|
Workplace Health & Safety Strategy to 2015 - Time for Review
What is the Strategy?
The Workplace Health and Safety Strategy (the Strategy) is a government plan for action intended to:
- raise awareness about workplace health and safety
- coordinate and prioritise workplace health and safety activities across stakeholders
- improve the infrastructure that supports workplace health and safety.
The Strategy was launched in June 2005, and sits within the wider context of the New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy (NZIPS), a government initiative to improve the systems and processes that support injury prevention activity.
The Strategy emphasises the importance of government leadership and the benefits of better aligning the work of agencies responsible for workplace health and safety. The Strategy recognises the leading roles of industry and communities in improving workplace health and safety in NZ. The Strategy vision, “Healthy People in Safe and Productive Workplaces”, also makes the connection between workplace health and safety and productivity, recognising that good health and safety is an important characteristic of high performing workplaces.
Why are we reviewing the Strategy?
When the Strategy was launched, government signalled the need for it to be reviewed after three years of implementation. Now is the time for that review. In addition, the current climate provides a timely opportunity to take stock of workplace health and safety in New Zealand, and ensure we are all doing things as effectively and efficiently as possible. This review provides you with a chance to contribute to that task.
What’s the Review Process?
The review needs to benefit from the wide range of health and safety expertise and awareness across New Zealand. To ensure we capture a broad spectrum of opinion, the review will be structured around three areas of activity:
Consultation activities
These activities will include four public events in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin, consultation with government agencies and in-depth interviews with a range of health and safety practitioners and experts.
Stock-take of activities
This includes a formal review of activities that have been undertaken and completed since the Strategy was launched in 2005.
Public submissions
Any individual, organisation or association is invited to provide a written submission to the Department of Labour.
What’s the focus of the Review?
We want the review to result in practical and constructive improvements to workplace health and safety and business performance. These improvements will require a combination of actions by government, industry and the community. Consequently, we have developed four action areas to stimulate and inform your contribution to the review. We suggest that you actively consider these action areas in your submissions.
Leadership
Health and safety is everyone’s business – government, industry and community all need to take a significant role. Similarly, leadership is not just about how senior a person is. It is as much about their commitment and drive — their dedication to ensuring that health and safety is a fundamental part of their everyday business. Leadership is important at governance and management levels, but it is just as important on the shop-floor, and that necessitates the active involvement of workers at every level.
Capability
Capability involves equipping people and organisations with the necessary skills and confidence and providing the opportunity for them to contribute to improved workplace health and safety. Capability is critical when building healthy, safe and productive workplaces. This applies equally to small and large businesses and is critical to the work of professional groups and government agencies charged with developing health and safety policy.
Knowledge
Developing effective systems, processes and policy requires sound knowledge. Knowledge informs leadership and fuels the development and maintenance of capacity in the health and safety sector. Knowledge includes health and safety research, incidence data, occupational health data, international trends, workplace experiences, and the accessibility and quality of technical guidance.
Health and safety infrastructure
Workplaces do not operate in isolation. There is a legislative framework, there is a worker compensation and rehabilitation scheme (ACC), and there are a range of training organisations and standards. In addition, workplaces operate in a wider and dynamic labour market. There are also workplace specific systems and processes.
In combination, these constitute the infrastructure for health and safety in the workplace. This infrastructure determines the expectations of government, industry and the community, and provides the tools required for the health and safety sector to achieve higher levels of performance.
What are the key questions of the Review?
The review effectively seeks to answer four questions:
- What progress has been made in workplace health and safety in New Zealand over the last three years?
- What is working well and should be continued or expanded?
- What are the main barriers to achieving the goal of “healthy people in safe and productive workplaces”?
- What should the current and future priorities for workplace health and safety in New Zealand be?
|
