Safety Case Study: How the Davey Team Reduced Injuries by 20%

The frontline teams at pump manufacturer Davey are engaged and participating in lean activities on a daily basis. This has driven them to the lowest injury rate in their 80-year history and workcover premiums are the lowest they've ever been.

Client

Davey Water Products is a Melbourne-headquartered manufacturer of high-quality pumps for customers throughout the world.

Challenge

Davey trialled a 'Safety Champions' program, which gave staff authority and responsibility for safety over a full day. On a daily rotating roster, staff were tasked to:

• Complete a safety observation and have a conversation about safety
• Find a safety concern and raise an action to have it rectified
• Reward a staff member for good safety practices
• De-brief with leaders the next working day

The trial was successful with 110 opportunities for improvement identified and implemented. Davey decided to embed the safety champion concept into each team, however it was taking up to 2 hours of administration each week with one safety champion, let alone one per team.

Solution

The Safety Champions program was integrated into daily management by utilising TeamAssurance on the shop floor and at Daily Operations meetings:

1. Instead of capturing information on paper, the frontline used tablets on the shop floor to capture information directly
2. Photos were added to clearly illustrate the safety concerns
3. Actions were linked to the Safety incidents, so that the frontline could track progress and completion
4. Maintenance were able to immediately identify urgent safety concerns and prioritise
5. Good safety practices were logged and shared via touchscreens with all teams
6. Safety objectives were made visible to the entire organisation

Results

• Improved culture of sharing and discussing safety concerns
• Increased awareness – staff are more vigilant and more willing to discuss safety concerns
• Every staff member has visibility of all safety concerns
• Team leaders have reduced administration tasks
• A continuous improvement approach to safety across the site has been achieved
• Closeout of actions happens at a much faster rate

Scorecard

• Lowest injury rate on record
• 20% lower injuries than previous best
• Workcover premiums are the lowest they've ever been: 0.58% of wages, which is 43% better than the industry average
• 180 Safety Activities raised over 10 months, including:
  • 37 Safety Incidents recorded
  • 33 Safety Actions completed
  • 20 Safety Behaviour Observations
  • 25 Safety Improvements implemented
  • 54 Safety Maintenance Requests completed
  • 10 Safety One Point Lessons shared
  • 7 Safety Goals deployed