RECENT NEWS

Last week, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the Covid-19 Protection Framework, which is intended to help us stay safe from Covid-19 into the future. The framework relies on vaccinations and kicks in when 90% of the eligible population in each DHB has been fully vaccinated. Requiring 90% in each DHB should ensure that each region of New Zealand is protected. Auckland will be able to move to Red when all three of its DHBs have 90% full vaccination. There is a strong focu

That appears to be the question of the day. We are getting asked this often. The question is always accompanied by – my client won’t let us on site unless we are vaccinated, my customers are saying they won’t use us unless we are fully vaccinated, the newspaper reports that The Warehouse is proposing compulsory vaccination. The answer is very complicated. COVID-19 is challenging enough from a health and safety perspective, but many of the issues need to be managed under HR. T

Last week I was asked to meet with an organisation to talk about providing health and safety support to them. This happens frequently, which is just as well, or I wouldn’t have a business. Why am I writing about this meeting – what was different about it? The difference is that I had first spoken to them a few years ago. Three years ago, we had almost the same conversation. I told them what Safewise could do to support them and they talked about being able to do it themselves

WorkSafe New Zealand have just released the first sentencing under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. This was for a machinery guarding incident; a worker had his hand caught, and lost most of his fingers. The company had identified a problem with the guarding six weeks prior to the incident, but had not taken any action towards fixing it. The fine was $100,000 which is an increase from $30,000 to $40,000 under the old Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. The fine w

As business owners, or managers, there are a few things that can keep us awake at night: paying the bills, having enough work, having too much work, and our workers having an accident. Accidents do happen, our job is to put systems in place to prevent them. One way we can do this is by investigating all accidents. This includes accidents which result in injury, and those that result in property damage. It’s also essential that we investigate near misses. These are a golden o