Ally Orr: making WHS waves through Endeavour Energy

Ally Orr recently won the Australian WHS Emerging Leader of the Year in the Australian Workplace Health & Safety Awards for engendering innovation, authenticity and collaboration through Endeavour Energy

Ally Orr serves as a health and wellbeing business partner at Endeavour Energy, a leading energy network service provider in NSW servicing over 2.7 million people. Ally started with the business in early 2021, and since then she has worked in the health & safety team, HSE analytics and innovation, psychosocial and physical wellness fields. Last financial year she elevated the health & wellbeing brand within the business and made a lasting impact on many of its employees.

Reducing musculoskeletal-related injuries

Ally led the pilot of the Soter Analytics Wearable Tech program, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to create lasting and real-time behaviour change around musculoskeletal activities. As part of this program, she introduced and led an innovative and utility-first wearable technology program called SotarCoach and SoterTask. These programs have enabled people to understand their musculoskeletal risk given their individual movement behaviours – providing real-time feedback while collating data to inform safety in design decisions. This enabled rich and powerful infield safety discussions where musculoskeletal assessments can be completed and a risk profile overlayed in real-time. The voluntary-based uptake of this has been very positive with behaviour adjustment seen almost immediately. 

Ally was seconded into the HSE analytics and reporting leadership role for six months while maintaining her core health-based position. Ally created deep and lasting relationships with the broader data and analytics team and delivered a suite of new and interactive dashboards for HSE. This dovetailed perfectly into the Soter program rollout.

She engaged with the engineering, design, and analytics teams to utilise the data collated within the system’s interactive dashboard. This data will impact safety in design outcomes, work practice optimisation, works planning processes, and early identification of musculoskeletal risk for employees who, while injury-free, are at elevated risk due to their movement behaviours. 

The Soter program’s immediate impact (first 100 days) can be demonstrated through a: 28.3 per cent improvement in shoulder movement; a 20 per cent improvement in spine movement; and a rapidly increasing voluntary uptake and HSR support. Reducing musculoskeletal risk is Ally’s primary focus within her scope of work at Endeavour. Musculoskeletal-related injuries have decreased by 35 per cent in 12 months, with a 60 per cent reduction in injuries resulting in formal restrictions.

Taking the initiative

During FY23 Ally has also led a redesign of Endeavour Energy’s pre-employment and ongoing work capacity assessments. This has revolutionised the process, improving employee experience and efficiency, and reducing the cost of service but also operational time by approximately 60 per cent. The pre-employment and ongoing medical transformation resulted in a 50 per cent overall reduction in cost and reduced time required for completion. This has improved the user experience for this important business function.

She also pilots key components of the health promotion campaign, with a focus in FY23 on women’s health, Movember, and RUOK. Ally collaborated with internal and external stakeholders producing an insightful, genuine, and engaging program. This included collaborations to develop video content, organise senior leader discussion panels, book external facilitators, and arrange exercise activities as demonstrations for health and mental well-being solutions.

She works with specific leaders and teams to foster a psychologically safe environment through the delivery of practical and engaging YOUnique Wellbeing sessions. She has also assisted with the achievement of a Green Star ergonomics certification for a new office design project, Building solid partnerships with internal stakeholders and elevating the health & wellbeing team’s value proposition.

Commitment, leadership and credibility

Ally’s initial training was in exercise science and training domain. Over the past 12 months, she has undertaken professional training in the WHS space, completing a safety professionals course with Safety Futures, undertaking mental health first aid training and engaging in psychosocial and psychological safety conferences and workshops. 

She has represented Endeavour Energy at external events promoting the YOUnique Health and Wellbeing program, Soter Analytics, and is a key member of the Endeavour Energy analytics community. This community is tasked with creating change through the use of data and insights to inform business processes and decision-making.

Ally is decisive, respectful and inclusive in all her engagements and decisions, with HSRs and union representatives acting as advocates for the projects and work undertaken. Her leadership is further demonstrated by a secondment into an HSE reporting and analytics role for six months. 

While committed to the business goals and improving the health and safety of Endeavour Energy’s workforce, Ally will respectfully challenge decisions she feels are missing the mark, but always in an insightful and solution-focused manner. She has the respect and support of all aspects of the business from the CEO to first-year apprentices.