Have your say on H&S changes

Joe's blog

On 14 June, the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon Brooke van Velden, launched a public consultation on the work health and safety regulatory system. The Minister wants to hear about New Zealanders’ experiences with the work health and safety system, how people think it’s working now, and what people think should change. The Minister has been undertaking a roadshow to meet with industry groups throughout New Zealand. We understand there will an opportunity to meet the Minister in Rotorua in mid- August. We will look to promote the date and times once these are confirmed.

FISC intends to make a submission as part of the consultation and would welcome your feedback, we would look to reflect the strongest and most common themes. My thanks to those who have already been in contact with their views. It has been interesting to see some feedback from the NZ Institute of Safety Management, which recently conducted a national survey about the current legislation. The survey had over 1300 responses and some of the general feedback noted:

• The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 is not viewed as fundamentally broken. Most of those replying to the survey think the main elements of the Act are either working well or only require minor changes.
• The existing regulations are also seen as working well or in need of small tweaks.
• The need for a strong and capable regulator with adequate resources and a clear intervention strategy.
• Clearer regulations and guidance.
• Better worker participation.

Now some of these points may or may not resonate with you, so it is important to take the opportunity to make your own submission. Information about the consultation and how to make a submission can be found on the MBIE website. This includes the full consultation document. MBIE’s dedicated email address for the consultation is HSWHaveYourSay@mbie.govt.nz. The consultation is open between 14 June and 31 October 2024. If you are looking to provide feedback to incorporate into the FISC submission, these are some questions I would like to hear about from you:

• Does current legislation provide enough flexibility and certainty?
• How effective do you think worker engagement activities are in your organisation?
• Have you had an opportunity to interact with WorkSafe, and if so, have the interactions been useful, reasonable and timely?
• Do you think the way that work risks are managed are: too cautious; about right: not cautious enough?
• Is there any other feedback you want to provide?

Joe Akari, CEO, Safetree / FISC

             

Safety Alert: Damaged slew ring failure

While shovelling stems with a CAT 552 leveller, the operator felt his cab slowly tipping to one side, and stopped work.  It was discovered that the slew ring had snapped and five swing bearing bolts were missing, with another 20 bolts also broken. The remaining bolts were firm and were holding the small broken slew ring portion to the levelling base plate. Thanks to Rayonier Matariki for sharing this Alert.

See Rayonier Matariki’s review into this incident, including steps to prevent similar incidents.

Certification Update: Funding for Worker Certification

Safetree has secured ACC funding to subsidise the cost of Tree Falling and Breaker Out Worker Certification. Safetree Certified Contractors can receive a subsidy of up to $1500 per worker subsidised by this scheme, which for most will cover the full cost. The funding is limited and available on a first-in, first-served basis. Please register your interest.

            

WorkSafe report on harm and risk in New Zealand

WorkSafe has released a report on work-related harm and risk in New Zealand that includes some information on the performance of the forestry sector. The report says forestry/ logging had the highest fatality rate in New Zealand. The average age of workers killed in forestry was 40, compared with 49 for all fatalities. The combined Agriculture-Forestry-Fishing sectors accounted for 10% of work-related injury claims (involving more than a week off work), coming in behind Manufacturing (21%) and Construction (17%).

See a dashboard of key information or download the full report from the WorkSafe website.

Featured resource: Maintaining forestry machinery

Regular repairs and maintenance are important to ensure the safe and efficient operation of forestry machinery. See this guidance created by Rayonier Matariki to help ensure its contractors  and others stay safe when repairing and maintaining mobile forestry machinery.  It includes a guide, videos and other downloadable resources. See the guidance