The Chamber of Commerce and Industry WA (CCIWA) and leading WA-based workplace health and safety provider, Epigroup, have come together in a new partnership to create safer and healthier workplaces across Western Australia.
The partnership comes at a crucial time for Australian workplaces, as they face a complex and ever-changing legal landscape surrounding Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) issues.
The partnership will give thousands of CCIWA members access to Epigroup’s industry leading WHS services, including consulting, training, recruitment and digital learning.
CCIWA Chief Executive, Chris Rodwell, said businesses across every industry are stepping up efforts to improve health and safety outcomes in their workplaces.
“Epigroup has experienced a huge decade of growth in Western Australia due to its strategic approach to creating safer workplaces,” he said.
“It’s right at the frontier, not just in terms of helping businesses meet their compliance requirements, but in supporting them with practical solutions to take their health and safety approach to the next level.
“Given our shared passion for health and safety, CCIWA is teaming up with Epigroup to accelerate these efforts. It’s critical we provide the most advanced support possible to the WA business community if we’re to achieve our vision of making WA the best place to live and do business.”
Epigroup has built a significant market position in workplace health and safety services in WA since it was founded by Jake Cole and James Teakle in 2012.
It serves businesses of all sizes in every sector, including many leading Australian companies across the resources, construction, and manufacturing industries.
The partnership with CCIWA will seek to deepen this work and further extend into key sectors such as defence as well as health and community services.
Epigroup Co-Managing Director, Jake Cole, said the partnership will deliver better WHS outcomes for WA businesses.
“We’re on a mission to make WA workplaces the safest in the world, and we’re doing that by combining the latest technology with industry-leading know-how and a bespoke approach to each of our clients,” he said.
“In the past decade we’ve seen a massive shift in the efforts of businesses to improve health and safety outcomes, with many businesses stepping up their efforts to protect their people, and to meet the higher thresholds set by new State and Federal legislation.
“This also includes much more comprehensive efforts to better manage psychosocial risks.”
Epigroup Co-Managing Director James Teakle said the company aims to set a new standard for how WHS services are delivered.
“The way we consume information is different in 2024 to how it was a decade ago and health and safety information needs to be delivered in a way that can be easily absorbed by workers,” he said
“We do that by using new technology like virtual reality, video production and gameplay to create immersive, realistic safety scenarios for any business.
“There’s no better way to ramp up our efforts than to partner with CCIWA, given its huge reach across the WA business community,” he said.
The partnership further extends CCIWA’s service offering to WA businesses, which includes industrial relations, human resources, international trade, commercial legal, supply chain and workforce development services.
In partnership with Optima Partners, CCIWA also delivers tax and accounting services.
Epigroup’s innovative approach to improving workplace health and safety outcomes was recognised in the 2023 Work Health and Safety Excellence Awards in the category of ‘Best Solution to a WHS Risk’.
It was also a finalist in the category of ‘Medium Business of the Year’ at the RISE Business Awards in 2023.
