A Place of Experience and Opportunities

Written by: Melissa Limb
Featuring: Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson came about his job in an unusual way. He had applied for a different job at Comalco then saw his current job advertised and applied for it as well and ended up being successful. Andrew left his job working as a Nurse in Queensland and moved down to Tasmania. He has been working at Comalco for a couple of months as an Occupational Health Advisor. This involves ensuring that Comalco employees are fit and healthy to be performing the roles they need to perform. He does routine assessments and surveillance of the employees in the workplace, complying with Occupational Health and Safety standards.

Andrew sees his job as a bit like nursing in an industrial setting; his job at Comalco involves more independent work but can include working in a team at times. He has noticed a difference between working as a Nurse and working at Comalco; Comalco seems to be a forward-thinking organisation. When there’s a job to be done everyone gets in and does it but does it safely. He is also aware that Comalco is very pro-active towards safety, whereas some other workplaces have an attitude of ‘there’s a job, let’s get in and do it and get it over with’ without thinking about the consequences.

Although Andrew hasn’t been working with Comalco for long, he knows of the Company’s progression, safety wise, over the past 20 years. Today, there are respiratory protection areas, whereas 20 years ago these didn’t exist as the connection between asthma and aluminium smelters wasn’t known back then. There are many other examples of how safety has undergone a big transition over the past 20 years or so. For instance, there is now a requirement to wear safety hats and glasses on site at all times as well as wearing earmuffs and high visibility clothing in the required areas.

His reason for moving to Tasmania was because it was the next progression in his career. It was a way of experiencing other things involving occupational health instead of being limited to one particular sphere. It is such a diverse field. He believes he has made the right choice in moving down to Tasmania and doesn’t regret the move at all.

However, he did get a bit of a culture shock when he first moved to Tasmania. ‘It’s very cold,’ he says with a laugh. He likes the fact that driving within Tasmania is very easy and not congested at all like it is up in parts of Queensland.

The type of work that Andrew enjoys the most is when people come to him for advice, consultation or when they have a question because it gives him an opportunity to extend his role. The idea of accepting this role was to get into a company like Rio Tinto because it offers a lot of opportunities that other workplaces don’t. None of his previous jobs had opportunities to offer like Rio Tinto does because of the nature of the business.

Andrew hopes that in the future he will be exposed to new experiences and opportunities. He is keen to learn new skills and progress his career to the next stage. He plans to live in Tasmania for a few years and possibly one day move back up to Queensland. He would, however, like to stay within Rio Tinto, as this is where he feels he has a promising future.