General Manager, Community, Employee Wellbeing & Safety | Australian Unity
With a deep connection to the impact of injury and illness, Grace has co-designed initiatives and solutions aimed at creating safer work experiences for large distributed work teams, sites and communities, as well as improving workplace health and safety for some great organisations.
Grace has led many health, safety and wellbeing initiatives that are aligned to embracing new opportunities for a valued experience that can leverage technology, data and engagement tools. These initiatives have required understanding people, behaviours and different perspectives of the employee. Each organisation and its business approach to navigate and influence change is different and needs deep understanding. By doing this Grace and her teams have established a real connection with the people of the organisation and genuine care for the reality of the work.
“The real connection is People, being human and all that comes with the care and support in the moments that are real. For every process, task, product or service, we have a person we value making that happen. We can take small or large steps to consider how safe is that for that person. I’ve felt the most valued in my role as a safety leader in the times when someone has said, ‘thank you for listening and taking action’ as simple or complex that may be at the time.”
Motivated to be part of the leadership of large-scale improvement strategies and programs, after seeing her own mother’s life impacted forever by a car accident while at work, Grace is proud to have participated in work aiming to reduce this impact for other families like hers in the development NSW Long Distance Driver Fatigue Legislation Project at WorkCover NSW, informed the delivery of the Suncorp Driver Safety Program, Mondelez Driver Safety Training for Australia and more recently, the SaferMe Strategy and Driver Safety Conversations at Australian Unity.
Grace studied Marketing and Public Relations before joining WorkCover NSW in 1999, to promote safety to industry and translate the requirements. 20 years on, and her insight is that the core principles still apply for any consumer campaign, including safety. Grace learned that initiatives must be creative and engaging, and when communicating safety messages, they need to be grounded in a personal perspective utilising a real life narrative and not “risk profiles”. Communication should be simple, her tip being to imagine how would you translate that to a teenager, would they comprehend, to know the why and then own the steps but also be able to respond in the moment.
Grace’s approach as a Safety Champion, is to create greater awareness and capability, behavioural change - especially in leaders managing and taking responsibility for their people. The real consideration that’s inclusive of the whole-of-person, mind, body and all that person brings with them to work that day, to feel safe and valued.