Western Australia’s mining industry needs a dramatic culture shift, employing more sophisticated leadership and empowerment-based psychological methods, if it is to keep pace with other states in achieving zero incidents on mine sites.
Western Australia’s mining industry needs a dramatic culture shift, employing more sophisticated leadership and empowerment-based psychological methods, if it is to keep pace with other states in achieving zero incidents on mine sites.
This is the message behavioural psychologist and mine safety expert Jonathon Lincoln has brought to WA, with the establishment of a Perth office for his fledgling resources specific safety company, Sentis.
The new Leederville office, headed by former Eagles sports psychologist and MBA Kellie Lewis, is expected to employ seven staff before the end of the year.
Current behaviour-based approaches to safety – rewarding behavioural change, punishing failure to change, garnished with clichéd support literature – were outdated and not in-line with best-practice safety models, Mr Lincoln told WA Business News.
They were also based on a flawed theory.
“The industry is in the midst of major cultural change in terms of how we think about safety and preventing incidents in the workplace,” Mr Lincoln said.
His comments follow the Australian Mine Safety Conference held in October at which it was acknowledged that, while WA safety statistics had showed a slight improvement on the previous year, overall statistics were reaching a plateau and any further improvement using current approaches was likely to be minimal.
Mr Lincoln said many WA resource companies were yet to embrace what companies in the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales had already implemented on their mine sites – working with people’s thoughts, motivations and attitudes towards themselves and safety to prevent incidents.
Sentis has developed the Zero Incident Process, which is currently being used by some BHP Billiton companies in WA, Queensland and Canada, and RioTinto, COMALCO, Anglo Coal and Ergon Energy in the eastern states.
“The key difference is that this system internally motivates individuals to be and act safely, not for the company or the boss, or for rewards, but for themselves, their lives and their families,” Mr Lincoln said.
Sentis starts by asking participants to list the five things they hold most dear. The answers generally include family, self, health and the good things of life.
“These are the five reasons for staying safe. It’s really quite simple and we have a number programs to help people modify their thinking and make it more effective in that regard. We aim to increase their ability to make good decisions and good judgements,” Mr Lincoln said.
“ZIP is good performance psychology, or leadership training, applied to safety. But it can also be applied to your golf game and relationships in general.
“The company still has to provide a safe environment, but the people can take care of themselves.”
Sentis has documented the case of a Queensland mine site, which reduced incidents from 12 the previous year, including six life-threatening injuries, to zero the year after implementing ZIP.
In the WA mineral industry in 2003-2004 there were: four fatal incidents, all on the surface at iron ore operations; 394 life threatening injuries, 16 more than the previous year; and 272 serious injuries, one more than the previous year.
Mr Lincoln founded Sentis in Brisbane just over two years ago, where it has 15 psychologists and four support staff. It also has an office in Edmonton, Canada.
