers as they go about their day-to-day roles," said Nilsen's Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Manager Greg Lowe.

'Speak out for Safety'

Communication is key to Nilsen's safety strategy. Nilsen's management has implemented a company-wide campaign called 'Speak out for Safety' which encourages workers to speak up when something doesn't look safe.

"We're encouraging all our workers to speak up about safety and commit to escalating their feedback if they feel it is not being acted upon or taken seriously," said Mr Lowe.

Nilsen's approach to safety is consultative and empowering. The company has implemented an uncomplicated safety management system that supports their culture and enables success. Key elements of this system include plain English policies and procedures, risk profiles specific to each site or contract and regular toolbox talks on a range of safety topics.

"As the HSE Manager I see my role as providing our technicians with the right tools and information to empower them to lead safety, not for me to 'do' safety for them," explained Mr Lowe.

Also key to the success of Nilsen's safety initiatives is direct engagement in safety at the highest level. Nilsen's Board is active in all health and safety matters, regularly visiting Nilsen's operations to speak directly with managers and workers incorporating discussions around their safety and injury performance.

Nilsen is seeing pleasing results from its safety journey so far, experiencing a 75 per cent decrease in claims per 1,000 workers over the past year, as well as lower claims costs and a marked increase in incident reporting.