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the hypothetical and demonstrating its
importance in a tangible, memorable way.
“Given the challenge of communicating,
implementing and overseeing safety policies
and procedures to a network of 60 offices,
taking advantage of the staff all being in one
place and putting on a mock trial was an
effective way to get the safety message across
to the entire network.”
SAFETY FIRST
A CASE STUDY IN
COMPLIANCE
Health and safety compliance is another area
that can have huge ramifications on your
business reputation. One business that doesn’t
take this lightly is Gemcell member CNW
Electrical Wholesale, an Australian-owned
independent electrical wholesaler.
In 2018, Damian Purcell, Risk and Compliance
Manager for CNW’s parent company BGW,
coordinated a ‘Mock Court Presentation’ at the
company’s yearly staff conference to drive home
the importance, and gravity, of adhering to safety
procedures and policies.
He shares the details of this mock trial
below, and why it’s so important for every
business owner to have a safety mindset to
protect not only their reputation but also the
safety of their staff, clients and finances.
THE BACKGROUND
“CNW has 60 stores around Australia, so the
OHS challenge for us is ensuring all safety
26 GEMCELL.COM.AU AUG – SEPT 2019
procedures are effectively implemented in all
60 locations and practised daily,” says Purcell.
“At CNW, an internal audit is conducted
annually to ensure all existing and new safety
practices are implemented and followed. The
program not only measures safety compliance
against safety procedures but compliance with
quality procedures and business
environmental requirements – the audit
results are key indicators of overall company
safety performance.”
THE PURPOSE
“The idea of a ‘Mock Court Presentation’ was
to give participants an insight into what can
happen when the worst does go wrong by
demonstrating the importance of
having strong policies and
procedures in place if you end up
in court,” says Purcell. “The
objective was to engage people in
the CNW internal audit
program and the safety
policy criteria we have
put in place, by taking
OHS out of the realm of
THE TRIAL
“The mock trial set the fictional scene of a
court case where a person had been seriously
injured on a CNW site – we chose to roleplay a
forklift incident as the basis of the trial, as this
kind of incident is something that could
happen in almost any location,” says Purcell.
“The room was set-up in the same way as a
court trial would be, complete with a defence
lawyer and a prosecution lawyer that we flew
in for the occasion. Each line of management
at the conference had to take the stand for 20
minutes of cross-examination – while these
cross-examinations were conducted in a fun
manner, the format still conveyed the serious
safety messages that we needed to get across.”
THE VERDICT
“In the end, you are never going to eliminate
risk, but you can minimise it by raising
awareness and engagement with the issues,”
sys Purcell. “In 2017, the company’s internal
compliance audit score was 86%, and after our
mock trial, that score lifted to 96%.
“From a safety system perspective, the mock
trial challenged us to look to ensure all
foreseeable issues are adequately addressed
and reinforced the need to ensure compliance
to all company safety procedures.”
WHY DO IT?
“Our priority is always to ensure that our
people come to work in the safest
environments and to perform their duties in
the safest manner,” says Purcell. “Accidents
can happen, but we work to the belief that
following safe work procedures is the best way
to prevent serious incidents.
“Poor safety records cannot only hurt
companies financially but can destroy
a company’s reputation – and it’s not
just for larger organisations like
CNW. Nowadays, most contractors
have to provide not only their safety
credentials, but the
safety credentials of
their supply chain, so it’s
vital to have strong
safety policies in place.”