Workplace Health and Safety Strategy for New Zealand to 2015

Engaging both industry and community forces is critical to improving workplace health and safety.

For industry, this means individual workplaces, trade unions, employer organisations, industry associations and training organisations must be committed to action. Their understanding of the challenges and experience with successful and unsuccessful approaches to workplace health and safety can lead to practical and effective advice, information, industry standards and training programmes. They can also become influential role models and examples of best practice.

Community engagement creates a positive and supportive climate for improvements in workplace health and safety. This flow of influence is two-way, as highlighting workplace health and safety issues also has a positive effect on community and recreational safety practices.

Industry leadership

This year, a number of significant industry programmes and guidelines have made positive steps towards improving health and safety performance.

Site Safe

Site Safe is an independent industry organisation that promotes health and safety improvements in the construction sector. This year, Site Safe progressed three key initiatives to deliver comprehensive, accurate and timely information regarding health and safety performance on construction sites – in turn, contributing to clients’ contractor selection and management processes.
Site Safe signed a partnership agreement with ACC and the Department of Labour that provides a strategic framework to achieve more effective health and safety planning in the construction industry through collaboration and ongoing communication.
The Health and Safety Charter agreement was also launched for high performing Head of Agreement companies. The programme recognises high achieving construction businesses by evaluating participating organisations’ safety performance, using key performance indicators of construction safety best practice.

Site Safe also developed a benchmarking audit system to assist construction companies to evaluate their health and safety performance against a wide range of industry criteria. The tool is designed to capture site safety performance in real time, providing concise audit reports that provide feedback on the performance of both the main contractor and sub-contractors.

Operate Safe

Operate Safe, established in 2003, is an approved accreditation regime. The regime enables roading and civil contractors to improve their health and safety record and to demonstrate compliance with the requirements of the Health and Safety in Employment Act. It provides for industry self-governance using industry best practice.

This year, Operate Safe has improved and simplified its processes, and its membership has risen. Importantly, the number of staff and supervisors gaining the regime’s cards and New Zealand Qualifications Authority-recognised national qualifications has also increased. Further successes this year include:

Operate Safe has worked with the Department of Labour, Manukau City Council, Site Safe and the Contractors’ Federation, among others, to improve workplace health and safety connections across the whole sector and recognise a common standard.

Reducing injuries in the stevedoring industry

This year, Maritime New Zealand has continued to work strategically with stakeholders in the stevedoring industry to reduce injury frequency.

“Operations Afloat”

Stevedores are often engaged in dangerous work. Loading and unloading cargo from ships means using heavy machinery, such as straddle carriers, forklifts and ships’ cranes. Stevedores need to know how to secure and handle many different types of cargo, such as logs or fertiliser, including hazardous or damaged material.

Consequently, when a stevedore is injured, it is usually serious. Maritime New Zealand, responsible for maritime safety systems, has noted that the frequency of injury to stevedores has not reduced.

In July 2007, all external stakeholders in the stevedore industry were invited to an initial planning meeting at Maritime New Zealand – 27 people came, representing a broad cross-section of the industry. From there, a project steering group to reduce injuries among stevedores was formed.

The steering group found that, for some activities, there was no comprehensive data about stevedore injuries. The Stevedore and Ports Association offered to sponsor the collection of data from all ports for the previous 12 months. This data has been analysed and will provide guidance for developing resources.

A pilot communication system to alert ports to sub-standard situations on ships is already underway, and a safe ship checklist has been produced, to be completed before cargo is discharged.

While there is still a way to go, stakeholders’ response has been positive. The steering group is planning a variety of resources that will contribute to safer workplaces for stevedores.

Acting quickly to minimise a significant hazard

Henshaw Group Ltd won the ACC award for Best Leadership of an Industry Sector or Region at the 2008 Safeguard New Zealand Health and Safety Awards, for recognising and responding quickly to a significant hazard.
There have been five electrocutions involving under-floor insulation foil in recent years. At the end of 2006, a New Zealand Standard was published that covered the installation of insulation, including under-floor foil.

However, building maintenance workers may be working in buildings where insulation foil has not been fitted in accordance with the recent standard. In many residential dwellings where the foil is in place, there may be no signage to alert people to the possible dangers of electrical cables concealed beneath it, or to show that it has been installed in accordance with recommended procedures.

When Henshaw Group Ltd, an Auckland building maintenance company, received advice about the new standard and sent it on to its employees and approximately 500 contractors, concerns were raised that work was regularly done in the vicinity of this foil without any way of knowing if it had been fitted safely.

The company consulted widely to develop a safety policy and determined that work must not begin until foil had been inspected and either removed or earthed by an electrician and that new foil must be installed according to strict safety guidelines.

Clients, contractors and employees were informed of the proposed procedures, thought to be the first of their kind. Regulatory and industry bodies were also informed, including the New Zealand Standards Association, Department of Labour, Electrical Workers Licensing Group and Master Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers NZ.

The speed of the company’s response was impressive – it took good advice and developed the policy within a week of concerns being raised. By communicating the policy to all interested parties, this move will help improve safety – not just for the company’s own workers, but for everyone who works around under-floor insulation foil.

Partnerships for safety

Partnerships between government agencies and industries can often solve problems. ACC and Hancock Forest Management New Zealand Ltd have been working together to assist contractors into the Workplace Safety Discounts scheme.

This scheme gives a 10 percent discount off the work levy for small businesses and self-employed people who can show sound health and safety practices. However, ACC staff found that there was little uptake in Northland due to small businesses having difficulties completing the self-assessment booklet.

To combat this problem, ACC worked with Hancock Forest Management to encourage contractors to attend a four-hour workshop about the assessment booklet and the types of information required to submit an application.

This approach has led to greater industry awareness and companies setting minimum requirement standards for their contractors in health and safety.

Community engagement

Community engagement is also an important part of building awareness and receptiveness to workplace health and safety initiatives. Greater community awareness and concern about health and safety can create a positive and supportive climate for improvements in workplace health and safety. This is a two-way street, as workplace health and safety has a positive effect on community and recreational safety practices.

Improving workplace health and safety for Pacific workers

Government agencies and local authorities have been active in promoting workplace health and safety through working in and with the community.

The specific health and safety concerns of Pacific workers in South Auckland have been a real focus this year. Pacific Islanders constitute a higher proportion of workers in high risk industries such as manufacturing and construction. Demographic data shows a disproportionate representation of Māori and Pacific workers in industries such as plant and machinery operators – both high risk industries.

The Puataunofo Manukau Project – bringing Pacific workers home safely in Manukau

Manukau City has a significant new programme promoting health and safety for Pasifika workers in Manukau. The Puataunofo Manukau Project is aimed at both current Pacific workers in Manukau’s manufacturing companies and at the next generation of Pacific youth. It is designed to make sure workers “come home safely”.

The project is getting its health and safety message across in all kinds of ways. Some sound fairly traditional, like the delivery of workshops and information packs in factories. However, the workshops have been designed to coincide with a dedicated health and safety talkback slot on Radio 531pi. The information packs include health and safety factsheets that were refreshed and translated into Samoan, Tongan and Māori.

In addition, the Puataunofo Manukau Project provided information stalls at community occasions, such as the Pasifika Festival and the ASB Polyfest to target Pacific workers and youth. Innovative ideas have been used to catch young people’s attention at such occasions.

The Puataunofo Manukau Project’s success in positive engagement to raise awareness can be traced to the level of co-operation and pooling of resources by stakeholders. This includes the Department of Labour, ACC, the Ministry of Pacific Island Affairs, the Manukau City Council, the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Komiti Pasifika, the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union, and manufacturing companies in Manukau.

The Puataunofo Manukau Project is not a fixed-term project. It will continue into the future, with annual workplace workshops and other innovative activities planned.

Working safely on the front line

Small retail owners are becoming increasingly concerned about the risks to their safety and livelihoods due to armed robberies. Armed robbery is a serious crime that has the potential to cause death or significant injury, as well as trauma, loss of stock and cash, and loss of earnings. The problem not only affects those who work in these small outlets, but also their local communities.

One way to combat this problem is through preventative action. The New Zealand Police, the Department of Labour, Trents Wholesale Ltd (a South Island grocery wholesale company), Manukau City Council and ACC have been collaborating on workshops to educate small businesses about the risks of armed robbery in Canterbury and Manukau City. Dairies, mini-marts and superettes are frequently victims of robberies, so these workshops have been designed to provide practical measures that these businesses can take to reduce the risk of robbery.

In July 2007, the project reached 97 people representing 70 businesses in Christchurch, Ashburton and Kaikoura. Positive feedback from attendees showed many committing to take what they learned and make changes to their practices.

Workshops have been initiated in Manukau as part of a response to the retailers’ needs. About 60 participants have taken part so far and have received advice on what to do in the event of a robbery, learning preventative measures such as:

Manukau City Council keeping staff safe from violence

Last year, Manukau City Council identified a problem with its library staff facing verbal and physical abuse. In mid-2007, the Council assessed every role in the whole organisation to determine the workers most at risk of aggression. Staff were encouraged to report all incidents so that problems could be swiftly identified.

By September 2007, the Council had a project underway to establish a clear policy on dealing with violence as a workplace hazard, to take practical steps to prevent violence and to support employees exposed to violence.

By the end of January 2008, the project was completed, and the Council had:

identified the staff at medium and high risk of being subjected to violence
developed a training course to help them identify and defuse difficult situations, plan ahead to avoid risky situations and respond appropriately
put 174 at-risk staff through the course.

The project was a rapid response to a challenging situation and has already shown success. Staff confidence has increased, and reported incidents have reduced from an average of ten per month to two per month. With the training programme due to be repeated every three months, these benefits can be expected to increase over time. Staff now have conflict-prevention skills they can use in any situation.

The initiative won Manukau City Council the award for Best Initiative to Address a Safety Hazard at the 2008 Safeguard New Zealand Health and Safety Awards.