

Safety Management
Sillcock Corporate Group


NEED FOR SAFETY AUDITS
Safety Management is a division of the Sillcock Corporate Group Pty Ltd, a diverse investment company that owns a real estate agency, a business broker, an educational consultancy, a retail consultancy, and formerly owned an adventure tourism company.
It has an ongoing contract with a strata property compliance auditing company that specialises in WHS and fire safety audits on resorts and strata properties throughout Queensland.
A natural progression for the company was to diversify from the risk management structures that applied to the adventure industry and current WHS and Fire Safety auditing into audits for office environments, retail space, tourism, and educational centres (schools, childcare, adult colleges and universities).
As external auditors, Safety Management casts fresh eyes over an organisation’s work environment, with experience gained from multiple sites and industries. They will provide feedback on issues that may need to be addressed or monitored.
Safety Management is not a regulator and does not report any issues to regulators. They will highlight any issues that require immediate attention and those that may need to be recorded on a continuous improvement plan.
Whilst Safety Management applies the usual ‘cause-and-effect’ risk management assessment to identified hazards, it also views hazards from a legal liability perspective.
An incident resulting in damage to people or property might not always be blamed on the organisation. Courts will determine the extent that a plaintiff should be held responsible for the damage but will also assess the measures that an organisation applies to prevent an incident. Managers and business owners often lack the knowledge and legal experience to assess the level of risk reduction that may be necessary to manage a hazard. Safety Management will provide recommendations to assist the organisation to maintain a balanced approach to hazard control.
First Hand Experiences
Walmart Toronto
Standing near the bottom of the downward escalator, I noticed a vision-impaired shopper lose their balance while halfway down. She fell, knocking over several other people. Another shopper and I rushed to the escalator to hit the emergency stop button; however, by the time we found it, the group of people had reached the bottom and were piling on top of each other, with other escalator riders descending upon them.
Issue: The emergency stop button was hidden low beneath the escalator housing. Visible, on top of the housing, were a red light and various signs, but nothing that stopped the escalator. I noticed on my next visit, six months later, that Walmart had sensibly relocated the emergency stop button to a visible location on top of the housing.
Resort Palms
Picture a wonderful resort on the beach in Queensland with over 60 palms, all laden with coconuts, fronds (leaves), and seed pods.
Issue: The resort patrons are mainly from locations that don't have palms, so are not aware of, or in the habit of, looking up or avoiding dropping coconuts. The Body Corporate Committee is divided on whether the culling of nuts and fronds is necessary. We were able to advise the Committee of the risk level from a cause-and-effect risk perspective, a legal analysis, and a moral judgement.