Toll Case Study

Creating an Incident and Injury-Free™ (IIF™) safety culture on a landmark natural gas project

Toll group’s commitment earned it an ‘A’ rating for
contractor health, environment and safety management

Sets the benchmark for safety best practice

Challenge

This major capital project was the largest single resource development in Australia’s history and marked a significant milestone in engineering. It posed enormous challenges not only due to its magnitude but also because it was situated on a remote island in a pristine ‘A’ class nature reserve. This gave it the highest level of state protection, adding another layer of complexity to an already challenging project. The Toll Group was awarded a USD 180M contract to manage logistical services on the project and faced the daunting task of ensuring safety excellence in this unique setting.

In the project’s initial two years, it became apparent that a severe misalignment existed within the workforce regarding safety practices. Toll’s recordable incident rate of 2.75 was significantly higher than the project’s target of 0.23. Performance assessments based on a contractor health, environment, and safety management (CHESM) rating system depicted an unfavorable trend, jeopardizing Toll’s continued involvement in the project.

Solution

To realize these objectives, JMJ helped Toll establish an Incident and Injury-Free (IIF) safety culture by:

  • Setting up an IIF leadership team made up of a cross section of Toll management, along with sponsorship from the project owners
  • Developing IIF safety skills for site leaders, supervisors, the ‘action team’, and the workforce to create a consistent and active safety culture
  • Conducting a workforce survey to gain an understanding of Toll’s existing culture and the progress it had made towards its IIF safety objective
  • Creating bespoke HSE/IIF development sessions to ensure Toll’s and JMJ’s efforts were aligned on systems and recordable data output

Client Goals

  • Ensure greater visible and active involvement of senior and middle management in creating an IIF safety culture
  • Distinguish between safety leadership and safety management and understand leaders needed to be found at all levels in the workforce
  • Create KPIs to track progress, as well as setting attainable safety standards
  • Form an ‘action team’ of dedicated individuals at the craft level to drive and support the IIF safety culture
  • Invest in an internal IIF coordinator to mentor action team members, drive safety-related initiatives, and enhance communication across all levels

Results

Toll was one of the first contractors on the project to be acknowledged as a leader in establishing the project’s IIF safety culture. Their best practice was shared amongst other contractors as an example of what was possible. With over four million worker hours, the rolling Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) went from 2.75 to 0.00. Toll achieved a CHESM ‘A’ grade rating and maintained it for over two years. This helped secure further contracts in the project operations and established them as a preferred supplier for future bids.