Slicing the end off his finger in an unguarded machine at work at the age of 25 changed Darran Johnston’s life.

Not only did he endure three weeks of intense pain touching exposed nerves as he changed the dressing on his finger every four hours, he also had plenty of time to think about why and how the accident occurred.

“Every incident is preventable,” Darran said. “I thought I was bulletproof, but you don’t know what you don’t know.

“I had been taught how to operate that machine and had been using it for a couple of years.

“Then I lost part of my finger and realised how unsafe that machine was. I really woke up to how you can get hurt at work. I was in excruciating pain for some time and that recovery period opened my mind to how I could help to make some serious changes in the workplace.”

Darran became a team leader with that company and gained a deep understanding of legislation, liability and duty of care – and how he was responsible for the people reporting to him.

After 25 years with that employer, he moved to Boags Brewery as the State Safety and Wellbeing Advisor, followed by the Launceston City Council as Senior Safety Coach, Devonfield Disability Service as Executive Risk and Safety Manager and then Fairbrother Construction as State SQE Trainer.

Thirteen months ago, Darran was employed as Tasmanian Irrigation’s Safety Manager.

He describes his principal function as “assisting the organisation to grow a proactive safety culture with the right systems and processes in place to support this.”

Darran lists his greatest career achievement as hearing employees declare their number one work focus as safety.

“Putting in place systems and procedures, such as a permit to work system, risk assessments and Take Fives, and seeing employees stop, recognise hazards and risks, and putting appropriate controls in place to manage those so they can complete the task safely is very satisfying,” he said.

“And just as importantly, if they realise the job can’t be done safely, then they stop work and look for an alternative way so they can complete the task safely. It’s important to me and to Tasmanian Irrigation that all our people feel empowered to call it out if something does not look or feel right.”

Darran welcomes the opportunity to visit Tasmanian Irrigation project sites, working with employees and contractors to embed a proactive safety culture and systems. Servicing pump stations, using excavators near power lines, accessing infrastructure during floods, working at heights, working in isolation…. these are just a few of the tasks that Darran is helping Tasmanian Irrigation employees to navigate safely.

“There is no doubt that Tasmanian Irrigation has come a long way when it comes to safety,” he said.

“I am really proud of the work that we have done and I am excited about continuing to embed a positive safety culture across all aspects of our business.

“It’s great to see that people realise they don’t do safety because they are told to. They do safety because it is a core belief.”

When asked what he most enjoys about working as Tasmanian Irrigation, Darran is very quick to reply.

“The people, spending time out on site and being able to make a difference,” he said. “For a small organisation, we should all be very proud of what we deliver in terms of economic benefits to the State of Tasmania.”