New health and safety toolkit now available

New Government - endorsed health and safety toolkit now available

SafePlus, a new Government developed and endorsed health and safety toolkit, is now available to all New Zealand businesses, and is set to help lift the health and safety performance in workplaces across the country.

SafePlus currently consists of three products: Resources and Guidance, the market-delivered Onsite Assessment and Advisory Service and the Online Self-Assessment tool.

Malcolm MacMillan, SafePlus Programme Manager says, “New Zealand has an unnecessarily high rate of serious workplace accidents. The social and economic cost of this in New Zealand workplaces is conservatively estimated at $3.5 billion each year, and inflicts an enormous emotional toll on the people affected. We need a change in our workplace health and safety culture and SafePlus provides an important toolkit to achieve that change.

“SafePlus digs deep into a business to assess workers practices, behaviours, attitudes and culture towards health and safety, this behavioural approach helps them identify opportunities and strive for excellence.”

The launch of the Onsite Assessment and Advisory Service includes the SafePlus Register of Independent Accredited Assessors so businesses will now be able to directly engage with assessors. The Accredited Assessors have been trained to deliver SafePlus and carry sector specific and generalist experience. This public register can be found at www.safeplus.nz

Mr MacMillan says, “SafePlus Accredited Assessors are an essential component of the SafePlus initiative. The services they provide during an Onsite Assessment and Advisory Service will change the way businesses view their health and safety in the workplace.

“Accredited Assessors use an approach that focuses on the people and their practices rather than written policies and procedures. They engage at all levels of a business, from senior leaders to front line workers, then use these insights to measure a business’s health and safety performance, and provide them with advice and guidance.”

SafePlus is a voluntary performance improvement toolkit that defines what good health and safety looks like in the workplace, and sits above minimum legal compliance. It is a joint harm prevention initiative developed by WorkSafe New Zealand, ACC and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

SafePlus has been developed in direct response to the Independent Taskforce into Health and Safety, and the Working Safer Reforms. Working Safer is aimed at reducing New Zealand’s workplace injury and death toll by 25 per cent by 2020.

For more information visit safeplus.nz

Notes:

SafePlus Products available

The first of the SafePlus Resources and Guidance are now freely available for businesses to download at www.safeplus.nz. The SafePlus Resources and Guidance explain the toolkit’s 10 health and safety performance requirements, and provide guidance to help illustrate what these look like in practice in a business.

The Onsite Assessment and Advisory Service uses a behavioural based evaluative assessment approach to measure a business’s performance and provide fresh, independent, expert insights and advice. Independent accredited private market SafePlus assessors can visit businesses and assess how well it is performing against the SafePlus performance requirements and provide advice and best practice guidance on how to improve.

Coming soon: Online Self-Assessment tool

The SafePlus Online Self-Assessment tool will be free for any business to use. The first version of this tool is being designed for small to medium sized businesses, with further development planned to tailor the tool for larger and/or higher risk sectors. The SafePlus Online Self-Assessment tool will available in mid-2018.

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