49: Harnessing Tacit Knowledge to Make Work Safer – David Broadhurst and Rae Gretch

Construction work is dangerous and leads to fatalities every year.  In Australia there were 24 fatalities in construction in 2018.

David Broadhurst, the co-founder of Codesafe, is a construction industry veteran.  He opens Ep 49 with a story from nine years ago about an incident where someone on site where he was supervisor was almost killed.  He began searching for a better way to ensure that workers in high risk sectors actually understood safety critical information and worked safely.  He created the Codesafe methodology which has captured the attention of safety bodies in Australia and been the subject of research by the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) to understand what makes the approach effective.

Rae Grech is a health and safety manager who has a training background.  In 2013 Rae engaged David’s team to create video materials for high risk processes in ceiling insulation.  Their work together resulted in significant systemic improvements in safety at the organisation.  While easy to access content is part of the reason for this, the real driver is a participatory approach that engaged workers and unlocked their tacit knowledge