Employee Spotlight: Paul Walson HSE Manager, AusGroup

Bringing over 20 years of HSE industry experience to his new position as HSE Manager, AusGroup, Paul Walson brings a fresh pair of objective eyes to AusGroup's health and safety practices. In this article we discuss his first 3 months in the business and what stands out to him about the AusGroup business and its approach to HSE.

During his first 3 months in the business, Paul has found the staff very supportive and welcoming, and appreciates the time he's been given to get a comprehensive understanding of AusGroup's business and its diverse range of operations and services.
Perfect Day: One of the best HSE Systems.

Having many years of experience in the HSE industry Paul has worked with many HSE systems and he is particularly impressed with AusGroup's Perfect Day initiative, being one of the best HSE philosophies he has seen.

Introduced by the business in response to a serious incident, which affected a worker, the company recognised the impact the incident had on the worker, his colleagues and his family. The Perfect Day initiative has been embedded into the organisation for over 12 years now to ensure everything is done to ensure similar safety incidents are not repeated, and that all AusGroup workers and their clients achieve their Perfect Day.

'The reason it works so well is that AusGroup is very respectful of why people come to work', Paul says, 'it recognises that people aren't just here for the business, they are here to make their lives better. The fact that the business recognises this openly says that our people are important to us.'
He goes on to say that '[Perfect Day] works well at building safety accountability among the workforce, with colleagues holding each other to account to ensure we all protect our Perfect Day.

Strong Teamwork
Strong teamwork has been evident to Paul in his first 3 months at AusGroup. He has already seen examples of people stepping up to support each other through challenges at work, 'this adds a value and a culture to the business which make people want to be here' Paul said. He went on to say, 'Culture will eat systems for breakfast. Culture is what makes the workplace special and what makes people want to stay.'

In addition to this he has seen firsthand how the established internal communications ensure that casual staff transition onto back-to-back projects, which is particularly difficult in this current labour market.

Click on the video below to view the conversation between Mark Constance, HSEQ Manager and Paul Walson.