As part of the work I do, I am in the field a lot. I am a coal face safety advisor like a lot of you. This means I have regular face to face contact with those that are doing the work on our sites.

So here is something I want to throw out to you. We talk in high level terms about engagement and consultation but to me it is a lot simpler. Do we really connect with our people? Are you actually just getting out there and talking to them? No audit walk around, no checklist, no clip board. Just talking to them.

I worked with an old guy on the drilling rigs years ago. He had no qualifications in drilling or safety, and had not come up through the ranks, he had never worked on the drill floor at all. But what he did really well was relate to people, and everyone loved the guy. He could ask crews to do anything, and it was done. He was amazing. I asked him one day “what’s your secret?” and he gave me a great piece of advice. Remember the crews are just people like you: they have the same worries, the same fears, the same doubts and they make mistakes, just like you do.

I have always said to my team that our job is relationship management. When you are on site, invest time and get to know your team. Find out what they like, what hobbies they have, ask about their family and make a point, as my old mate suggested, to discover their passions and understand what drives them. I remember one guy who had been on rigs for years but had not moved up the ranks. I asked him why he had not put in for roles when they came up. His answer was, “If I go higher up that means I will need to work more overtime and that would take me away from my grandkids and I do not want that - I want them to have the Grandad I never had." It was so touching I shed a man tear (or maybe I had dust in my eyes).

So what’s behind my rambles today? A recommendation to LISTEN. Listening is how we connect at a human level.

When I go into a worksite, I never go to site in nice shiny clean Hi viz. I have some gear from when I was on the rigs which is grubby and stained. I dress to the standard they would see when they look around. I make an effort to fit in.

If it’s a new site to me I make an effort to have a walk around. During that walk around I try to identify the grumpiest most angry worker there and ask them about the workplace. Why? Because I will get the no holes barred truth. They tend to tell me in no uncertain terms what’s wrong with the place. And I listen to those people as they have two things: passion and a desire to see things improve, which is often why they are getting fired up ... no-one is listening. They want to help, they really do.

I had to do some training the other day to stay current with one of my unit standards. At the break I met a guy, maybe in his early 60’s, let’s call him George. He had been waiting for the break to talk to me - he knew my role, as I had introduced myself at the start of the day. He then launched into me, telling me what a useless bunch us safety people are.

So, I just let him go. My thought was "OK I am going to get some great information here" - and boy did I, albeit buried in between lots of swear words. Turns out he had been telling his safety person that they needed a traffic management plan in their yard. He detailed why they needed it and what it would do to improve safety. Wow you go George! Isn’t this what we all want from our people? He said that nothing was getting done despite him raising it three times. Now I do not know the back story here but what I do know is grumpy old George just wanted to help - so what do we need to do in these situations?…..Listen. As my Dad used to say, there is a reason you have two ears and one mouth, first seek to understand then to be understood.

Until next time.

Mā te wā

Karl Berendt
NZISM President