Stacy Hamilton

Background

About Stacy Hamilton

What is it about safety that has some people running for the hills? Is it the tomes of paperwork that seem to come with every safety system? Is it the lack of understanding of what it means for your workplace or is it something completely different? I never thought I would work in health and safety. Truth be told, I didn’t know it was a “real job”. Since I started studying OHS in Canada back in 2001, I was pleasantly surprised that it combined people and science and everything in between and I absolutely love it. Over the past 22 years, I’ve certainly learned a lot about what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to workplace health and safety. Figuring out how to best approach the topic or some of the concepts can be tricky. In my experience asking questions, actively listening to the answers and trying to understand the intricacies, complexities, processes and organisational culture of those I am working with are some of the keys to success. My driving mantra has been “Workplace safety is serious business, but putting it into practice doesn't have to be” and it has so far served me well. Safety shouldn’t sit outside operational activities, but it does often get treated like an added activity. It’s hard enough trying to run one system of work, let alone two, so why do it? People are at the centre of any organisation and safety isn’t something we do to or for people. If we swap out “safety” systems for “people” systems the notion of managing and controlling it with paperwork seems ridiculous. There is no one size fits all solution but the combination of practical and consistent processes, peoples’ skills and experience and their motivation to do their best at work can take you anywhere.