Introducing Tama's new Safety and Compliance officer, Brett Appleton

"I started at Tama in Sep 2020 commencing my Bronzie medallion. A month into the course, whilst doing Flags, I fell on my shoulder and managed to do a complete tear of my supraspinatus tendon. A year of surgery and physio and amazing support from Tama, my shoulder fully recovered and I was able to swim again and re-enroll for the Oct 2021 Bronzie course. This time graduating intact and commencing patrol before Xmas 21. I am on the awesome P3, Saturday mornings except when I am working in Logistics - 2 out of 4 weekends a month, in case I am reaching out for a swap. Maybe Karma landed me into the Safety and Compliance role."

About Surf Life Saving Sydney's (SLSS) new initiative and role for implementing a plan to strengthen a Safety-First culture for members and clubs.

I am sure everyone has heard of the OH&S acronym across the day to day work environment.

SLSS has identified most of the OH&S focus has been on compliance, with minimal engagement and tracking outside of clubs. SLSS wants to do better and understand the health, safety and wellbeing of all members.

A new APP, Safety365 is being set up for all clubs to provide a digital suite of health and safety templates and tools to capture, measure and understand health and safety practices and culture. These processes are to be simple, effective and not burdensome on clubs and members.

A couple of examples:

• The current checklist for launching the IRB is paper based. This would move to swiping a QR code down the track. With any safety or compliance issues reported and actioned.
• If you were injured in the Gearshed or our New clubhouse, a report would be lodged via Safe365. For those tik tok producers, you can upload a video or pics with full details. I am thinking we can include a rewards night category for best video.

This is all very new, to SLSA, to clubs and to members. Tama is also in a timely position with the new clubhouse completion this year, ensuring the best Sydney surf club is Safe for all.

Please reach out (email or whatsapp) if you need any more details or have any ideas or thoughts.

Yours in safety, Brett
[email protected]