Safety in the Hunter region has been brought to the fore once again with the 2023 Hunter Safety Awards announcing the winners of their 13 award categories on March 17. It was fantastic to see so many businesses and individuals from our industry being recognised.

Morgan Engineering came away as a winner on the night, winning Most Innovative WHS Idea for SMEs for their King Pin Ball tool which is a state-of-the-art piece of equipment used to prevent hazards and hand crush injuries for diesel fitters. The tool was developed following a request from BHP.

“We’re immensely proud to accept this award, it is a credit to our team, and on behalf of our employees, we say thanks,” Jeremy Brett, General Manager of Morgan Engineering said. “To take the request from BHP to resolve WHS hazards and provide a solution for them ensuring their safety is something we are very proud of.”

Tony Jones from Liddell Coal was awarded to WHS Champion of the Year award for his work as a Site Safety Health Representative. Tony is the link between the concept and implementation processes of safety, health and wellbeing projects. The judges were impressed with Tony’s dedication to keeping his fellow workers safe and his advocacy for improving WHS processes, even when the conversation is difficult.

“This is an individual award but it’s nothing without the team behind you,” Tony said. “I have been extremely lucky that my managers have allowed me the autonomy to put my own projects in place and do things that are good for the workforce.”

Ampcontrol walked away from the night with the Best WHS Improvement for Large Organisations award. They received this award for their Live Work Better program, challenging attitudes and behaviours towards the balance between work and life. The program was developed alongside Ernst & Young Organisational Psychologists to achieve a shift towards a culture of shared responsibility, ownership, and positive health, safety, environment, and quality outcomes.

“Our 1000 employees are a testament to this award, they embraced the program and they make it what it is,” Simon Coleman, General Manager of HSEQ at Ampcontrol said. “It has been a three-year journey and we couldn’t do it alone, thank you to Ernst & Young for their part in this.”

Hosting over 350 attendees, Hunter Safety Awards Founder, Sarah-Jane Dunford said it was a pleasure to have so many likeminded individuals and businesses together for a night dedicated to keeping so many industries in the Hunter safe.

“We’re so glad to be able to hold this event once again to recognise the amazing work that is happening in the work, health and safety space,” Sarah-Jane said.

“There are so many safety-conscious individuals and businesses in the Hunter Region that deserved to be recognised and we’re grateful the event can provide that recognition for them.”