NTI Traction, a new program to drive good safety culture has already paid dividends for Fennell Forestry, with the South Australian business opening a constructive dialogue throughout the company.
Following 12 years of development in collaboration with government, industry heads, and international best practice professionals, NTI Traction is designed to problem solve issues involving safety culture within the workplace, and provide all staff members with the tools required to become safety leaders.
The program starts with an anonymous employee survey that has been specifically tailored to your business.
Focusing on safety culture, risk management, operational systems and processes, the survey pulls together a 360-degree view of the company’s safety.
From this, the business is assigned a ‘Traction Gear’, on a low to high risk scale of High Performing, Engaged, Compliant and Reactive.
The relative Gear score gives the business an overview of where they sit against their industry’s average, with a thorough report provided, back up tools, training, and ongoing practical help and support.
While equipment and system changes can have an effect on risk safety management, NTI Traction aims to make positive people and behavioural improvements, with tailored modules focused on topics such as communication, planning, and leadership skills.
Fennell Forestry is a major plantation timber harvest and transport company located in Mount Gambier, which has grown to a staff of 70 over the past 25 years.
“It was brought to me by NTI, and I was quite interested in anything that looked at things differently, that can rate the business and see how it’s going,” said managing director Wendy Fennell.
“As we were actually going through the program, it was of great benefit, it was driving conversation in a different way.
“Fundamentally we have had conversations around the same thing previously, but having them in different ways, it was generating different responses.
“I would highly recommend it, based on the fact that it is unique in the way that it drags out differing conversations on a quite a common part of your business that is constantly talked about.”
The NTI Traction program features several different options, from Swift to Plus, encompassing a broad range of support, feedback, training, and continual assessment.