Connecting safety and culture - getting started: Carlton & United Breweries (CUB), Yatala

CUB Yatala analysed each machine task and developed step-by-step guides. Each step is explained in simple language and supported by pictures of correct operations. These guides are located next to each machine and are readily accessible by operators. Leaders carry out planned audits with operators and step through the instructions, ensuring operator competency and awareness of safety considerations. This process increases employees' safety motivation, improves the leader-worker relationship, and generates informal safety learning.

Following a number of serious safety incidents on one of its manufacturing lines, CUB Yatala halted production and called together employees from across the affected packaging line to identify the cause of the issue. The team looked beyond human error and the individual worker and identified that rushed work due to perceived production pressure was a contributing factor. The 'Take The Time', or 'T3' safety culture initiative was formed, with a site-wide competition to design the campaign logo, which was decided by the workers injured in the initial incidents. The initiative has become part of the site culture and the core message is lived each day by employees.

Visible commitment to safety among leaders is a hallmark of a positive safety culture. Adopting this approach, the senior managers from all departments of the site (including corporate functions such as finance) visit one work area each month. There they have a conversation with a shop floor employee about safety and how it affects their job. Managers use their observations and discussions from these visits to improve how safety and production are managed in their own work areas or across the site as a whole.

CUB Yatala management show their safety commitment by taking part in weekly line tours. During these visits, in a fifteen minute timeframe, managers from different lines inspect a designated line for work health and safety improvements and achievements using a prompt card. Any actions or improvements that are noted are discussed in a group forum after the tour, and healthy competition drives corrective and preventative actions, as managers' own lines are subject to similar scrutiny from fellow managers in a rotational cycle.

As part of safety KPIs for all employees, all site employees must complete a set amount of safety observations each year with particular emphasis on the high risk activities that can cause serious harm (the Lifesavers program). This initiative reinforces CUB Yatala's safety culture and fosters safety leadership at all levels by creating opportunities for employee recognition and feedback, as well as the requirement for the observer to act rather than simply observe and report. (Observations are not accepted if there is no corrected action or follow-up).

At CUB Yatala leading indicators such as safety behaviours, audits, and observations are the main focus of employees' attention, with regular updates and daily discussion during pre-start meetings. Employee engagement in safety is achieved through a transparent leadership style — employees at all levels have immediate and easily-understood access to how the business is performing on safety, quality, and productivity.