Richard Brown’s legacy honoured with safety award
Winslow is honouring former Health, Safety, Environmental and Quality Manager Richard Brown, a safety trailblazer within the Group, with an annual award.
The Richard Brown Safety Award will be given at the end of each year to the person within Winslow that goes above and beyond to ensure our sites and staff are safe.
Sadly, Richard passed away on the November 14, 2021, due to his battle with pancreatic cancer, however his legacy lives on at Winslow.
“Richard was a gentleman, a great husband to his wife Rosie and father to Maddie and Archie, and a mate to so many of us – he was a stalwart member of our Winslow Family,” said Rohan Davidson, Winslow Group’s Chief Operating Officer – Construction.
Friends remember him for his love of music and the Richmond Football club, so much so he even left his wife and kids in Europe to return home to watch the Tigers win the premiership in 2017.
Richard’s Legacy
Richard began his career with Winslow in the civil construction industry in in 2002 as a Leading Hand and quickly progressed to foreman.
His first large-scale project that he supervised was Sanctuary Lakes comprising of large-scale earthworks and civil construction.
He worked as a supervisor on many projects including freeways, bridges, earthworks, and sub-divisions.
Richard’s interest in safety was evident early in his career, and he was soon promoted to the position of HSEQ Manager.
“His move into the HSEQ department was a driving force for the growth, development, training and ongoing compliance within the Winslow Group,” Rohan said.
“Using his supervision skills and strong connection to field operations, Richard further developed the backbone of our field operating systems – he always had a keen eye for what was practical in system implementation.”
Richard was passionate about safety and his commitment to driving Winslow’s safety culture was unquestionable.
“He spent countless hours with the team to help train and lift the safety skills across the group. He was always on hand to help everyone improve safety however he could,” Rohan said.
Richard’s safety legacy lives on today, thanks to his creation of the Big 5 Safety Rules, and his role in championing the My Family, My Safety campaign.
He loved to travel and took every opportunity to see the world. It was after a holiday to South Africa that Richard came up with the idea to focus Winslow’s critical risk management by aligning the high-risk elements of our work to the Big 5 African animals to create The Big 5 Safety Rules:
- The Lion – If you strike a service the bite can kill, like a lion.
- The Rhinoceros – A plant can’t see you and is hard to stop when moving, and If you are struck you will be hurt, like a rhino.
- The Elephant – If you don’t shore the earth properly it can squash you, like an elephant.
- The Leopard – If you go into a confined space the gasses can sneak up on you and kill you, like the leopard.
- The Water Buffalo – Poorly managed traffic, when out of control, can run over you, like a herd of water buffalo.
The Richard Brown Safety Award
Each month a National Safety Excellence winner will be recognised after being nominated by colleagues and managers.
At the end of the year each monthly winner will be assessed by HSE managers with the person who best represents Winslow’s safety standards and expectations honoured with the Richard Brown Safety Award.
To vote for the colleague you think works hard to ensure you always go home each day healthy and safe, send their name and reasons for your nomination to safety@winlsow.com.au or speak to your HSE coordinator.