It's just Common Sensei

A new digital safety behavioural change program delivered via a social media campaign kicked off this month.

A construction worker with text on image: It's just Common Sensei

The Housing Industry Association (HIA), a partner in the icare Injury Prevention in Construction (IPIC) fund,  has designed the program to help reduce the rates of injury among young workers and apprentices who work on construction sites in NSW.

The construction industry has significantly higher physical injury rates when compared to other industry sectors. This is especially true for young workers and apprentices who are more likely to be injured.

HIA uses social media to deliver targeted safety videos and messages to young workers, spoken by 'The Common Sensei'. He is the embodiment of an apprentice's common sense on the worksite and appears whenever danger is near.

HIA Marketing Communication Manager, Ryan May, says the main platform for the campaign will be Instagram and he encourages young people to follow the common sensei, @commonsensei_au.

"We want to spread the word to young workers and apprentices in construction and will be relying on Instagram and our website www.commonsensei.com.au," says Ryan.

"Our 'Common Sensei' taps into the insight that apprentices are in the development phase of applying their situational awareness and experience on site. This is what their host trainers and employers know as 'common sense'.

"We need to talk to this demographic in a way that entertains and engages so we can raise safety awareness on sites and empower changed behaviour."

Targeting the root causes of accidents and injuries

icare initiated the IPIC fund in 2019, with implementation commencing in June 2020, because of the increase in numbers of physical injuries and associated claims that are received by icare.

Physical injuries that occur in construction and manufacturing organisations results in $384 million worth of annual claims in NSW. icare 2017-18 claims data showed that 45 per cent of injury claims in the construction industry came from young workers, aged 19 to 32.

Chris Harnett, General Manager of Prevention at icare, says the initiative was established to support research and innovations to address the root causes of accidents and injury in construction.

"The HIA behaviour change strategy is one of three projects targeting interventions to reduce physical injury in young apprentices and construction workers," says Chris.

"It uses behavioural insights drawn from qualitative research with apprentices to identify and address individual factors that contribute to increased risk-taking behaviours.

"Their initiative focuses on apprentices and young workers working on small to medium-sized residential building sites which have often been associated with lower compliance with site safety than commercial and larger residential building sites."

There are two other projects currently being developed as part of IPIC:

  • The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT University), in partnership with Master Builders Association (MBA), is undertaking applied research that will enable industry partners to develop healthy, safe and supportive workplaces for young construction workers.
  • TAFE NSW is developing an online training program for their apprentices about working safely at heights, featuring a fully immersive virtual reality (VR) component.
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