Central Safety Group Melbourne

March 2025

The rights and wrongs of safety comms

Presenters:

Dr Tristan Casey , Director, New View Safety
Rob D’Elsini, WHS Business Partner, Protech

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Effective communications are a key part of creating a safe workplace, but what works and what doesn’t? Some valuable insights and answers were provided by Dr Tristan Casey in his 11 March presentation to Central Safety Group.

Dr Casey, an Implementation Scientist (Workplace Health, Safety & Wellbeing), conducted a detailed study on safety communication, in the field, as a joint project between Queensland’s Griffith University and the nation-wide Protech employment group.

He discussed some basic principles of safety communications and also gave an outline of the project. It involved an in-depth survey of a large cross-section of workers placed by Protech, then an analysis of the results to produce some useful practical recommendations.

Rob D’Elsini, Protech’s WHS Business Partner, also contributed to the presentation by sharing his experience of applying some of the research outcomes. Rob outlined a number of the study’s ideas and systems for safety communications that Protech have put into practice and discussed their effectiveness.

Their presentation included questions and discussion from the audience.

The presenter:

Dr Tristan Casey, Director of New View Safety, is a seasoned scientist-practitioner with experience across private consulting, academia and government. Tristan has a doctorate in Industrial and Organisational Psychology from the University of Queensland, and has developed numerous award-winning training programs, measurement tools and academic publications. He is an endorsed Organisational Psychologist with over 15 years’ expertise in the practical management of health, safety and wellbeing. He is a keen advocate of the positive links between safety, wellbeing and overall job performance.

The presenter:

Rob D’Elsini has over 20 years of varied experience in the field of safety. Having started in a warehouse and distribution centre, where Rob successfully implemented an AS4801-certified Safety Management System, he moved to V-Line. During his 3½ years there he gained valuable experience in construction, train driving and a customer service environment. After that he spent 10 years as National Safety Advisor for a national manufacturing business. In August 2024 Rob joined the national recruitment agency Protech Group as a WHS Business Partner. This role has given him broader exposure to differing industry areas, including civil construction, heavy manufacturing, quarries, warehouse and distribution as well as labour supply in traffic management and rail environments.