QUU fatigue management
A creative approach to communication not only engaged teams across QUU, but provided the practical tools that empowered them to manage fatigue.
The Background
When QUU asked Everyday Massive to re-energise it’s fatigue management communication, we took a human-centred approach to really understand and connect with those most at risk.
Queensland Urban Utilities (QUU) is one of the largest water distributor-retailers in Australia.
They are the team who makes it possible for 1.5 million people in South East Queensland to:
turn a tap for reliable and safe water
remove waste through sewerage services
access recycled water to keep communities thriving.
As effortless as turning a tap or flushing a toilet might seem, QUU’s team of 1,100 work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, to keep a complex network of pipes, plant, and people operating safely, across more than 14,300 square kilometres.
These operational realities mean fatigue is a constant risk.
So in 2019/20, QUU implemented an Advanced Fatigue Management initiative to not only revise the company’s risk management procedure and re-educate their people, but importantly, to empower everyone to manage fatigue.
The Situation:
Operational realities for QUU mean fatigue is a common and constant concern, and if not managed properly, can threaten everyone’s right to return home safely.
The good folk at QUU have skills that span a range of job types. Broadly speaking they are a team of:
Water industry workers;
Sewage treatment plant operators;
Scientists and laboratory workers;
Engineers and construction project managers;
Control and contact centre operators; and
Corporate professionals.
Keeping it’s complex network operating means these teams are exposed to 12 critical risks:
Working at heights;
Confined spaces;
Energy isolation;
Excavation and trenching;
Hazardous chemicals;
Traffic management;
Working on or around water;
Contractor management;
Driving;
Manual handling;
Lifting operations; and
Working in and around major industrial facilities.
On top of these, providing essential services across South East Queensland also involves:
Shift work;
Remote / lone working; and
Responding to community concerns and unplanned network events.
With these working conditions combined, employee fatigue is a common and constant concern for QUU, in ensuring that everyone returns
home safely.
By implementing an Advanced Fatigue Management initiative, the WHS and leadership teams not only wanted to communicate about QUU’s Fatigue Management Procedure, but they also wanted to ensure that employees could:
Water industry workers; Understand the causes of fatigue;
Spot the signs of fatigue in themselves and others;
Evaluate their exposure to fatigue, based on their job type and lifestyle;
Put controls in place to prevent and manage fatigue.
About the good folk at QUU:
The Advanced Fatigue Management initiative needed to engage all employees, but primarily focus on those most at risk — the operations teams.
These teams spend most of their work time away from the depot, laboratory, or office, in their trucks and utes, across QUU’s service territory. Their vehicle is their office, and the key communication channels to reach them include.
The Shift.
A revised Fatigue Management Procedure— Tick.
A need to communicate about it— Tick.
A desire to re-educate— Tick.
An approach that could fundamentally enrich the lives of employees? Well, that’s the opportunity as we saw it.
With fatigue well known to undermine wellbeing, health, mood, relationships, performance, and safety — our overall quality of life — we needed to dig much deeper than simply build awareness about a Fatigue Management Procedure.
We took a behavioural approach to designing an experience that would make an impact.
Awareness
We needed to connect in a way that would really hit home, and get everyone assessing whether they were fatigued, and if they were potentially fighting it, just to get through work and life.
Knowledge
For this project we chose to share information about the facts, signs, symptoms, and prevention and control measures of fatigue. This meant everyone was able to take more responsibility for managing fatigue, and enriching the quality of their lives, every day.
Reinforcement
This was about making it easy for people to put daily rituals in place to prevent and control fatigue. Reinforcing knowledge and triggering responses that would lead to incremental changes over the long term.
The Solution.
A concept-led campaign that tapped into some of the things that QUU’s operations teams value most — mateship, straight talk, an honest day’s work, and getting home safely to the things they love.
A colloquial concept to connect
In a world (and workplace) that is fighting for our attention — and even more so for the QUU operations teams who have a limited access to communication channels — we developed a concept-led campaign to cut through the noise, stand out, and seize attention.
The strategy behind our ‘colloquial voice’ concept was to incorporate a relatable character — one that would resonate and really ‘talk to’ QUU’s operations teams.
The colloquial voice concept:
Sometimes we just need a straight talking mate, to tell us how it really is.
Why is it that we’re OK to say we’re stuffed, spent, or cactus, but we don’t talk about fatigue?
What does it really take to feel a million bucks?
Think you’re driving home if you don’t meet the 5/12 test?
We’ll tell you you’re dreamin’.
Get the message straight, with our straight talking mate.
Visual direction to cut through
The protagonist of the campaign was our colloquial voice concept, which came to life through copy. So, visually we kept the design simple so it would not compete with the copy.
The design aligned with QUU’s internal Better.Together. brand — using Calibri as the main font and adhering to its colour palette. It also incorporated a hand-written font to represent the relatable character in a more human and organic visual language, to really bring the concept home.
It helped the relatable character speak directly to the audience, act as a mate, and translate the corporate/technical language to a more everyday and colloquial lingo.
“It’s perfect. Thank you so much. I really love it.”
Kym Bancroft, WHS Manager.
A poster suite for awareness.
We developed a suite of posters for depot notice boards and TV screens to raise awareness about fatigue management at QUU. The posters were released in a phased way, to continue conversations about fatigue and keep it fresh and front-of-mind.
An animated video for engaging education.
We created an animated video that was not only an engaging way to educate operations teams about QUU’s expectations for managing fatigue, but also supported leaders who needed to discuss QUU’s Fatigue Management Procedure in detail at Toolbox Talks.
A pocket card to reinforce action.
Finally we created a pocket card to sit alongside other important work cards that are used every day — swipe cards, access cards… and a Fatigue Management 5/12 rule reminder card.
The card reinforced important learnings from the Toolbox Talks and Fatigue Management Procedure in the worker’s every day: the 5/12 rule. It was designed to be a daily ‘trigger’ that would remind the team to self-analyse and test if they were fatigued, and to do something about it.
“With a company purpose as important as ‘enrich quality of life’ this was an opportunity to do more than simply communicate about
a Fatigue Management Procedure. This was a chance to help the team at QUU enrich the quality of their
life too.”
Tim Evans. CEO. EM
