|
Download
|
Workplace Health and Safety Council Meeting Minutes - No.9, Thursday 17 September 2009 PRESENT Phil O’Reilly (Chair), Christopher Blake, Helen Kelly, Panu Raea, Paul Jarvie, Fritz Drissner, Hon Kate Wilkinson and Hon Pansy Wong for 9.3 IN ATTENDANCE Craig Armitage (DoL), Paul Barker (DoL), Ray Campbell (ACC), Katie Sadleir (ACC), Geoff Wilson (ACC), Jim Murphy (DoL), Sarah Laracy (DoL), David Mulholland (DoL), Francois Barton (DoL), Mike Munnelly (DoL), Sharyn Forsyth (Maritime NZ), Catherine Taylor (Maritime NZ) and Peter Dawson (Federation of Commercial Fishermen and also the Chair of FishSAFE) for item 9.6, Neil Pearce for item 9.8 APOLOGIES Andrew Casidy INTRODUCTIONThe meeting commenced at 9.05 am with brief introductions from attendees. The Minister of Labour, Hon Kate Wilkinson and the Associate Minister for ACC Hon Pansy Wong joined the meeting from 9.05-9.37am. ACTIONThe Council: 9.1 Noted apologies and welcomed new member Fritz Drissner. 9.2 Confirmed the minutes of the 13 May 2009 meeting with no amendments. Item 9.3: Minister CommentsMinister Wilkinson Minister Wilkinson expressed desire to make workplaces safer and to make health and safety seen as an investment in productivity not a burden. She invited the Council’s feedback on the health and safety representative training, and how to get people past level one, and is also interested in the Council’s views on the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy Review report. The Minister advised that the disestablishment of the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee (NOHSAC) was not a reflection on the value of the work. The decision was essentially a ‘value for money’ one, as commissioning research on an as needed basis is more cost effective, than maintaining a standing committee. Minister Wilkinson invited comment from other Council members on whether the Ministers should be members or be recipients of advice from the Council? Minister Wong Minister Wong indicated that Government is currently reviewing the Injury Prevention Strategy as part of the overall review of ACC and invited the Council to contribute ideas on how the Strategy can be more effective. On health and safety representative training Minister Wong felt that there was a need to target resources at stages two and three training and that it was not unreasonable to expect employers to contribute to the cost. Council FeedbackHealth and safety representative trainingNZCTU see stage one health and safety representative training as an essential foundation to enable people to move on to stages two and three. Although NZCTU have been able to provide the training without charge employers are paying a portion of the cost of training, as they absorb the cost of the leave for trainees and the lost productivity caused by absence from the workplace. Business NZ opposes one size model for Health and Safety Representative training. Other models have general requirement on employers but shouldn’t be prescriptive. Paul Jarvie (ERMA Northern) asked why there is legislation for health and safety training but not quality or productivity training? Is it right to legislate this level of training? Helen Kelly (NZCTU) expressed concern about direction of the conversation, stating if there isn’t a requirement to train Health and Safety Representatives more employers won’t. NZCTU believes that not enough is spent on Health and Safety Representatives and more funding in the area would make NZ more competitive internationally. It should be viewed as an investment not a cost. National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee (NOHSAC)NZCTU voiced disappointment in that the Council was not consulted about the disestablishment of NOHSAC. Questioned who would perform the functions of identifying key areas and prioritisation of work in the absence of NOHSAC. Business New Zealand is not too disappointed that NOHSAC was disestablished but recognises the need for independent research advice, it believes other mechanisms can perform the function. ACC ReviewBusiness New Zealand thinks the ACC review should promote approaches that incentivise and reward employers for a good health and safety record and supports an experience rating in principle. Council’s role and membershipThe consensus view is that the Council should continue as a tripartite peak body, with Ministers as full participants (although recognising that it was not feasible or necessary for them to be present for the whole of the meetings). The Terms of Reference should be reviewed, with particular reference to the duty that they be consulted on draft Cabinet papers relating to matters of strategic national or international importance for workplace health and safety. ACTION9.3.1: Agreed to review the Councils Terms of Reference. 9.3.2: Agreed that the Ministers should be full participant members of the council. The Ministers left the meeting at this point. Item 9.4: Health and safety representative training provisions (Options for future funding)The Council was presented with a discussion paper prepared by the Department of Labour in consultation with ACC. The paper responded to a request from the Council meeting of 13 May 2009 (8.4.2) for a report on the current situation with health and safety representative training and options for future funding. The paper provides background on health and safety representative training and outlines the current status of training and funding. It also provides several options going forward.
Council members discussed the presentation. The consensus was that training is only one component of what is required to ensure reps are able to positively contribute to improved H&S outcomes. The Council discussed the contribution investments into training made to improving health and safety outcomes, and the possibility of a developing a more strategic approach to thinking about the place of health and safety representative training. NZCTU would like to see funding maintained as a priority and that a proposal for evaluation be developed and the evaluation be used to improve training and support. Business NZ believes that although the necessity for employee participation in health and safety is clear, health and safety representatives are not the only option for achieving this. They would also like to see an option developed as a combination of both options two and three discussed in the paper, possibly focussing on high risk activities and sectors. ACTION9.4.1: Noted high quality and value of paper. 9.4.2: Noted paper highlights the success and international acceptance of training. 9.4.3: Noted paragraph forty-five states that more evaluation is needed and this evaluation should be used to inform future investment decisions. 9.4.4: Noted reservations about online training due to access and computer literacy especially in high risk industries. 9.4.5: Agreed options one and four are not supported 9.4.6: Agreed a combination of options two and three are worthy of further exploration 9.4.7: Agreed a fifth option of increasing Government funding should not be discounted. 9.4.8: Agreed Department of Labour to undertake further work with ACC to develop a more strategic approach to support the role of health and safety representatives; including workplace/employer systems required to support ongoing development. 9.4.9: Agreed further report back and consultation with Council before policy advice goes to the Minister. Item 9.5: Fleet management proposalA presentation was made by Phil Wright and Ray Campbell of ACC, introducing a cross-agency scheme to monitor fleet management in New Zealand and consequent health and safety issues. The project is a collaboration of DoL, ACC & NZ Police at a frontline level that can achieve significant objectives in both Health and Safety in the Workplace Strategy as well as the National Road Safety Strategy. Statistically New Zealand is very similar to the rest of the world in that it is estimated that work-related incidents make up 25% of the road toll, rising to 50% if commuting is included. Nationally there is currently no systemised tool by which authorities can identify risky work/road operations and give early advice to employers. The desired outcome of the programme would include a tool that will identify at risk fleets and be welcomed by employers, an early and coordinated cross-agency intervention in workplaces and industry. A more detailed presentation will be delivered at the Council’s November Meeting. ACTION9.5.1: Noted support from the Council for the project concept. 9.5.2: Noted more detailed presentation from ACC on the fleet management proposal will be made at the November meeting. Item 9.6: Maritime New Zealand - Maintenance of health and safety programme following withdrawal of ACC funding.At the August 2008 meeting the Council requested officials to provide further information (6.4.1) on the current funding basis and commitments for training and capability programmes. Sharyn Forsyth and Catherine Taylor of Maritime NZ , with Peter Dawson Chair of FishSAFE and the Executive Director of the Federation of Commercial Fishermen presented on the development and success of the FishSAFE programme. FishSAFE is a fishing industry led industry/government partnership with the aim of developing strategies to improve the safety performance of New Zealand commercial fishing vessels. FishSAFE is an industry brand and participants are on the whole unaware that there is government involvement. The FishSAFE initiative originated in 2002 supported by ACC funding. ACC funding ceased in December 2008. Industry itself funds vast majority of programme but $150 - $180 thousand per annum is needed for FishSAFE to continue. Maritime NZ is currently working to develop business case for government funding. It has been so successful and internationally accepted that Aquiculture has taken on FishSAFE and large corporates have also adopted the programme. Mentoring system at port associations has been very successful, and is currently being used for reaccredidation/revalidation of previous training. In the opinion of Peter Dawson, learnings from FishSAFE should be applied to other industries and lives will be saved if programme continues. Council members asked if corporate sponsorship had been investigated, to which Mr Dawson replied that they wary of corporate involvement because of value of the FishSafe brand itself. The Council also wanted to know if ACC has seen a reduction of injuries in the fishing industry since this programme was initiated. Katie Sadlier of ACC indicated that there was a significant reduction but is now creeping up again. Comparisons were made to FarmSAFE which has seen injury rate increases, but it does not appear as a result of the training. ACTION9.6.1: Noted the presentation from Maritime NZ and Mr Dawson on FishSAFE. 9.6.2: Noted that Maritime NZ is developing a business case to support a budget bid to increase funding for the programme 9.6.3: Invitation for Mr Dawson to update the Council on progress of FishSAFE. 9.6.4: Request for ACC to provide information on how much they invest in health and safety in the workplace, specifically on industry programmes and television campaigns 9.6.5: Agreed DoL to include standing agenda item on official injury statistics (Serious harm and fatalities; high level analysis of high risk industries (including info on significant investigations and activities in industries of interest). Item 9.7: WHSS Strategy Review including review of the WHSCThe Council has been invited to provide feedback on the review of the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy, conducted between February and June 2009. As the Council was already familiar with the review, Jim Murphy (DoL) gave a brief overview of the Review Report and drew member’s attention to the findings and recommendations. The Minister of Labour has approved the draft review report for limited release and feedback by social partners and government agencies, prior to the report being finalised. Feedback on the draft report is sought both individually and collectively from the Council members by 30 September 2009. Subsequently, the Minister will consider any feedback and finalise the report for release in November 2009. Chair requested Council members focus on the review recommendations (page 42). Council members felt that it was a sound report and acknowledged that the next steps would be difficult and would require negotiation and compromise. There was discussion around the lack of any reference to occupational health research in the review report. New member Fritz Drissner congratulated the Department of Labour on dealing with some uncomfortable truths. He believes that there should be Health and Safety accredited auditors rather that quality auditors to undertake ACC H&S Audits. Particular issues endorsed by the Council for further detailed work in the action agenda include:
The following were identified at future standing agenda items.
Chris Blake (DoL) stated that the Council needs to think about what Tri-partite means with new Government and Ministers. Consideration also needs to be devoted to the role of Ministers within the Council. Council members affirmed their support for the Ministers’ participation but that more thought be given to ensuring the agenda enables Ministers to be present for identified priority items. Jim Murphy (DoL) indicated that Council members could provide further feedback on the draft report to the Department of Labour up to 30 September 2009. ACTION9.7.1: Note the review of the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy has been completed and the draft review report is attached for Council consideration and feedback. 9.7.2: Note that there was a high level of consensus among respondents to the review about workplace health and safety’s progress, barriers and future priorities. 9.7.3: Note that feedback on the draft is sought both individually and collectively from the Council members by 30 September 2009. 9.7.4: Note that after feedback from the council and government agencies the report will be finalised for release in November 2009. 9.7.5: Note that preliminary work will begin immediately to develop the first cut of the national agenda for action. Council input will be sought 9.7.6: Agreed the following are to be standing agenda items:
Item 9.8: National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory CommitteeNeil Pearce formerly NOHSAC Chairperson presented an overview of the committee, its history and the work it provided prior to it disestablishment. Created in 2003, the Committee developed an evidence-based approach to occupational health and safety issues and provided independent advice to the Minister of Labour on major occupational health and safety issues. It also advised on measures that would deliver benefit for the prevention of occupational disease and injury. They produced a number of reports on a range of health and safety, occupational disease and injury issues. The committee was disestablished in June 2009. Some Council members expressed concerns about the gap created by the disestablishment of NOHSAC. Craig Armitage (DoL) assured Council that the Department of Labour would retain the ability to commission research into current and emerging issues and that NOHSACs body of work will continue to be used. ACTION9.8.1: Note the Council acknowledged the work of Professor Pearce and NOHSAC.SUMMARY OF ACTIONS
Meeting closed 1.00pm, Thursday 17 September 2009 Next meeting 9am-1pm, 11 November, 3.4 Members Only Dining Room, Beehive Chair Helen Kelly Apologies Phil O’Reilly |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
SITE MAP | ACCESS KEYS | COPYRIGHT | DISCLAIMER | PRIVACY ACT |