Workplace Health and Safety Strategy for New Zealand to 2015

The Government can lead the way by promoting continuous improvement in workplace health and safety performance. Government can also lead by example through having excellent health and safety practices in its own workplaces and through its roles as an employer and purchaser. Better co-ordination and alignment of government agency roles and activities are essential building blocks for the Strategy.

The Chief Executives’ Injury Prevention Forum

The New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy (NZIPS) is the strategic framework for all injury prevention activity in New Zealand. Workplace injuries are one of the six injury priority areas identified in the NZIPS. A Chief Executives’ Injury Prevention Forum was established in February 2007, to further support progress of NZIPS by providing strategic integration of government injury prevention activities and enhanced collaboration in the injury prevention sector.

The Forum’s focus is on achieving the Government’s goals for injury prevention. It is the principal forum for communicating and co-ordinating top level strategy between the government agencies on matters related to injury prevention.

Partnerships promoting continuous improvement

During the year, government agencies have supported the Strategy through a number of partnership projects. Many of these projects responded to immediate health and safety issues facing workers and employers.

Stakeholders within the metal manufacturing sector joined together with government agencies and other organisations to discuss ways to reduce injury rates within the industry.

Addressing health and safety in the metal manufacturing industry

A worrying increase in the injury rate in the metal manufacturing industry has spurred co-ordinated action among key stakeholders.

Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) statistics highlighted the increase, showing the number of new claims from the metal manufacturing sector rose by 21 percent during the five years to June 2006. What made this even more alarming was the fact that employment numbers across the industry had been static or falling, with a 0.6 percent decrease recorded between 2001 and 2006.

As well as burns and amputations, metal manufacturing workers suffered fractures, dislocations, lacerations, concussions, and dental and eye injuries. Noise-induced hearing loss also figured in many claims.

To address the situation, a number of stakeholders have joined together to establish the Metal Manufacturing Safer Industry Group. The Group includes ACC, the Department of Labour, the Heavy Engineering Research Association, Competenz (the New Zealand Engineering, Food and Manufacturing Industry Training Organisation), the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, and national employers and manufacturers associations.

The Group considers what resources, initiatives and solutions are necssary to help reduce metal manufacturing industry injuries and illness. To start the initiatives rolling, the Group developed the Metal Industry Guidelines for Safe Work. These guidelines provide practical solutions on how to overcome a range of typical hazards.

Future initiatives planned include an online worker induction package, and health and safety resources for use in staff training.

Driver fatigue is another issue that has been addressed by a partnership approach.

At any time, a significant percentage of vehicles on the road are work vehicles at risk of accidents. Fatigue is now recognised as a significant factor contributing to the road toll. From 2004 to 2006, driver fatigue was a factor in 12 percent of fatal crashes, eight percent of serious injury crashes and five percent of minor injury crashes in New Zealand.

In an effort to reduce the road toll, including work-related road fatalities, agencies have worked in close collaboration to promote driver awareness and changes in driver behaviour. The Ministry of Transport led the Driver Fatigue Strategy, supported by the New Zealand Police, Land Transport New Zealand, Transit New Zealand, ACC and the Department of Labour. A high profile television advertising campaign also supports the programme’s aim of reducing the fatigue-related road toll.

Setting high standards

Setting high standards requires a strong legislative programme and thorough policy guidance and advice.

This year, government agencies continued to work to improve the key legislative frameworks for workplace health and safety, including the Health and Safety in Employment (HSE) Act 1992 and the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act 1996.

Focus areas this year have included:

Raising professional standards in workplace health and safety

A strong profession is the backbone of New Zealand’s health and safety sector. This year, there has been vigorous debate about ways to raise professional standards in the sector. In its 2007 report, National Profile of Occupational Health and Safety in New Zealand: Report to the Minister of Labour, the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee (NOHSAC) raised the issue of a critical lack of occupational safety and health resources and expertise.

Safeguard magazine devoted an issue to the topic and ran a web-based OHS qualifications survey.

A New Zealand Safety Council Seminar for health and safety professionals in February 2008 gave further opportunity for people in the health and safety sector to air their views on professional development.

The Department of Labour has also been examining the capability and development of its staff and its enforcement role. The Department commissioned research to identify development needs and priorities. The main recommendations focused on reassessing development priorities for inspectors and how these can be supported effectively. The Department also has work underway to look at the potential benefits in aligning the professional development of inspectors with occupational health and safety qualifications.

Enforcement

The Department of Labour has been working to improve the focus and structure of its enforcement activities to be more effective, efficient and consistent. The Department’s enforcement role has been reviewed, and a strategy to guide our workplace interventions is being developed in consultation with social partners and other key stakeholders.

This work delivers on the Government Leadership and Practices outcome in the Strategy and also contributes to wider government efforts to improve the quality of regulatory activities and interactions between government agencies and citizens. An enforcement policy statement is ready for consultation.

An internal Prosecution Panel has also been established to pilot an approach to review prosecution cases taken by the Department. Established early in 2007, the Panel met with workplace health and inspectors, providing peer review and advice on a number of cases submitted by inspectors.

The Panel’s findings have identified a range of issues relating to investigation practice, the role of managers in supporting staff, client engagement and organisational support. The Panel has recommended the development of clear procedural guidance to assist inspectors and managers to “diagnose” at the start of an investigation, rather than focus on regulatory breaches. Another recommendation involves establishing peer review processes at a local level to support improved investigation practice.

Work is also underway on the development of a training and development programme for existing inspectors to equip them to bring a more systematic outcome focus to their investigations.

Consulting on the definition of serious harm

The legal definition of “serious harm” is an important aspect of the HSE Act. Among other things, it defines the significant hazards that an employer must manage, and the illnesses and injuries that must be reported.

In June 2007, the Department of Labour consulted widely on the definition of “serious harm” in order to improve the definition’s coverage and its consistency with the HSE Act. A revision has been proposed and, when complete, it will be supported by the provision of updated guidance information and aligned agency administrative processes.

Improving health and safety via government procurement

Government can play an influential leadership role in promoting health and safety through its position as an employer and purchaser of goods and services.

Health and safety in government procurement has been given higher priority in the last year, with government agencies taking a strong lead to establish higher workplace health and safety standards in influential sectors.

Encouraging safety through vehicle fleet purchasing

Land Transport New Zealand, ACC, the Ministry of Transport and the New Zealand Police have joined together in a campaign to encourage fleet buyers to purchase work vehicles with good vehicle safety technology.

Buyers of vehicle fleets are an important influence on vehicle safety, as they purchase about 70 percent of all new vehicles entering New Zealand every year. These cars are generally sold to the public within a few years, so when fleet buyers purchase work vehicles with good vehicle safety technology, New Zealand’s entire vehicle fleet benefits through improved safety.

A website has been set up (www.futurefleet.co.nz) presenting vehicle safety information, including procurement advice for fleet buyers.

Government agency fleet buyers have also been showing leadership by making safe vehicle selections. From August last year, government agencies have been required to purchase, lease or hire vehicles with an occupant protection crash test rating and to give priority consideration to vehicles with electronic stability control.

The Department of Labour has been building on this work by establishing baseline data on government agencies’ procurement of light vehicles and driver safety management practices.

Improving health and safety in the cleaning sector

The Department of Labour has been working on a number of initiatives to improve the health and safety of cleaners. Interim research has highlighted possible future work in this area.
Possible initiatives include developing an industry strategy on best practice methods and procedures for the cleaning industry, updating training materials and developing industry guidelines on training and performance.

Contracting guidelines supporting health and safety management

This year, the Department of Labour has responded to business concerns regarding liability for the actions of contractors, by developing draft guidelines for principals on how to meet their HSE Act obligations.

The guidelines provide a broad process for including health and safety in contract management and can be adapted to specific contractual situations.

Not all steps of the process will be applicable to all contracts, but the framework can be used by principals, sector groups and others to draw up their own best practice approach to health and safety.
The final guidelines will be released in the coming year.

National priority area: vulnerable workers

The Strategy identifies vulnerable workers as those workers at increased risk of suffering work-related disease and injury. Vulnerable workers include children, young people, new workers, older workers, new migrants, people with low literacy or impairments, and those working in precarious employment.

A significant focus for this year has been improving the targeting of information for vulnerable workers, starting with youth and Pacific workers.

Improving workplace health and safety for young workers

Young workers are a vulnerable group for a number of reasons. They may be new entrants to the workplace, often in part-time jobs, and have limited knowledge of their employment rights. This group of workers is known to have knowledge gaps in workplace health and safety practices.

This year, the Department of Labour has worked towards a better understanding of youth information needs in order to undertake targeted information campaigns. A Department sponsored survey found that, of 3,200 students surveyed, 42 percent of those who worked part-time were unaware of their rights and responsibilities under the HSE Act – and 20 percent had suffered a work-related injury or illness, mainly minor.

An amendment to the Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995 will place duties on principals of young people doing contract work, similar to those already applying to employers of young employees. Young people under the age of 15 working as independent contractors will be restricted from hazardous work or hazardous workplaces. While the regulatory change will not address all the safety concerns for young workers, the policy intent goes some way towards protecting young workers who are still developing physically and mentally.

Pacific youth have also been a focus for engagement this year. The annual ASB Polyfest in March 2008 provided an environment for the Department to engage with students and the wider community, raising awareness of rights and responsibilities at work.

To make the health and safety message appealing to young people, an emerging comic artist was engaged to design a comic-style health and safety fact sheet, for release at the ASB Polyfest. The Department also launched a health and safety song competition – Write Your Rights – in collaboration with Dawn Raid and NiuFM. The winning song forms part of a package of resources for teaching students about workplace health and safety and is available on the Department’s website.

National priority area: airborne substances

Airborne substances have remained a Strategy priority this year at both a strategic and operational level.

The Department of Labour commissioned a literature review to look into priority and control issues and also ran a pilot project surveying worker exposure to airborne substances in the clothing and footwear sector.

The Department has run workshops with private consultants, employer and union representatives, and health and safety inspectors to inform projects in the coming year.

Spray painting is also recognised as a hazardous occupation. Painters as a group have a significantly higher rate of cancers (leukaemia, bladder cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma) than the population at large. They are also at risk of chronic occupational asthma, which can result in life-long debilitation. This year, the Department has continued to engage with paint companies and health monitoring service providers regarding ongoing education and compliance.

Health and safety inspectors still report a lack of understanding throughout the industry regarding the potential for severe respiratory disease. To address this concern, the Department plans to work closely with polytechnics, the Collision Repair Association, paint distributors and insurance companies in the coming year.

Giving forklifts a tune-up to reduce noxious fumes

Forklift drivers can be exposed to carbon monoxide levels well in excess of the maximum workplace exposure standard of 25 parts per million over an eight-hour period.

That’s particularly true of forklifts powered by diesel, LPG and petrol, operating within relatively contained areas. In 2007, the Department of Labour found one workplace registering over 500 parts per million.

Carbon monoxide discharges can affect both forklift drivers and nearby workers. Workplaces can improve the emission level by fitting catalytic convertors, making sure forklifts have regular maintenance, or by replacing them with electric-powered models. Workplaces can also consider ventilation quality in the areas where forklifts are operated.

The Department is monitoring maintenance regimes to identify how long it takes for the carbon monoxide levels to increase significantly after the last service for different types of forklifts. Recommendations can then be made on how often forklifts require a tune-up.

A principal is anyone who engages another person, other than an employee, to do any work for gain or reward.