Burdett Group – Take 5 booklet
TARA KINSMAN, Compliance Manager for Burdett Sands provides a report on the new Take 5 booklet.
It has been over a year in design and trialling with employees but the new Burdett Group Take 5 booklet is now operational across all our sites.
The idea actually arose from Andrew Dunn, Operations Manager, who first mentioned the idea of introducing the Take 5 concept into Burdetts.
Previous experience of risk assessment of both Andy and myself was that shop floor employees found risk assessment tools such as SWMS and Job Risk Analysis to be difficult to manage (often an overwhelming task if asked to write them) and if faced with one of these documents, employees would just sign onto them without any review. The concept of stopping and thinking about the task you are about to do and what can go wrong was completely missed. Injuries were still occurring and investigations were often finding that the risk had not been considered.
Burdetts had a suite of SWMS for many tasks however we identified that they had never been reviewed and signed off by employees who were actually required to complete the task. Plus, they were so lengthy that any relevant risks and controls that needed to be put into action to minimise risk would have been entirely lost.
Andy wanted a risk assessment tool that was practical and might actually assist with the prevention of injuries. He wanted employees to stop and Take 5 before they started work.
The idea of a pocket sized book was so that employees would be encouraged to pull this out of their pocket in the field to consider the risks and escalate any risk that they could not manage to their direct Supervisor for further discussion.
Andy and I worked on a prototype Take 5 tool that had some generic prompts so the employees could consider what they were doing. As a bit of fun, we produced a catchy front cover which Andrew Burdett kindly agreed to.
In May 2022, we ran a series of workshops with the Managers and Supervisors to introduce the Take 5 tool and obtain their feedback before implementation. As a result of this consultation, a change was made to the risk assessment matrix to ensure that the tool could be practically used by all. As part of these workshops, we took the opportunity to take a step back and incorporate a session run by David McKelvie from Safe Mix, on Supervisor Work Health and Safety obligations (i.e. Why we need a risk assessment system such as Take 5).
This received much positive feedback and we believe this has contributed to a positive implementation of the Take 5 tool.
In addition, we were careful to ensure the message of Take 5 came from the direct Managers and Supervisors, rather than a dedicated safety person. Employees need to see that their Manager/Supervisor is leading the implementation and support the use of the Tool, in order to encourage them to use it. The feedback that we have had from Supervisors is positive. Employees participated well in the training provided to them by their Supervisor and are progressively improving their use of the Tool.
Some employees use it more than others and it is a constant challenge to maintain the use of the Tool so regular discussion and encouragement is required. Some Supervisors are actively reviewing the Take 5s and providing feedback to employees as well as having discussions about hazards that have been reported as part of the process.
We have also implemented the use of Take 5 within our Transport team and this has driven a step change in safety culture as some drivers have been actively reporting hazards that were not reported in the past. It is early days yet so it is difficult to say if the use of the tool is contributing to a safer workplace however we believe that over time, people’s awareness of risk will improve as they stop and Take 5.
We are constantly reinforcing the use of the Take 5 tool through daily pre start meetings, Toolbox Talks and Safety Alerts, and we envisage that the tool will change as we progress to keep the message fresh in everyone’s mind and not become a tick and flick exercise.
The Take 5 booklet has been implemented at sites for some time now and we have had some valuable feedback at how well it has been accepted.
WorkSafe were certainly glad to hear we had this process implemented when we had to report an incident recently.
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