From Compliance to Culture
How Downer’s People Became the Heart of Safety
The Challenge
Ask a Downer worker at a backyard barbecue what they did, and they could list their tasks. But they couldn’t explain the DNA of working at Downer. They knew the rules, but not the reason. Safety was a line in a handbook, not a lived story they felt connected to.
Our Solution
We partnered with Downer’s communications and safety team to transform safety from a routine compliance topic into a central pillar of the company’s culture and identity.
- Elevated safety to a unifying story that connected teams across worksites and business units, reinforcing it as a shared value.
- Engaged real employees as co-creators, giving them ownership of the message and making them champions for the culture they helped shape.
- Produced a video series that was engaging, authentic and memorable, turning safety into a source of pride and a signature element of Downer’s brand.
1
Year One
Engage
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OBJECTIVE
Show that safety can be a compelling part of the Downer story. -
ACTION
Created high quality story driven films that brought real moments on site to life and showed safety as something human and meaningful. -
OUTCOME
Safety content began to shape how workers saw themselves and their role in keeping each other safe, strengthening pride in being part of Downer.
2
Year Two
Involve
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OBJECTIVE
Give employees a voice in the safety narrative. -
ACTION
Invited teams to pitch ideas, share experiences and appear on camera so the stories reflected their own words and perspectives. -
OUTCOME
Safety messaging became part of the Downer DNA, growing from within and reflecting the authentic culture of its people.
3
Year Three
Create
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OBJECTIVE
Make safety a self driven part of Downer’s culture. -
ACTION
Enabled staff to write, film and share their own safety stories, capturing their own ways of working and looking out for each other. -
OUTCOME
Safety became a defining part of how people understood what it meant to work at Downer, owned and championed by the workforce itself.
The Impact
476 staff completed the survey
Almost half singled out the videos as the most valuable part of their training, making them the clear standout of the program.
Staff reaction
The series was called “fun”, “relatable” and “engaging”. Seeing themselves and their colleagues at the centre of Downer’s safety message built pride and strengthened connection across teams.
Management recognition
Leaders acknowledged the series as a new benchmark. It set a higher standard for internal communication and is now the model for how Downer approaches storytelling across the business.
“The series set a new standard for quality communication and is now the blueprint for how Downer approaches internal storytelling.”
Testimonial
“I saw my ideas come to life better than I imagined… the feedback received by our business further supports this. Only positive memories working with HCN.”
— Brendan Poile, GM Zero Harm Operations
