Dave Holland

Dave Holland's Biography

Dave Holland is an ordinary Australian, a workmate, the person behind you in the supermarket. With a far from ordinary path, a severe workplace accident left with facial disfigurement, and years of surgery. Bacterial infections and post-traumatic stress, part of the path. One day, off to work, no consideration of the possibility of an accident.

While operating a drilling rig at a Melbourne volume housing development, Dave’s hair became caught in the auger. Unable to reach the control panel. he couldn’t untangle the hair, an attempt to break the hair, became a controlled removal of the scalp including a portion of his face. A shattered his skull, snapped occipital condyle, clean breaks through C1 and C2 in his neck, ear in his pocket, set off for help.

"I could hear a voice on a phone and I knew there was a building site close to where I was, so I methodically started to walk towards it, 70 metres.”

Now the hands of the Australian culture recovery is possible.

Needing to understand the extent of the head injury, he returned to university, and explored occupational health and safety. It became a passion, couldn’t read enough. The learning illustrated the need to involve engineering approach, social psychology, and the alchemy of organizational culture. Formal qualifications include; Master of Applied Science (occupational Health and safety) RMIT, Melbourne and post graduate study in the social psychology of risk with ACU, Sydney. Multiple tickets along the way including teaching and assessment.

Three years working with Nestle, as a residential consultant, allowed the opportunity to deliver a safety cultural development program, using cognitive behavioral theory as a driver (awarded within Nestle internationally). Behaviorism; behave like this or be punished; cognitive behaviorism means the participants create the change.

Twelve years of surgery, eight years of formal study, hundreds of safety programs, site observation and safety coaching sessions. Has accumulated great understanding of risk, and how communities, industries and the organizational cultures manage it. A unique capacity to teach, an understanding of cognitive behavioural theories, directly associated with our perception and management of risk does support positive results.

Speaking Topics Include

Safety Motivational Presentation

Safety motivational presentation will outline the details of the accident, linking causation, consequence and risk. The story is a personal journey beginning with a workplace injury. Exploration of the cause of the accident, recovery, others effected, mental injury and path to acceptance, form a basic structure. Presentations include organizational safety concerns, motivating participants to get involved with their safety systems and be open to safety conversations. Exploring safety from engineering, social psychological and cultural perspective.

Safety Roadshows

Safety roadshows are a popular approach with large projects. They have their own rhythm, and can include multiple short toolbox learning sessions, as well as more formal keynote presentations. Often the host organization will have concerns around aspects of risk management which is intertwined into the talking points for site observation walks.

Safety Learning Workshops

Safety learning workshops defined by the host organization. Learning outcomes can include: positive risk communication, understanding implicit and explicit motivations, leading with positive behaviours with risk and the safety conversation. Dave’s specialty is in the development of organizational cultures, the alchemy of organizational culture. Including a wide range of subtopics to choose from, for example, corporate risk governance, organizational risk semiology, artifact of risk fundamentalism and review of safety management systems. All programs will include the importance of learning cultures, no learning, no development.

Learning Programs for Safety Reps

Learning programs for safety reps (employee representatives), often about confidence building and communication techniques, legislation, regulation, standards as well as nuts and bolts of risk assessment and management. Very effective in manufacturing environments.

Safety Training Programs

Safety training programs focused directly at organization’s needs, as well as the required legal compliance. The review of safe operating procedure, or the facilitation of a SOP has been an important part of previous programs. Any aspect of occupational/workplace health and safety training.