Serious Fun! Former Student Nurse Motivates Staff To Prioritise Health And Safety

A former student nurse on a mission to prevent workplace injuries says making health and safety fun at her workplace SealesWinslow has seen a massive uptake in staff engagement and awareness as World Health and Safety Day approaches on 28 April.

Leigh Hallberg was a student nurse on placement in Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital treating a patient with a workplace injury when she decided to change careers. Frustrated and saddened by what she saw Leigh made the decision to retrain in health and safety so she could prevent workplace injuries.

Since 2022 Leigh has been helping SealesWinslow create a culture where health and safety isn’t perceived as a chore, and everyone takes responsibility for it. And it’s delivering great results.

“When I was training to become a nurse, I saw preventable workplace injuries come into the hospital where I worked. I thought I’d rather be out doing something to prevent these injuries than treating them. So, I did something about it,” she says.

After retraining, Leigh took her first role at meat processor AFFCO, before joining SealesWinslow. Since then, she has done a thorough review of the company’s safety protocols and introduced some new measures. But the real win has been her interactive safety sessions run at  SealesWinslow’s manufacturing sites in Ashburton, Whanganui and Morrinsville.

Alongside monthly safety discussions at each site with all staff, they do team activities together including safety Pictionary, safety bingo, races to put on all safety equipment needed for different tasks, and even treasure hunts to locate emergency equipment.

“It’s so easy to make health and safety a tick box exercise that one person is responsible for. But if businesses are serious about the health and safety of their people, we need to present it in such a way that all employees are motivated to engage with it,” says Leigh.

“Introducing the team activities has made it more enjoyable and helped us get more buy-in from staff. While health and safety is something that needs to be taken seriously, it doesn’t mean we can’t have a laugh while we’re doing it,” says Leigh.

SealesWinslow has also committed to celebrating safety milestones to recognise the team’s efforts and demonstrate the significance of them to the business.

“Everyone loves a bit of cake at morning tea, and it’s another opportunity to bring our teams together to celebrate and get to know each other even better,” says Leigh.

SealesWinslow has safety champions appointed at each site. They have strong support from their site managers and regional operations managers whose mission is to create a culture of safety where every employee feels empowered to prioritise safety.

Leigh says the health and safety wins SealesWinslow’s has had to date are testament to the collaborative approach embraced by everyone within the organisation.

“Health and Safety isn’t something we focus on just for one day of the year,” she says. “It is about creating a culture of safety where everyone makes it a priority, so we all get home safely to our families every day.”