Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Working hands-on with horses serves us with enough regular reminders of the importance of workplace/occupational health and safety (WHS/OHS). For Daniel Morgan, Director at Safe Industries Australia, the business imperative is clear, especially in a time of general staff shortages.
“There is always the legislative requirement to reduce risk, but you also don't want people injured, off work and on workers' compensation and having to deal with all of those secondary issues,” he told TTR AusNZ.
“People want to be concentrating on what they like doing, and trainers like training racehorses.”
Growing up in Scone gave Morgan a thorough education in all things horses, from campdrating to trackwork. He left to train as a lawyer, but always niggling in the back of his mind was how he might apply his new skills to the scene of his formative years.
“I wanted to create a space where I could give advice, use my knowledge from the industry,” he recalled.
“I wanted to create a space where I could give advice, use my knowledge from the industry.” - Daniel Morgan
Returning to Scone to practise as a lawyer gave him the opportunity to do just that, and he found his past experiences served him well when it came to the nuances of his new client base. Now, it’s the same when it comes to Safe Industries.
“Everybody that we have with Safe Industries actually knows something about the business that we're working in. I think that makes a big difference,” he said.
“The standout point for our business is that we can talk to people at the grassroots level so that they can be confident that we understand what work they need to do and how we can structure a safe system of work that suits them.
Up and running
An intimate knowledge of the industry undoubtedly benefited Morgan as he started out back then working with stud farms and stables. But, whilst his contemporaries from those formative years were, like him, from horse-related backgrounds, things were beginning to change.
“What we then commenced was going out to farms and talking to them about their systems and getting the historical knowledge from people who had worked there a long time,” he said.
“We put that on paper so that we could pass that information on to new employees and employees who may not have been traditionally from a horse background like we had.”
“What we then commenced was going out to farms and talking to them about their systems and getting the historical knowledge from people who had worked there a long time.” - Daniel Morgan
Societal drift to the cities and the availability of more appealing work elsewhere has changed the workplace dynamics in the thoroughbred industry, according to Morgan.
He said that it’s led to a growing proportion of employees entering workplaces without having spent their childhoods on horseback - or without any horse experience at all.
“We wanted to transfer that knowledge. I found that I was working as a lawyer in the safety space, but I was giving safety advice as opposed to legal advice. That's how the business evolved.”
Recognising the need for industry-specific WHS/OHS systems, two Daniels, Morgan and Bowcock, started Safe Industries and began producing policies and procedures, and offering face-to-face inductions and training on-site.
Moving with the times
The labour-intensive method of old has these days been replaced with Safe Industries' suite of online training and induction platforms. Morgan explained that one of the few benefits of COVID is that people are now accustomed to doing things online; “Geography is not a problem,” he summed up.
However, that doesn’t mean the company is now faceless, with the growth of the business meaning they’ve recently been able to hire Garry Cuddy as national sales manager. It’s a stark change of direction for Cuddy, who was previously General Manager of Spendthrift Australia.
Garry Cuddy | Image courtesy of Safe Industries Australia
That experience brings a number of benefits to Safe Industries that Morgan cited; not only is he another example of someone at Safe Industries with a depth of industry experience, but his role at Spendthrift means he’s also a former client.
“The beauty of the product is that it was something that we believed in throughout my time at Spendthrift,” Cuddy recalled. “If you ask Daniel Bowcock, he always gave us a gold star because we believed in the product and actioned change within our workplace.
“We did what he asked of us and our staff were very accommodating to the platform and our requirements of them as individuals.”
From Cuddy’s experience, recent years have seen a shift change in attitude towards safety in the industry. Despite that the central practice remains largely unchanged, the latest generation of horsemen are showing a broader set of priorities.
“There's some people that are set in their ways and that's a reality of life,” Cuddy said. “But, there's a new age of people coming through and we understand the importance of safety.
“We understand the importance of going home every night to see your kids, your wife or husband, your family. I think that is a part of the workplace, and life, that people have missed for many years, but that's how a business like ours comes to exist.
“We understand the importance of going home every night to see your kids, your wife or husband, your family. I think that is a part of the workplace, and life, that people have missed for many years, but that's how a business like ours comes to exist.” - Garry Cuddy
“One of our visions is to change those thought processes and make people realise that safety really doesn't sleep.”
Cuddy might not be able to resist slipping in the company tagline with a wry grin, but he’s far from insincere. It’s clear that, for Morgan, the foundational appeal of bringing Cuddy into the business is his genuine belief in the product.
“People understand the product now,” Cuddy continued. “People want to work in a safe environment. Our staff (at Spendthrift) knew that they were working in a safe environment because we held them accountable to their actions and we made sure that they were adhering to all the rules and regulations that we had in place.
“And, if they didn't, well, they knew about it. And that's the beauty of a platform like this - it's sat there, it's clear, it's plain and simple, and everyone gets it. Everyone has the same rules.”
“...that's the beauty of a platform like this - it's sat there, it's clear, it's plain and simple, and everyone gets it. Everyone has the same rules.” - Garry Cuddy
Getting stuck in
From its base in Scone, Safe Industries initially spread its reach into metropolitan Sydney and surrounding areas, then more recently into Queensland, Victoria and even Western Australia. So, by all accounts, Cuddy will be a busy man.
“We are starting to make our presence felt,” he said. “We've got a significant client base through a lot of the major Australian stud farms.
“We also now have a significant partner in Racing and Wagering Western Australia, where we look after the three codes of racing over there and their racetracks.”
“We are starting to make our presence felt. We've got a significant client base through a lot of the major Australian stud farms.” - Garry Cuddy
For all that he’s excited to be starting something new, Cuddy does admit that he now has quite a different set of responsibilities than when he was managing Spendthrift.
“I think one thing that I've said to the guys from the start is that I've got to remember that I'm not the general manager; I'm a sales manager,” he said.
“So, I'm going to take that theoretical step back. But at the same time, I think the team has been very appreciative of what I brought to the table so far.
“We have had some frank conversations from the get-go, and one of the targets for me is to end up back in a senior management role down the line, and that's a target that we've all set from day one.”
