Ethical Analysis of Qantas

Ethics

Since taking to the skies in 1920, Qantas has been proud of its reputation as the safest airline in the world. To reinforce this achievement, the Qantas leadership team recognised the need to improve employee safety and committed to deliver the same performance in occupational health and safety as their exemplary record in the air. Achieving that goal required the organisation to

overcome such challenges as:

-More than 7000 employee injuries occurring every year.

-High loss of productivity due to more than 40,000 lost work days.

-Unsatisfactory workplace safety audit results by Government agencies

-High costs in equipment damage directly related to workplace safety incidents.

A safety improvement program called be safe! was developed to

achieve the goal of "No Injuries to Anyone at Any Time." Qantas

partnered with DuPont to help manage the behavioural safety aspects

of this program. Known as People Safe, this initiative has been

instrumental in driving the safety cultural reform process

across Qantas.

People Safe was initially rolled out across the high risk/ high cost divisions of Catering, Customer Service (Cabin Crew), Airports, Freight and Engineering Technical Operations & Maintenance Services. Under the stewardship of DuPont, People Safe comprised the following key elements:

-A comprehensive assessment of Qantas' existing safety management performance.

-Qantas executives, managers, supervisors and leading hands received training through a

series of interactive workshops, complemented by in-field coaching and mentoring.

-A safety review and management structure was introduced to drive and then report activity from all operations to the Executive Committee.

-Progress evaluations were conducted on a regular basis.

-Leading indicators were developed to link leadership behaviours and skills to a reduction in injuries.

-Safety improvements were communicated via divisional forums, Qantas News and the intranet.

-Managers began talking to employees about safety as they personally conducted safety observation tours.

-Each member of the Qantas Executive Committee developed a Personal Safety Action