Behaviour-change training built for construction sites and the utilities workforce.
WHS-ready · Positive Duty · Training that holds up at pre-start
Civil construction. Electrical and gas networks. Water utilities. Drilling. Heavy equipment. The construction and utilities sectors carry psychosocial-risk profiles that the new WHS Code of Practice now treats the same way it has always treated physical hazards. Long shifts, contractor chains, single-gender-dominant crews, exposure to incidents and high-stakes pressure - the WHS regulator is no longer comfortable with toolbox talks alone.
The Experience Lab has spent more than a decade delivering training across WA construction sites, utilities depots and contractor head offices - including Western Power, Synergy, Water Corporation, Downer, DDH1 Drilling, WesTrac and the City of Joondalup's safety reps conference. Our facilitators have stood in front of pre-start crews, shift supervisors and apprentice cohorts, building scenarios that name the situations these workforces face on the ground.
Crews in this sector measure trainers by what they recognise. A specialist who has not stood in a sub-station, a depot yard, a contractor lay-down area or an apprentice toolbox is not the right person to lead the conversation. We've earned credibility on these floors by writing scenarios in the language the crews already use - and by knowing when to step back and let the lived experience in the room carry the session.
A typical delivery brings a specialist facilitator and a small team of trained Corporate Actors into your room together. The facilitator owns the methodology; the actors are the realism layer. That structure is what gets pre-start conversations the next morning - participants watch the workplace problem unfold realistically, then practise the response. Apprentice cohorts and seasoned crews lean in alike - not because they were told to, but because the room finally has something worth paying attention to.
What we get asked for most.
Tackling Psychosocial Hazards
WHS Regulations now treat psychosocial hazards the same way they have always treated physical hazards. For construction and utilities - shift work, fatigue, contractor pressure, exposure to incidents, isolated crews on networks jobs - the new Code of Practice raises the floor in a way most contracto
Explore the topicCombating Workplace Bullying
Toolbox talks don't change behaviour. Our Bullying Plays - *Same Old Slugger*, *Much Ado About Hector* - put the dynamics in front of crews, then build the practical skill of intervention before incidents escalate. Both plays are written for trade-coded workforces and land in the language those crew
Explore the topicBeing An Upstander
The cohort training that turns bystanders into the colleagues who step in. Our Upstander work for Downer is the program delivered to construction crews who had told site leadership the standard online module wasn't landing.
Explore the topicPreventing Sexual Harassment
The Positive Duty applies hardest in the workplaces it was written for. Single-gender-dominant trade workforces, contractor chains, social patterns formed long before the legislation. We rewrite scenarios for shift supervisors, apprentice cohorts and the specific grey zones policy training tends to
Explore the topicPeer Supporter Training
Construction and utilities workforces lean on informal peer supporters - the crew member colleagues turn to when something is off. We equip those people with the skills to do the work well: notice the change, hold the supporting conversation, refer with care.
Explore the topicWord from the sector.
“All correspondence from the crews at this morning's pre-start is that it was one of the best delivered training packages they have been involved in. It has allowed them to not only gain a better understanding around bullying and harassment in the workplace, but also how to deal with situations outside of work.”— Site Superintendent, Downer
“One of the best training programs ever attended.”— Electrical Engineer & Values Rollout Lead, Synergy
“Your team's performance at our supervisor year-end function was well received. Please thank them all on our behalf.”— Chief Executive Officer, DDH1 Drilling
Training Delivered Differently
Ready to scope a session for your workforce?
Twenty minutes with Jacob will give you a clear sense of where meaningful training fits at your operation, what it looks like for your crews, and what it would take to run it.