A Safe Company is a Successful Company

A safe company is a successful company - that's the philosophy that underpins Ergon Energy's safety commitment - and in this area the organisation is producing outstanding results.

In June 2004, Ergon Energy achieved one of its early milestones - a 5-star rating from the National Safety Council of Australia for the whole of Ergon Energy. Subsequently, in September 2005, Ergon Energy received accreditation for its Safety Management System by the Electrical Safety Office which is a requirement under the Electrical Safety Act (2002). It maintained this ESO accreditation in 2006, and continued to work on achieving the next level of accreditation - AS/NZS 4801 for Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems.

At 30 June 2004, the Lost-time Injury Frequency Rate - the number of hours lost per million hours worked by Ergon Energy people - was 3.69. At 30 June 2006, it was down to 0.44.

The All-Injury Frequency Rate also was reduced from 23.31 as at 30 June 2004 to 1.17 as at 30 June 2006 - a dramatic reduction of 95%. Ergon Energy now measures its safety performance against the All-Injury Frequency Rate and is looking to integrate more lead indicators to measure safety performance in 2006/07.

Safety is an important part of the way we operate every day, right across the organisation. This commitment is outlined in our Workplace Health and Safety Policy which is supported throughout the organisation.

Employees Committed to Safety

The progress made in embedding a sustainable safety culture within Ergon Energy was reinforced by the results of our annual Have Your Say employee opinion survey, in which 84% of our people said they put personal safety before any task, 82% stated they understand and support the organisational safety measures we had in place and 87% of employees supported and understand our drive towards Zero Injuries. Personal Safety achieved the highest ranking overall within Ergon Energy, while Organisational Safety came in at No.2 and Zero Injuries at No.3.

Zero Injuries is our Goal

A work environment free of injury and illness is a long-term target for Ergon Energy, and through our HSE (Health, Safety, Environment) Group we are integrating into the business a world-class Health & Safety Management System (HSMS) underpinned by a Behavioural Safety Program. This program includes the Zero Incident Process (ZIP) which helps employees to manage all aspects of their health, safety and general wellbeing. Our driver education program also targets the key behaviours which promote safe driving, and is the result of a partnership with the Centre for Accident Research & Road Safety.

Safety Reward and Recognition

Ergon Energy's innovative HSE (Health, Safety, Environment) reward and recognition program, Power Aid, focuses on rewarding safe working behaviours and encouraging our people to be proactive about safety. It is a winner for everyone - including the communities in which Ergon Energy people live and work - with almost half a million Power Aid points being gained by employees since the launch of the program in March 2004. With each of those points being turned into charity dollars, a range of Queensland charities have gained almost half a million dollars thanks to the efforts of Ergon Energy's people to demonstrate proactive, positive and innovational HSE behaviours.

Proactive Health, Fitness and Wellbeing Programs

In Ergon Energy, we help our people to take personal responsibility for their health and safety with proactive programs being rolled out by the HSE Group. Programs including Skin Cancer Screening, Move for Life and Alpha One (health and fitness) are provided by the HSE Group, which also oversees the Employee Assistance Program that delivers tailored support to employees through our external provider, Assure.

Safety Systems Improvements

Ergon Energy has its own Safety Systems Improvement team - a team of expert investigators, analysts and auditors who investigate every significant incident within Ergon Energy. The team works with the business to identify the root causes of incidents and assist it to develop action planning that will help to prevent a recurrence of any significant incident.