Stone & Wood Put Safety First

A safety culture that puts people first has reduced injuries and won Byron Bay craft brewery Stone & Wood the December icare aware award.

Stone & Wood’s story is a great example of a safety program led by a step-change in the company’s culture, according to Jason McLaughlin, icare’s General Manager, Prevention Product and Pricing.

“The culture at Stone & Wood encourages behaviours that ensure safety is the number one priority, ahead even of production. Since they introduced their strategy 18 months ago, they have seen a significant increase in reporting of near miss incidents, and an 80 per cent reduction in the injury frequency rate at their Byron Bay and Murwillumbah breweries,” said Mr McLaughlin.

Richard Crowe, Stone & Wood’s Head of Production, said their journey to a safer workplace started with employees sharing their personal safety stories, as well as the introduction of a simple mantra that has resonated across the organisation.

“For us, being safe is simply about looking after your mates, something everyone at Stone & Wood can relate to and be passionate about. With this in mind, we set in place our safety mantra ‘Think. Do. Share.’,” Mr Crowe said.

‘Think’ is about always stopping to think about safety before undertaking any given activity. ‘Do’ is executing tasks safely while looking after your peers. And, if something doesn’t appear to be safe, ‘Share’ it by speaking up, reporting the issue, and giving and receiving feedback.

Mr Crowe is most proud of how their approach to safety has empowered workers to stop production when something doesn’t look right.

“Since we introduced ‘Think. Do. Share.’ we have seen many process changes, physical plant improvements and behavioural shifts, anchored by the message ‘safety first, product quality second and productivity third’. We have seen how all our employees have gained the confidence to take personal accountability for safety, and to stop work if it feels unsafe,” he said.

“The significant reduction in incidents over the past eighteen months has been fantastic, but just as exciting is the enthusiasm and energy we see among our people to keep each other safe in their day-to-day roles. This is the real proof of a safety culture change.”

Other safety initiatives such as Stone & Wood’s Epic Safety Awards and safety training have helped employees feel they can make a difference in the workplace when it comes to keeping each other safe. Going forward, Stone & Wood will take their safety culture one step further by introducing wellbeing initiatives.