Keeping our house in order | September and October health and safety focus

We want to hear about near misses before they become injuries or incidents.

Reporting a near miss is not about getting someone in trouble. It’s about identifying hazards and fixing issues before someone gets hurt. Every near miss gives us an opportunity to learn, identify patterns, and prevent something more serious from happening.

Most incidents don’t happen without warning. There can be many opportunities beforehand to identify a hazard, report it and fix the equipment, process, or working conditions.

That’s why we want to see more near miss reports than incidents.

The more we report, the more opportunities we have to learn take action, and keep each other safe.

Here’s how the near miss process works:

1. A near miss happens. You think, “Phew, that was close!”

2. Report it. Tell your supervisor or H&S Representative.

3. It gets recorded. Your supervisor or H&S Representative uploads the event into SafetyNet, which sends it to the Site H&S Advisor or the appropriate team.

4. The issue is investigated. The relevant team looks at what happened and why, and what can be done to prevent it happening again.

5. Actions are taken. The issue is addressed and learnings are shared to help prevent it happening again.

Here are some examples of near misses around ANZCO, and how the hazards were fixed.

• A slippery flooring in the tunnel from the slaughterfloor to boning room was reported by multiple people on separate occasions, highlighting a potential fall risk. Following the reports, site management let everyone know the area would be recoated with SureShield during the upcoming shutdown.

• Cartons were falling off stillage frames when being transported from the coldstore to trucks after the shrink wrap wasn’t extended up far enough. This was reported, and the coldstores now shrink wrap the frame at least three times, right to the top, to reduce the risk of cartons moving or falling.

• After the boning room floor was resurfaced, an employee noticed a drain cover was no longer set into the floor and reported it as a trip hazard. Engineers chipped out the surrounding area to recess the drain again, then reshaped the aluminium cover so it sits securely in place.