NOJA Power manufactures medium and high voltage equipment for power utilities and employs around 150 staff at its Murarrie plant.
NOJA's workplace health and wellness initiative 'Safety is important – health is your life' includes strategies that target occupational, social, physical, intellectual and emotional wellness with the goal to see safe, happy, healthy and more productive employees. The initiative targets the risk factors for chronic disease and musculoskeletal disorders, adding new initiatives to their program in 2017 that positively impact on worker health and wellbeing, including work design improvements such as ergonomic workstations. NOJA's program is good for their business, achieving reductions in injuries, absenteeism and staff turnover.
NOJA Power was the first private organisation in Queensland to be awarded gold recognition in the 'Healthier. Happier. Workplaces.' scheme.
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On screen text
Neil O'Sullivan, NOJA Power - Safe Work and Return to Work Awards 2017
NOJA Power manufactures high voltage switchgear, and we export that high voltage switchgear to 86 countries around the world. NOJA Power has approximately 200 employees on this site, and we have another 50 employees around the world, so 250 in total. Here at NOJA Power, we consider our staff one of our most important assets, and so we invest heavily in our staff from a health and safety perspective, but also from an education perspective. We really focus on making sure that we create the best possible environment for our staff to operate in and to thrive in.
I think, safety's important; health is your life, is a motto that we've developed over time. Since 2010 we've had an ever-increasing health and safety program. That program initially started with some health checks. We initially arranged for a doctor to come to site and provide health checks for our staff and also to do flu immunization each year. The program has now developed today into a very extensive program and is a very important part of our business. It includes things like monthly meetings, where we have a health and safety meeting. We have representatives from every department within the business that come along to those meetings, and they provide contributions and ideas on how we can expand our program.
I think driving the health program has improved our safety. If you get people thinking about their health; they automatically think safe. Some of the benefits of the health program are financial benefits as well. When we look at our staff absenteeism, for example, we've got 50% less absenteeism now than we did in 2012. That absenteeism savings is actually paying for the program. Whilst we're spending six figures on our health program today, it's actually paying for itself. The absenteeism is one thing, another one is our staff turnover. We now have 66% less staff turnover than we did in 2012. Not only is the program working to improve the health of our people, improve the environment in which they're operating in, but it's actually creating financial benefit for the business.
The future for the program here is really, it will drive itself. It's a matter of the company continuing to agree to fund the program but it's now got momentum and it's going to continue to drive itself. Not only will it drive the health of the employees, I think it will continue to drive the success of our company.RUN TIME: 2min 41sec