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Incident reporting up!

The WSH team treated our business like it was their own. They tackled the issue with grit, knowledge, and empathy. I HIGHLY recommend them to anyone.

Dawn Doe

Great advice!

‘’Hume Doors & Timber decided to align with Work Safety Hub, as the best company, having the best management practices in the field of safety, and one of the few that made sense’’

Paul Harding

Incredible Support!

"They’re a great organisation to work with. I can go outside and see the change from things that I thought probably wouldn’t change"

Alan Dixon

We are not stopping!!

‘Our journey is continuing and we do not want to stop. We want to step forward and go beyond the basic minimum requirements. Our ultimate target is to go for world class safety.’

 

Paul Harding

Hume Doors is Australia’s largest, 100% locally-owned timber door manufacturer. For sixty years, they have led the way in design, technology and materials.

But it became clear to Hume’s leadership that the safety standards developed for their plants did not align with their vision for a safe and healthy workplace. The decision was made to develop an industry-leading safety system. Working with Work Safety Hub, Hume Doors has transformed itself from a successful business to a world-class leader by establishing a learning culture.

The challenges of large scale manufacturing

The Hume Doors & Timber plant in Dandenong, south of Melbourne, produces thousands of doors from a vast range of specialty products and has 200 employees. Workers are potentially exposed to dangerous fire, explosions, and musculoskeletal and machinery-related risks, as the production of doors requires the use of high-speed, computer-controlled routers, that also produce large volumes of dust. Additionally, Communication and training can be challenging due to the large number of languages spoken by plant employees.

Hume management wanted to exceed the top Australian safety standards. To transform its safety practices, Hume decided to work with Work Safety Hub.

 

Bringing a systematic appreciative approach to safety

The first Work Safety Hub review took place at the Dandenong plant.

The Work Safety Hub consultants came to the site and interacted with the workers – all of the workers, from the most unskilled junior worker to the management. They started from the shop floor and worked their way upward, to the plant supervisors and the owner of the company. The Work Safety Hub solution addressed two major areas: process safety procedural review and declutter and the adoption of a Human Centred Design approach. But one of the first priorities was to facilitate learning teams to explore every day work to identify and observe the challenges and problems faced by workers. Safety emerges from organisational capacities to anticipate, respond, proactively learn and monitor. We set about enabling these capacities.

‘Work Safety Hub were terrific, great quality service.'

'‘We were very lucky because there was real commitment from the management. They are what you would call trailblazers,' said Jason Miller, project manager for the Work Safety Hub team in Victoria. Hume’s top and middle management received training from Work Safety Hub safety specialists. To pass this crucial knowledge onto floor workers, Hume employed several strategies developed by Work Safety Hub. Managers and supervisors were fantastic, contributing through the learning teams. We loved the approach Work Safety Hub took, very positive, harnessing people as the solution rather than the problem to control".

'They interact very well with our people.'

Hume is decreasing injury rates significantly.

Hume Doors and Work Safety Hub working together

Along with the positive changes in the new safety capacity measures, Hume Doors and Timber has posted impressive business growth data. Company profits increased and management has acknowledged amazing engagement on the plant floor.

Hume Doors & Timber is also a certified member of the Forest Stewardship Council as well as a member of the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes. By now aligning the new safety management approach with recognisable standards, Hume Doors is demonstrating its commitment to human rights principles supporting a Human Centred Design approach.

Insurance for the future

Hume’s experience with Work Safety Hub has proven so positive that the company is implementing its new safety practices for its other Australian operations. Hume also signed an additional 12 month contract with Work Safety Hub. Work Safety Hub practices will play a major role in the businesses growth as Hume’s plants become some of the largest plants of their kind in Australia.

'They’re a great organisation to work with.'
'I can go outside and see the change from things that I thought probably wouldn’t change.'

Hume Doors & Timber employs 1,500 people Australia wide and have the capacity to produce approximately 250,000 doors a month.


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