John Naughton

Senior Safety Consultant

Career Profile

John has over 20 years’ experience designing, managing and implementing safety and environmental management systems for large companies. These roles included Director of HSE at George Weston Foods (part of the ABF group – the largest food manufacturer in the world with over $50 billion annual turnover) he was responsible for a team of over 50 HSE professionals over large geographies, including Australia, New Zealand, Thailand and China. Previous to this,  John was the National HSE Manager ANZ for Goodman Fielder ANZ and prior to this he consulted for Prime HSE consultants.

John is well known for his ability to “turn around” safety performance through clever strategy, focusing on people engagement, safety leadership, and innovative systems and process design that drives ownership and accountability though all levels of the organisation.

One of John’s most notable achievements was reducing insurance premiums by over $85m over a period of 5 years, equating to a 55% return on the HSE function budget.  He did this by:

  • Reducing medical treatment Injuries by 75%;
  • Reducing restricted work injuries by 60%;
  • Reducing lost time injuries by 45%;
  • Achieving an overall 73% reduction in TRIFR,
  • Achieving Improved people capability through the design and implementation of training and a management system;
  • Implementing a cloud-based contractor management system;
  • Successfully leading the first corporation into the Retro Burner Scheme in South Australia;
  • Design and implementing a robust audit system;
  • Reducing regulatory interventions and enforcement notices from more than 150 per year to less than 5; and
  • Achieving Self Insurance in Victoria.

For these efforts John was awarded the George Weston Foods 2016 CEO’s employee of the Year and was recognised globally for these achievements.

Following this, John was General Manager HSE for Orora to assist with the development of the first global 3-5-year Health and Safety improvement strategy, managing Orora’s. He was commissioned to:

  • Improve people capability in Systems Management and System enhancements
  • Introduce the first Health & Safety global Assurance program including Global Assurance Program Manager
  • Re-energising Orora’s Serious Injury and Fatality program to be purposeful with greater accountability through the operationalisation of the program.

He was able to achieve the first sustainable reduction in injury rates in previous 6 years (25%).

John’s qualifications include:

  • Lead Auditor in OH&S and Environment Management Systems (SAI Global)
  • Workplace Trainer (University of Melbourne)
  • Diploma of Occupational Health and Safety
  • Occupational Health and Safety for Managers (University of Melbourne)
  • Leading with Emotional Intelligence and Project Management