Written by By Cathy McDonald, Vitality Works and SafetyWorks

Vitality Works and SafetyWorks are now bringing together workplace health, safety and wellbeing to help workplaces thrive. Organisations no longer need to journey along that continuum with multiple providers. 

Workplace health, safety and wellbeing is always more than the sum of its parts—there’s a continuum that takes in everything from compliance and risk identification, to employee value proposition, to leadership and safety culture consultancy, to on-the-ground programs.

It all combines to support thriving organisations—but until now organisations have had to journey along that continuum with multiple providers.

The recent acquisition by Vitality Works of strategic risk, safety and leadership consultancy SafetyWorks means the two industry leaders now form a unique and seamless ‘one-stop shop’ for clients—now poised to amplify what’s possible in workplace health, safety and wellbeing, addressing compliance, risk and leadership while amplifying their Employee Value Proposition.

The One-Stop Shop for Organisations

Vitality Works has always offered an end-to-end approach to wellbeing in the workplace—but focused on the program and service delivery end of the spectrum. From health screening and vaccinations to injury prevention and health promotion, Vitality Works has been trusted by over 1500 clients—with some leveraging that trust by asking for strategic health and safety consulting.

“We heard clients asking for that strategic safety consulting piece—so we looked around for the best way to meet their needs completely”, says Cathy McDonald, Executive General Manager at Vitality Works.

“We saw a quality of work at SafetyWorks in the sensitive areas of risk management, assurance and leadership capability—they took in the whole person view, and adapted to each organisational context—using a biopsychosocial frame”.

This led to Vitality Works acquiring SafetyWorks, keeping the two brands under one roof as a single point of contact for companies to address the full spectrum of their safety, health and wellbeing needs.

“We can now work seamlessly to help clients” says Cathy, “as our services now encompass risk, assurance, system development, safety culture, leadership, coaching, clinical services and customised programs delivered onsite, offsite, and digitally across industries”.

How SafetyWorks Works

Just as Vitality Works originated its Assess, Prevent, Thrive framework to deliver programs, SafetyWorks originated its own consulting model to take risk assessment and management beyond compliance and into commitment to the deep organisational changes required for ongoing health, safety and wellbeing—including psychological wellbeing.

SafetyWorks offers services in three areas—Systems, Risk and Assurance, Biopsychosocial Safety and Wellbeing, and Leadership and Culture.

As the new Head of SafetyWorks, Principal Consultant (and non-Executive Director of the Australian Institute of Health and Safety) René van der Merwe explains the SafetyWorks consulting approach as a holistic deep dive into the causes and possibilities—one characterised by understanding, co-creating, and partnering with organisations.

“We might start with a client’s particular problem, or perhaps an audit approach—but we’ll always help them see beyond the obvious”, she says.

“That takes into account the organisational, physical, psychological, social and cultural factors in managing risk across safety and wellbeing”, René says.

Sally Dorahy- Senior Human Resources Advisor at Dungog Shire Council, in NSW—experienced this first-hand.

“Our brief was around safety culture—then we had such amazing interactions with SafetyWorks staff, and so much demand on focus groups that we had to schedule more sessions”, says Sally.

“The value’s shown in how differently our leaders speak about safety—it’s changed how we consult with staff, and it’s a really positive impact”.

Building Capability Where it Matters

Extending into safety leadership performance and coaching, SafetyWorks co-create strategic solutions while building the capability of organisational leaders.

“We might integrate with existing leadership programs, or we might co-create a tailored process of workshops and coaching—it’s all about where an organisation and its workplace culture sit on a safety maturity journey”, says René.

For Jennifer Spain, General Manager Human Resources, at Rheem, the focus on capability paid off.

“We needed an objective assessment of our progress on the safety journey”, says Jennifer, “so a Safety Maturity Assessment brought immense learnings, and we now take a more holistic approach”.

“SafetyWorks gave us access to some of the country’s safety thought leaders, plus one-on-one coaching—they really help us progress on our safety journey, with meaningful, pragmatic results”, she says.

Co-Creating Bespoke Solutions

For SafetyWorks, the final stages of work are where program solutions come into their own.

“By then we’ve worked through the signs, symbols and culture within organisations, gotten to the root causes, and found the leverage points for lasting change”, says René. “So we know the solutions we co-create address safety management system issues and are never just a band-aid or a box-tick—we know they’ll make a difference”.

In this process SafetyWorks consultants look at options, controls and monitoring—and where it makes sense will bring in Vitality Works or other specialist providers for program design and delivery.

A Complete Toolbox

For our clients, the acquisition of SafetyWorks gives Vitality Works a stronger toolbox to serve their full spectrum of needs. With SafetyWorks tackling deep organisational risk—and working on culture and capability— our clients get deeper foundations upon which customised programs can tip the scales toward whole person health, safety and wellbeing at work.

“ Our clients can now get the full spectrum”, says Cathy McDonald. “There’s a sense of discovering new possibilities—for stronger risk assessment and management, and enhanced employee value propositions—that will pioneer what’s next in workplace health, safety and wellbeing”.

 To learn more about Vitality Works please visit https://vitalityworks.health/

Amy Miszalski, Senior Leadership Consultant & Coach from SafetyWorks, a division of Vitality Works will present; Psychobabble! - psychological safety, psychosocial risks – what are we talking about? at the Workplace Health & Safety Show Sydney. The event will take place on 23-24 October at Sydney Showground. Register FREE to attend here.