Founded by Max Farndale 1947 - 2018
Daylight Saving this weekend is a good time to check on the amount of sleep you are getting to keep yourself and others healthy and safe as you work, says WorkSafe Chief Executive Nicole Rosie.
“People who are tired and fatigued are 30% more likely to have an accident. Both businesses and workers have a responsibility to manage fatigue and the risks that arise from it.
“Work and personal demands can often make it difficult to get the sleep we need to function safely throughout the day,” Ms Rosie said.
WorkSafe has a fatigue quick guide with information for businesses and workers to explain their respective responsibilities to manage fatigue.
Fatigue is a work-related health risk if it reduces our ability and alertness to work safely and effectively. Fatigue can affect people’s feeling of wellness and wellbeing and impact productivity. It can also lead to safety incidents.
It is a state of physical and/or mental exhaustion which can impact our ability to function safely. This may lead to errors and an increase in workplace health and safety incidents, with potentially serious consequences for both workers and businesses.
“According to our 2015 Health and Safety Attitudes and Behaviour Survey, 43% of workers in sectors with a high risk of injuries and fatalities reported working when overtired,” Ms Rosie said.
WorkSafe is currently working with other regulators including the New Zealand Transport Agency, Civil Aviation Authority and Maritime New Zealand to look at ways to better support workers and business to manage fatigue in the workplace.
The aim is to develop key cross-industry information for businesses, workers and their families about how to recognise and manage fatigue in the workplace.
| A Worksafe release || September 21, 2017 |||
WorkSafe has just launched two new businesses to its highly-successful ‘Around the Block’ tool – a free online tool which has been developed to help small and medium sized Kiwi businesses manage workplace health and safety risks.
The new shops are a bakery and a collision repair workshop. The original 13 shops on Around the Block were launched in November 2016, and since then have proved extremely successful and have been used over 90,000 times.
“Our statistics indicated that workers in bakeries and collision repair workshops are faced with a range of work and health related risks. This tool will make it much easier for any of these businesses to begin identifying and managing their risks” says Phil Parkes, GM Better Regulation.
We have worked collaboratively with businesses to make sure the bakery and collision repair workshop include accurate representations of the risks and mitigations found in these businesses.
Animated and interactive, the tool takes users ‘around the block’ and into businesses where they can click on risk ‘hotspots’ and learn what actions you can take to remove and manage them.
The tool is aimed at small and medium sized businesses which make up some 97% of businesses in New Zealand and targets the owners, directors and managers of those businesses. The tool is designed to help businesses with training and involving workers in identifying and managing some of their key health and safety risks.
The Around the Block tool was built by WorkSafe in collaboration with ACC to help businesses better understand their obligations under the new Health and Safety at Work Act from a risk management perspective.
| A Worksave release || September 15, 2017 |||
Telematics provider Teletrac Navman has announced it has reached the 100,000-asset milestone across its New Zealand and Australian customers.
It recently installed its GPS fleet tracking technology in the Safety MAN Road Safety Truck, an initiative led by the NZ Trucking Association.
“We work with thousands of companies across Aotearoa, from grassroots family businesses to large multinational operators in transport, construction and professional services, and we are thrilled to reach this milestone,” said Ian Daniel, Vice President and Managing Director Asia Pacific, Teletrac Navman.
“We track everything from powerful freight trucks to SPCA Auckland’s rescue vans, and nippy Domino’s Pizza delivery vehicles to tradies’ tool-laden utes. Our heritage is rooted in New Zealand and we proudly partner with our Kiwi customers to leverage technology to increase productivity and profitability of their businesses.”
The global fleet and asset management solutions provider's beginnings trace back to Auckland in 1986, with vehicles in New Zealand and Australia representing around one fifth of the 550,000 vehicles and assets that Teletrac Navman tracks and manages worldwide.
| A PrimeMover release || September 12, 2017 |||
Horticulture New Zealand has teamed up with WorkSafe New Zealand to create a health and safety toolkit specifically designed for horticulture businesses.
"Managing health and safety in the workplace is a critical issue for horticulture businesses," Horticulture New Zealand chief executive Mike Chapman says. "Keeping up with what is required is something we can help growers with.
"Working with WorKSafe, we have been able to customise a toolkit, called Keep Safe, Keep Growing, which includes both a written booklet and an easy-to-work-through online guide to help growers identify and manage health and safety risks.
"The guideline is targeted at those who are responsible for the management of health and safety in a horticulture business. It covers the steps that growers should take to build a health and safety system.
"Features include a guide for visitors to a property, tools and training resources for workers and contractors, and the ability to create risk assessments for Good Agricultural Practice (GAP) audits that are part of many horticulture businesses."
Horticulture New Zealand represents 5,500 commercial fruit and vegetable growers who employ 60,000 people. A copy of the Keep Safe, Keep Growing guide will be posted to all growers over the coming days. Additional copies will be available from Horticulture New Zealand on request. The online guide can be found here.
New Zealand’s system for the management of hazardous substances in the Workplace is changing. The Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations will come into force in December 2017. The Regulations are aimed at reducing both immediate harm and longer-term illness that can result from the work-related use of hazardous substances.
If yours is one of the 150,000 businesses across New Zealand that manufacture, use, handle, store or transport hazardous substances, take note that the rules that govern the use of hazardous substances in the workplace are moving from the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) Act (administered by the EPA) into a new Health and Safety at Work (HSW) Act (administered by WorkSafe).
Hazardous chemicals are substances, mixtures and articles that can pose a significant risk to health and safety if not managed correctly. They may have Health hazards, Physical hazards and/or Environmental hazards.
Examples of chemical that can cause adverse health effects in the Workplace include:
Examples of chemicals that can immediately injure people or damage property include:
§ flammable liquids
§ compressed gasses
§ explosives.
Many hazardous substances are also classed as dangerous goods.
As soon as the changes come into force, WorkSafe New Zealand will become solely responsible for compliance in the handling, storage, disposal, use and manufacturing of hazardous substances in workplace. Also included is the supervision of the Test Certification process for handling, storage and the location of the hazardous substances. As a result of these changes WorkSafe will also become accountable for enforcing environmental controls for hazardous substances in workplaces.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Authority) under whose umbrella hazardous substances currently fall, will continue its role in controlling the issue outside the workplace. It will still receive the applications for hazardous substances, assess their risks and decide whether they should be approved for use in New Zealand. The EPA will also continue to be responsible for setting the rules for classification, labelling, safety data sheets, packaging and the protection of the environment and public health.
In future, the EPA will be responsible for making sure importers and manufacturers:
One of the amendments made to the HSNO Act is the ability for the EPA to issue EPA Notices. These are a new way for the EPA to set rules under the HSNO. This change will allow the EPA to categorise all of the directions about one topic, so that they are easy to find and the compliance requirements are clear. Unlike regulations, which must be approved by Cabinet, EPA notices are approved by the EPA Board. This means they can be updated quickly and easily thereby enabling New Zealand to keep up-to-date with international developments. The notices also allow the EPA to remove duplicate or conflicting provisions, remove outdated, unnecessary or overly complex controls and remedy gaps or problems with the current regulations.
WorkSafe New Zealand outlines a number of steps to follow to ensure your site is compliant with regards to managing hazardous substances. The first step is to find out what hazardous substances you have on your site and prepare an inventory. List all of the substances on your site and create a site plan that shows where they are stored. The inventory should show the name of the substance, its hazard classification, strength of (liquid) solution and amount held for each separate location where it is held.
myosh HSEQ Software System assists companies with this compliance. The Chemical Register module allows all workplace hazardous substances to be listed, classified and linked to the applicable Safety Data Sheet http://myosh.com/modules/chemical-registers/. It also meets the requirements of the new Globally Harmonised System for the Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).
The link below will lead you to a very useful guide with regards to Hazardous Substances in New Zealand. EPA – Your Practical Guide: Working Safely with Hazardous Substances
http://www.hazardoussubstances.govt.nz/media/13982/epa_your_practical_guide_2.pdf
References:
http://www.epa.govt.nz/hazardous-substances/hsno-reform/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.hazardoussubstances.govt.nz/guide
http://techcomp.co.nz/blog/hazardous-substances-regulations-changed-now-beware-changes/
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/chemicals
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/labelling
| A PRPressWire release || July 6, 2017 |||
A rare opportuntiy to purchase a business that offers services now required by law and even more so allows common sense to play a real role. 
Have you ever thought of applying the principle of “Caveat Emptor” when hiring a H&S advisor?
The other day I was chatting with a friend and he was telling me about a business associate who was rather concerned about the amount he was having to pay for his Health and Safety consultant along with the down time he was experiencing having being told that weekly H&S meetings were essential under the new Health and Safety at Work Act. Not to do so could see him incur expensive penalties.
What my freind could not understand was that a colleague of his, who is also a buisness owner, could get away with running just one H&S meeting a month.
It so happened that I was preparing an article on Caveat emptor and how important it is to take heed of this especially it in the area of health & safety. Effectivly he has no come back on the cosultant who prescribed the weekly meeting so enter Caveat emptor. Take time to work through the H&S swamp of nonprescriptive legislation with your consultant.
So if you are thinking of hiring an external H&S consultant or you already use one, I suggest you follow this link to my article. Hopefully you will gain from it.
|| A Hasmate release by Gordon Anderson | Wednesday 22 March 2017 |||
If the following is any indication then Gordon Anderson thinks there is room for improvement.
Recently I engaged Jim’s Test and Tag on behalf of a client to check out their electrical tagging as I had found a number well over due for retesting.
What Jim's Test and Tag team found was that was the client's contracted electrician had made all the electrical appliances in the staff room, shop, and office due for retesting on a 6-monthly cycle.
The Electricity (Safety) Amended Regulations 2011 testing schedule states that many only had to be tested on an 12 monthly or a 5-year testing cycle.
Electrical tagging has for many businesses been a contentious issue of why, do I have to do it? Well it is good risk management policy but no more frequent than the law stipulates. No need to pay every 6 months for what could be a 5 year requirement!
| A Hasmate release by Gordon Anderson | Friday 24 February 2017 ||
The changing of the Health and Safety legislation has come and gone (10 months ago,) and it’s been an interesting space to watch, Gordon told MSCNewsWire.
Apart from the wake up and realisation that WSNZ now mean business many business have been looking for quick fix solutions. 
The hawkers of the $3000 20th century paper based systems are still out there but its pleasing to see that many proactive businesses are now looking for software or 21st century solutions to manage this important. compliance responsibility.
Ironicaly this could be a health & safety issue in itself as the adding of more bulk to the already bulging files could cause these very shelves to tumble and fall! Not a good look and oh so hard to fight your way around!
| A Hasmate release by Gordon Anderson | Monday 13 February 2017 ||
Vist www.hasmate.co.nz for a look at their 'paperless' alternative
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
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