With October being National Work Safe Month, we thought it the perfect time to raise the profile of our seriously amazing WHS Officer Caitlyn Craddock.
Selected for her authenticity, technical safety knowledge and enthusiasm, Caitlyn joined the ALA team in 2020 and has been impressing us with her professionalism ever since.
Caitlyn’s safety journey began when she was undertaking a Certificate in construction and started studying a range of safety components within the course. Following these studies, she undertook her school placement with a tier one builder, where a passionate WHS manager ignited her desire to make the working world a safer place.
It wasn’t long before others noticed Caitlyn’s commitment and maturity and at just sixteen, she was working onsite and delivering Toolbox talks to construction staff.
Having grown up around animals and farms in Qld and NSW, Caitlyn has always been drawn to rural life, so the move to agriculture seemed like natural progression. Caitlyn said, ‘Agriculture has the highest fatality rate and is also lagging behind other industries in their safety processes. I love the challenge of driving positive change and playing a role in improving safety in the industry.’
We know we are lucky to have Caitlyn on our team and look forward to watching her continue to raise the standard of safety for the agriculture industry. Read more about Caitlyn and her thoughts on safety in our Q & A below:
What are your Qualifications
- Certificate IV WHS
- Diploma in Occupational Health & Safety
- Rehabilitation and Return to Work Coordinator Training
- Certificate IV in Training and Assessment – (current)
- Bachelor Occupational Health and Safety – CQ University (current)
Do you apply your safety principles to everyday life? If so, how?
Hard question! I often use the ‘risk to reward’ methodology to make any important decision in my life. I identify the risk, assess the controls in place and make an informed decision. I also try to be organised and prepared at all times so that if anything does go wrong, I can fix it or minimise the consequences. I have to ‘walk my talk’!
What do you think the biggest problem with safety in the workplace is?
‘She’ll be right’, or ’It won’t happen to me’ attitude. Nobody expects to go to work and not come home, so ultimately choosing to ignore a safety problem could be the cause of death or a serious injury to someone else.
Your choices not only affect yourself, but also those around you.
You have achieved a lot since you began your career in safety which is impressive – as is your maturity. What do you put that down to?
I think I’ve always been mature for my age. I have consistently strived to be independent and set goals for where I want to be at various stages in my life. Goal setting is a big thing for me.
This field of work definitely made a difference to my maturity – it’s hard to earn respect in the workplace being a young female with minimal experience. I had to train myself to have the confidence to stand up when something wasn’t right and to get back up when I got knocked down.
Having great managers who believed in me over the years gave me the inspiration to keep pushing and believing that one day I will do the same for the next generation of safety professionals.
What do you enjoy about your role with ALA?
I enjoy being able to share my knowledge with clients and our internal team. I love being able to go out and visit sites to ensure the workplaces are safe for candidates. I also love having the variety of work and variations across industry that I work with. No two days are the same.
The team at ALA are really lovely and take health and safety seriously which gives me the room to make a real difference.
What are your future career aspirations?
I am passionate about accident prevention and investigation. In the future the idea of becoming an accident investigator for the regulators is quite appealing and I would like to work my way up the ladder to be a safety manager as well.
What are the things that make you happy?
I am very outdoorsy and take every opportunity I can to get out on the road. I love horse riding, camping and adventuring.
