Our people for the future
We proactively grow a diverse and inclusive business with people who reflect the community we serve. This brings creative thinking and diversity of thought to build innovation, embracing technology to help us be safer and more efficient. Our people work safely and are part of a high-performing culture where learning and collaboration deliver great customer outcomes.
In 2024-25, our Health and Safety team made significant progress in delivering the final year of the 3-year Health and Safety Improvement Plan. This comprehensive plan aligned with our Health and Safety Management System and international health and safety standards, and ensured a robust, sustainable approach to risk management.
Key programs of work delivered included:
- a psychosocial risk management initiative, which included 18 workshops conducted across the organisation, more than 700 people trained, a new standard procedure and the design of a safety management reporting module to enable confidential reporting
- an Occupational Hygiene Management Program, resulting in a continuous improvement action register to sustain long-term outcomes
- an Emergency Management Program gap analysis, leading to the development of the ‘First 5 Minutes’ Emergency Response Plan
- a Health and Safety Management Framework, ensuring alignment with all improvement projects
- new management standards and assurance tools across the business
- a critical risk framework including standards, procedures, and gap analysis in collaboration with the business
- a new Contractor Health and Safety Management Procedure.
In 2024-25, our high potential incident frequency rate result of 2.4 was significantly lower than our target of 6.7 and lower than the previous financial year.
Our end-of-year total recordable injury frequency rate (TRIFR) result of 10.8 was above our target of 5.5. This reflects our recent shift to proactive work injury triage, early treatment and improved incident reporting. While this best-practice approach prevents worsening of injury, it has led to more cases classified as medical treatment, contributing to the higher TRIFR.
The lost time injury frequency rate of 2.7 was also above our target of 2 but trending downward compared to last year.
These results reflect the positive impact of our ongoing safety initiatives and highlight our commitment to creating a safer workplace through continuous improvement.
The past year saw the continued implementation of our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Strategic Plan, with implementation overseen by our DEI Council.
This year, we placed a strong focus on identifying the barriers faced by under- represented groups, particularly women working in STEM and field roles. To support this, we commissioned a report that amplified the voices of many of our women in field roles. In response, we developed a number of actions to address the barriers identified, including reviewing our hiring practices (how and where we advertise for the roles), unconscious bias training, a review of some of our facilities and targeted professional development opportunities for women and men.
Other initiatives delivered in 2024-25 included:
- continued partnership with the University of Adelaide’s Women in STEM careers program, supporting young women to pursue a STEM career
- partnering with the Clontarf Foundation, which supports young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men to participate in education, employment and society in a positive way
- launching our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment and Retention Plan 2025-2027 to help achieve our target of 3 per cent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment by 2027
- holding our first cultural immersion program in Ceduna for senior leaders and continuing to offer cultural awareness training and Kaurna language classes.
We achieved:
- 44.1 per cent of leadership positions held by women (target: 50 per cent)
- an increase in our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce with 7 new appointments, bringing us to 1.8 per cent employment (target: 3 per cent)
- a reduction in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce turnover from 49 per cent to 12 per cent in 2023-24.
We continued our progress towards a more inclusive and accessible workplace. This year, we took steps to remove barriers for our people with hidden disabilities by partnering with the Sunflower Organisation and offering opportunities for our people to become Sunflower Ambassadors. We also organised disability awareness training to help our people understand how they can contribute to a workplace that is accessible and inclusive for all.
We continue to support our customers through our priority register, a system which provides tailored assistance for those with additional needs, such as translated bills for non-English speakers and easy-to-read documents.
Our annual performance appraisal and development cycle is aligned to the financial year and includes setting goals, supporting our people’s development and having performance discussions. In 2024-25, 87.4 per cent of our people completed their annual performance reviews.