SPEECH SUMMARY FOR QR CEO LANCE HOCKRIDGE ARA RAIL SAFETY CONFERENCE - 27th FEBRUARY 2008 In this presentation I will reflect on past experience and take a look forward at the challenges in my new role at QR. In sharing my observations and ideas of what action is needed, delegates will better understand why I am so passionate about positioning safety at the centre of our consciousness. My work with BHP here in Australia and with Blue Scope internationally, has allowed me to take on the learnings of heavy industry and to investigate proactive ideas on reducing injury rates and place safety at the heart of day to day business. I find myself at QR with more than 14-thousand employees across the country and a great diverse business and am relishing the road ahead in transforming QR’s safety culture. Like other large decentralised organizations with a strong culture built over more than a century, it is going to be challenging to achieve step change improvement. I sincerely believe however, that the potential to dramatically improve the safety landscape, exists within each and every employee. From an industry perspective, there can be a tendency to write off rail as inherently dangerous and be guided by the notion that inevitably accidents will occur. This perspective is simply no longer acceptable. We are taking a bold step at QR, engaging renowned international consultants Du Pont to challenge that and help us effect change through a new safety framework. But it will only be achievable if there is leadership right across the organization at all levels and the genuine belief that ZERO HARM is achievable. Du Pont will not be the substitute for QR the company nor its leaders and people doing what is required. Du Pont’s work will be a powerful enabler for QR’s journey to safety excellence. ZERO HARM is the message I have already laid on the table at QR and now the hard work begins in step change improvement in safety performance. Inherent in the message is a message of empowerment and responsibility. Each employee has the power to make decisions throughout their work. And those choices can have powerful consequences. Over the coming period, QR’s systems and practices will be closely examined, reviewed and strengthened through containment, diagnostics and transformative plans and processes. This major investment in the safety of our people and our business is a very worthy one. It will mean that improvements will not be short-lived but rather ingrained into our business practices, and ultimately the consciousness of every employee and the culture of the company. I hope the learnings from this lengthy exercise at QR will also be able to be shared widely across the rail industry.