Douwlene Burdett - Managing Director, Healthy Business Training Academy
In most workplaces, compliance failures do not come from people deliberately cutting corners or ignoring the rules. They come from people who simply do not know which rules apply to them and the framework they need to be operating under.
Your team are doing their job the way they were shown on day one, and don’t always realise the specific piece of legislation that sits directly over the top of what they do every day. They are working in a framework they have never been properly introduced to, and this causes risk within the organisation.
In low-risk environments, that knowledge gap might stay invisible for years. In mining, construction, education, health care, child care, or any other high-risk industry, it can become a very serious problem.
This is where compliance training and internal auditing help mitigate those risks and become part of your risk management strategy.
Getting your team across the specific legislative and regulatory frameworks that apply to their role, and then auditing regularly to confirm that understanding is actually translating into practice, is one of the best things a business can do to protect itself. A generic induction and policy handbook that a new team member signs with onboarding does not show that they fully understand the requirements of legislation which they will be working under.
The other piece that often gets overlooked is leadership. Your team leaders and supervisors are the people closest to the work. How well they communicate expectations, how self-aware they are, and how well they understand the people around them has a direct bearing on whether your compliance culture is actually being upheld.
Remember that a team that understands the framework they work within, led by people who know how to bring out the best in those around them, is a much stronger position to be operating from.
Please reach out if you would like a copy of our Compliance Readiness Checklist.
