Sekisui House puts safety first with AS/NZS 4801 certification

Sekisui House has formally secured AS / NZS 4801 safety management certification across its Australian business operations, the latest step in the company's ongoing campaign to establish itself as one of the country's most efficient, cost-effective and reliable property developers.

All Sekisui House operations, including its masterplan projects as well as the SHAWOOD Quality Control and Manufacturing Centre in Sydney, have achieved certification under this internationally recognised standard that benchmarks Occupational, Health and Safety management. The certification is also applied to Sekisui House's Australian contractor workforce and suppliers as the company pursues a secure and safe working environment.
For Sekisui House, the process undertaken across the business to achieve this milestone certification has been as important as the certification itself.

"At the heart of any process like this is the commitment to safety in the workplace.  Every single person in our business, including our contractors and suppliers, has had to go through the process with us to understand their own personal responsibilities when it comes to the ongoing improvement of safety performance," said Sekisui House Australia's WHS Manager for NSW & QLD, Darren Butt.

"It's that learning process that is the true value of any professional certification.  I'm confident that as a result of taking the thousands of people who work for and with us on the journey, our manufacturing production line, logistics, development and construction sites are safer, more efficient places to work.

"The certification sends a signal to the industry that Sekisui House lives by its own promise.  Not only are our projects brilliantly designed and exceptionally built, but the way we go about that is as sustainable, responsible and low-risk as you'd find anywhere in the world," Darren said.

Since Sekisui House arrived in Australia less than a decade ago, it has moved at a rapid pace to deliver some of the country's most popular residential developments.  Its joint development with Frasers Property Australia on Central Park Sydney resulted in international accolades for sustainable design and living; the same principles are currently being applied to large-scale masterplanned projects across Sydney and Brisbane.

While Sekisui House has always been aligned to the Australian Standards of safety, elevating the entire business to formal accreditation tells partners, suppliers and contractors that it is committed to managing risk, mitigating exposure and in turn, delivering projects as efficiently and at as high a quality as possible.

"We would not be able to achieve the superior quality of development without an unflagging commitment to health and safety across the business.  We're building homes people want to live in − and for that, we need to provide workplaces that people want to work in, where they feel safe and confident that their colleagues share their desire to return home safely at the end of each day.

"Safety is everyone's responsibility. This certification in safety empowers our business and everyone involved to own our safe future," Darren added.

², Sekisui House’s Quality Control & Manufacturing Centre, located in Ingleburn NSW, is a highly sophisticated facility delivering and manufacturing engineered structural frames and trusses for Sekisui House’s SHAWOOD range of homes. In addition to the manufacturing and logistic capacities of the facility, the centre plays a pivotal role in ongoing research and development for its Australian housing business. Sekisui House’s vision of delivering a highly sophisticated and pre-engineered home for Australian families resonates from its strong Japanese heritage and philosophy of creating homes that improve with time and last for generations.