WorkSafe Victoria ‘bares the bones’ on workplace safety
WorkSafe Victoria today launched a series of films to promote for The Skeleton Project, a campaign that aims to raise awareness of preventable musculoskeletal injuries in the workplace.
The full-length videos feature three CEOs who ‘go undercover’ at their companies to better understand workplace safety issues, and are viewable on WorkSafe’s microsite. The campaign is supported by advertising on YouTube.
The campaign was devised by PR agency Keep Left. The agency’s MD, Caroline Siler, said: “We’ve used video to bring to life an issue that affects every business. The campaign is designed to arm other organisations with the tools to open up the lines of communication with their workers and bring about positive change in their workplaces.”
The Skeleton Project is a part of WorkSafe’s wider musculoskeletal injury campaign. This includes TV and online advertising and is a feature of WorkSafe’s state-wide roadshow.
Steve Gosbell, WorkSafe’s marketing director, noted: “The Skeleton Project’s key message is that change really does come from the top and for workplace safety to be a business priority this needs to be put into place from the CEO level down.”
The videos do not show that change comes from the top. It shows that two out of the three CEOs were out of touch with their workforce. The campaign does show that CEOs need to be involved in change but the workers made plenty of suggestions previously but were not heard.
This campaign shows the CEOs jumping over the management structure and the information filters to face the workplace reality.
WorkSafe’s advocacy of top-down change as seen in Gosbell’s comment should be strongly questioned.
As an aside it is is worth noting that WorkSafe Awards do not include a category for outstanding OHS contributions by CEOs but there is one for employees and health and safety reps.
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