Collaboration key to KINNECT’s renewed relationship with Bundaberg Regional Council

After an initial three-year contract, KINNECT are thrilled to have renewed our partnership with Bundaberg Regional Council (BRC) that will see us collaborate further on pre-employment, workplace rehabilitation and health surveillance programs for another three years.

KINNECT has been re-contracted as BRC’s provider for pre-employment and occupational health services. This encompasses everything that KINNECT do from pre-employment medicals to workplace rehabilitation services, injury prevention work such as job dictionaries, task analysis, ergonomics, and manual handling, to drug and alcohol testing, through to doctor services for independent medical exams and occupational physician consultancy.

The renewed contract sees a continuation of the existing services with additional scope for health surveillance and occupational health services.

A collaborative approach to large-scale projects

KINNECT’S Chief Customer Officer, Clark Hopley believes that the renewal is a result of strong account management that prioritises collaboration and partnership:

“Anytime that we have a client renewal it’s confirmation that our suite of occupational health services, and the way that we deliver them, aligns so closely with client needs.

“I think it’s also testament to our account management processes. I’ve been told by BRC that they wouldn’t use anyone else because they can pick up the phone to talk to someone and get any challenges solved straight away. We deliver a premium service and it’s valued,” he said.

BRC use services that require all the specialists that KINNECT have in-house including Occupational Physicians, Occupational Health Nurses, Workplace Rehabilitation Consultants, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Exercise Physiologists and Psychologists. This means that the collaborative working style that has made us a leader in Occupational Health is more important than ever.  Clark explained how we work together:

“BRC’s Work Health and Safety Manager has always been impressed with our project team, whether we’re running health surveillance or a special project like helping them meet their Psychological Code of Practice.

“He hands over the requirements and then meets with them to explain what needs to be achieved so our team can plan it out. They’ll regularly consult with Council stakeholders throughout the process to ask them if it meets their needs.

“On the morning of delivery, the project team will take Council representatives through our plan for the day and explain how we’ll run a program. There are often scheduling changes, even on the day itself but we can work ‘on the fly’. We understand that when we are doing health surveillance activities for a large volume of employees – in BRC’s case up to 500 workers – it can be hard to get everyone in one place. There’s always going to be people away on leave, sick or unavailable due to operational priorities so we show a level of flexibility,” Clark explains.

With enthusiastic guidance from their Health and Safety Manager, BRC’s use of Carelever for the management of their health surveillance programs and employee health has also contributed to the success of the partnership so far. BRC have invested heavily in Carelever, even providing feedback on new features as the platform was developed.

Fortunately, location has been no barrier to renewing the contract. BRC is situated at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef and stretches from the Burrum River to Baffle Creek. “The unique thing about this contract is we don’t have a presence of Bundaberg. We service the contract either from the Sunshine Coast (over a three-hour drive each way) or Gladstone office (a minimum two-hour drive each way). We deliver most of our contract with BRC onsite in Bundaberg and further afield up to Miriam Vale, so staff stay overnight. Our clinicians might be there from one day through to a week or a few weeks at a time,” Clark said.

What the future holds

As for what the contract renewal will bring to the next stage in our partnership with BRC, Clark said that our work is now about expanding our offering with the Council to meet new health targets:

“We worked with them on a big drive to take their health surveillance requirements to a level where they were compliant with legislation and could be monitored. We intend to grow with them in terms of pre-employment assessments as their recruitment needs change and support the health of their current workforce through return-to-work and onsite health programs.”

To find out more about our work with Bundaberg Regional Council, read the case study.

If you’d like to discuss how we can support your organisation’s Occupational Health needs with respect to pre-employment medicals, health surveillance, workplace rehabilitation, injury prevention and occupational medicine services, contact us today.