Simplyfying health & safety in New Zealand

Hi and welcome to my piece of the blogging empire. I have started posting to help educate people, start discussions and question your current theories around health & safety in New Zealand as I walk this exciting dynamic and fascinating new path in my life.

Since 1998 I have been a passionate adventure activity professional, instructing, guiding and teaching multiple outdoor pursuits, managed multiple adventure activity centres and programmes around the North Island of New Zealand, owned and operated an industrial rope access company, was a full time fireman and thought I knew a thing or two about managing health & safety, then I did an accredited safety auditors course and got to fully look at the Health & Safety Employment Act (1992) and my eyes were opened.

So I started on a crusade, a crusade that kept being held up by the fact I was running a rapidly expanding adventure activity business.

Now on a path to being a health and safety practitioner, and in a very short space of time having learnt so much about applying simple robust health and safety principles (but still with so much more to learn) I sit here reflecting on my journey to date and asking 'was it all just luck, I did not kill anyone?' I don't believe the answer is completing 'yes'. But I unfortunately do believe it had a large part to play.

There is this piece of New Zealand Law that can drastically change your life without you even knowing it and the line 'ignorance is bliss' does not cut it here. Not only can this impact you legally resulting in fines, reparation payments and jail time... but morally too. Ask yourself the question 'how would I feel having killed someone, knowing I could have done something about it?' And this does not only apply to business owners, but employees too.

This is a very exciting time as New Zealand prepares for the largest change in this area in over 20 years.

Follow me through my journey as I try break it down simply and apply it to a some experiential education work I help out on. Looking at current legislation and the changes as they arrive.

I don't believe I have all the answers, I don't know if I ever will. So if you are more educated than me, have a difference of opinion and can still keep this simple then please feel free to comment. If you have some questions, get in touch and let's see if we can find the answer together.

Thanks!

Comments

Are you a team player?

Reflecting on the recent Francie incident (I use this word intentionally) it got me thinking. Am I a team player when it comes to safety? Shifting through the archives of my memory I draw on the conclusion I am possibly not. A harsh reality to contemplate. But they do say the truth is always hardest to bear. Why not I hear you say? Well I like to think I play well with others. I like to think I engage with others on safety initiatives. I like to think I follow all safety instructions when provided. So why don't I think I am a team player? Well how many times had I seen some unsafe acts and walked passed. How many times did I tell myself... 'not my issue' when I knew they could be doing it better. When I was in business, the sad truth was if a competitor had an incident outwardly it would be all 'thoughts are with'. But inwardly thinking how could I capitalize on their mistake? What could I get out of it? Now that is not being a team play...

Are we damaging risk?

Risk it is a four letter word, yet a word within safety circles that causes so much tension and can be the fuel to many heated debates. 'The effect of uncertainty on objectives' - International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) ' Risk is the chance, high or low, of somebody being harmed by the hazard, and how serious the harm could be.' - Health and Safety Executive (HSE) A quick search would lead people to a number of definitions of this four letter word, as illustrated above. After numerous discussions with some very educated people what I have managed to deduce is that; We will never agree on the definition of risk We all seem to believe that when assessing risk we need to consider two broad (I use the word broad intentionally) things; Risk = Consequence x Likelihood But that is not what I am here to look at. What I am here to try have you reflect on is... 'Are we doing more damage to risk in the way we manage, speak and educate about it ...

Safety culture : Removing the # 8 wire?

Does creating a culture of safety mean getting rid of the 'ol number 8 wire'? This is a general 'fear', 'concern' or misconception I come across on a regular basis when talking to people about health and safety. Before we can answer that question, we should look at three things, what is 'culture'?, what is 'safety'? and what exactly is the 'ol number 8 wire'? Culture is defined in many ways by people. However a couple definitions that resonate with me are ' Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. In this case 'safety' By Kim Ann Zimmerman The Center for Advance Research on Language Acquisition goes a step further, defining culture as shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs and understanding that are learned by socialization. Thus, it can be seen as the growth of a group ...

A simple and practical guide to NZ Health and Safety

Search This Blog