Safer Together was delighted to receive notice that Naomi Elbrow (HSER, Woodside) was awarded the 2021 Safety and Health Representative of the Year Award by the WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS).
Naomi has worked for Woodside for approximately six years as an Operations Technician, with two years as HSER for the North West Shelf Karratha Gas Treatment Plant.
Naomi is a passionate HSER, committed to improving health and safety; whilst also supporting any environmental matters at the Karratha Gas Plant.
Woodside has adopted the Safer Together common industry Health, Safety and Environment Representative (HSER) framework, promoting the use of a ‘Top 10 HSE Risk’ register to record issues raised by the workforce, thus supporting HSER’s to facilitate discussion and enact actions to address matters raised by the workforce.
Naomi was instrumental in rebuilding Karratha Gas Plant’s Top 10 HSE Risks in 2020, raising issues to the attention of those that could endorse and action solutions, and she has been crucial to finding solutions for KGP’s Top 10 HSE Risks.
Her best successes come from helping leaders put themselves into the shoes of the frontline workers by providing a frontline perspective on priorities and potential solutions.
In short – she’s everything a great HSER should be!
In her application, Naomi had this to say regarding her role:
“Being an HSER is a great role because it allows me to represent my workmates and improve conditions for everyone I work with here at KGP.
“Using Safer Togethers’ Top 10 HSER Risks/Issues Register meant we could identify what issues were most important to my workmates, and then prioritise them in order of importance.
We were then able to improve lighting conditions for nightshift personnel, improve facilities at muster point locations and replace and install some overhead screens in our central control room that had started to fail. Upgrading these overhead screens improved the control room panel operator’s visibility of KGP data, supporting critical decision making”.
Frontline HSERs can be important change agents. If armed with the right tools and enabled by the right culture, HSERs can be enhanced as leaders and can serve as the eyes and ears of the industry at the frontline. They enable the exchange of ideas and concerns about HSE matters and be empowered to drive on-the-ground innovative solutions – and Safer Together is here to assist our Member Companies in doing just that!