Here’s the story of how Cleanaway is supporting industry-wide safety collaboration by using Safer Together support resources to shape its Frontline HSE Representative Engagement Program.

For over 50 years, Cleanaway has supported Australians to responsibly manage, recover, and dispose of waste to achieve sustainable outcomes. With a workforce of more than 10,000 people, a national network of over 350 sites, and the largest waste management fleet in Australia, Cleanaway provides end-to-end waste management services spanning the entire lifecycle: collection, processing, recycling, treatment, and safe disposal.

Cleanaway’s essential services are inherently high risk, with the potential for serious injury or environmental impact. Frontline workers are best positioned to understand how work is performed and, as a result, often have the most practical and effective safety solutions.

For large organisations, the challenge is addressing the gap between operational risk and frontline engagement. This requires establishing structures that maximise the input and influence of frontline workers in developing and implementing Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) improvements.

Workers elected by their peers to represent health, safety, and environmental interests, referred to as Frontline Health, Safety and Environment Representatives (HSERs), can be powerful change agents when supported with the right tools and enabled by a positive learning culture.

To support organisations on this journey, Safer Together developed an interactive onboarding and support framework, along with associated tools, to establish a best practice benchmark for:

  1. HSER roles and responsibilities
  2. Building HSER leadership capability and skills
  3. Establishing clear communication channels and connecting HSERs to promote proactive sharing of learnings, lessons, and best practice.

These resources provided a structured foundation that Cleanaway used to shape its Frontline HSER Program. Cleanaway’s objective was to formalise the voice of its frontline workforce by leveraging their unique understanding of how work is performed, and by enabling a team-led approach to identifying and implementing effective controls.

Click here for a Case Study from Cleanaway that provides more details about why they focused on investing in developing a Frontline HSER Program, how they went about embedding it, and how it has helped the company and its employees. You’ll also find out Cleanaway’s tips for other member companies on how to maximise the value a Frontline HSER Engagement Program.

For more information about Cleanaway click here.

For more information about the Safer Together Frontline HSER Engagement Program click here.

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