Women in industry

CHAMPION FOR SAFETY

Kristen Stanford took home the Safety Advocacy award at this year’s Women in Industry Awards.

MHD sits down with Kristen Stanford, the winner of the Safety Advocacy Award at this year’s Women in Industry Awards to discuss forklift hazards, culture and how to build better relationships.

Kristen Stanford, Safety Manager at CSR Limited’s followed in her father’s footsteps with regards to her career. “My father always worked in safety, so it’s been a big part of me my entire life,” she says. She recalls seeing her father do a great job in making sure that people went home safely after a day’s work and as far as she can remember wanted to follow his lead. “I can thank my family for my passion for safety. I have always wanted to work with people and ensure that they are as safe as they can be,” she says.

Straight out of school, Kristen completed a Certification 4 Diploma and Advanced Diploma in Occupational Health & Assessment. “My first job was working in the mines in Western Australia where I learnt a lot about safety in industry,” she says. Kristen is currently Safety Manger for Queensland and Northern Territories at CSR Limited, working at the organisations Coopers Plains Operations and Logistics site main site dealing with manufacturing, logistics and trade of plasterboard. She has introduced a number of different safety initiatives at the site to promote a more open culture around reporting safety incidents. “One of the biggest problems was a lack of reporting, people were scared to report incidents that took place both at work and outside of work,” Kristen says. In her role at CSR, Kristen has introduced weekly hazard walks where upper management, supervisors, OH&S representatives and employees identify hazard areas in each work area. “This has been a really great success for building relationships across the business.

“Being a Safety Manager is more than a job, it’s a vocation. I have earnt the respect of the people in my team through making my behaviour visible, building strong communication, and maintaining a proactive approach. I am very passionate about what I do, I love my job and I am continually striving for safety excellence. ”

People historically had been fearful of management but now everyone gets together to point out some safety concerns and hazards,” she says.

One way that Kristen has found that workers are responsive to improving safety is when she throws the solution back at the relevant employees who work in that specific area. “At CSR, we want to work together to solve the problem. Usually the people who work in that environment will have some great ideas about how we can make it safer,” she says.

At a recent CSR Safety Conference in Kingscliffe in NSW, Kristen introduced an Amazing Race event. “I organised a race around the Cliffe for 100 personnel which involved completing a range of challenges to identify hazards in and around the hotel, giving everyone an understanding on what hazards are and how to identify them moving forward,” she says.

The activity was well-received and Kristen is hoping to introduce these kinds of initiatives more regularly, she says. Another initiative is Kristen is proud of is the introduction of a Traffic Management team to eliminate pedestrian and forklift interaction. “Separation between forklifts and employees is so important when it comes to safety, especially when it comes to the kind of materials we move,” she says. One area of work that she is particularly proud of at CSR is the significant change in the workplace safety culture after involving workers in safety initiatives, developing and implementing a positive reporting process “There is now a high level of

Kristen says she was thrilled when she was announced as the winner of the Safety Advocacy Award and celebrated with her colleagues.

importance on safety beliefs, values and attitudes and this has improved the workplace health and safety performance,” Kristen says.

With regards to her nomination at the Women in Industry Awards earlier this year, Kristen says she was shocked. “It was a bit of a shock when I found out about the nomination, then even more so when I found out I was a finalist and then when my name was called out as the winner, I burst into tears,” she says. Kristen says she is very thankful to the team at CSR for supporting her and also for nominating her. “Being a Safety Manager is more than a job, it’s a vocation. I have earnt the respect of the people in my team through making my behaviour visible, building strong communication, and maintaining a proactive approach. I am very passionate about what I do, I love my job and I am continually striving for safety excellence,” she says. ■