Construction charter takes out top national award

Construction charter takes out top national health and safety award

AUCKLAND, New Zealand, Thursday 1 June 2017

The Canterbury Rebuild Safety Charter has taken overall honours at this year’s New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards.

Encompassing small businesses and large, the Charter’s influence is being felt as far away as the Auckland building boom, and its approach has been closely studied by sectors outside construction who themselves wish to make significant cultural change.

A total of 15 awards were presented at a gala dinner at SKYCITY Convention Centre in Auckland last night, where an audience of more than 600 celebrated the achievements of a wide variety of successful health and safety initiatives.

The awards, which began in 2005, are organised by Safeguard magazine and proudly supported by WorkSafe New Zealand. The awards are judged by a panel of five representing WorkSafe, ACC, NZ Council of Trade Unions, Safeguard, and an industry health and safety practitioner.

Convenor of judges Peter Bateman, editor of Safeguard, said the winning initiatives displayed excellent thinking to tackle a wide range of different risks.

“Great initiatives seldom arise out of a focus on legal compliance. These winners contributed to operational excellence and made good businesses better, and in doing so significantly reduced the risk of harm to people.”

The winners were:

The WorkSafe New Zealand/ACC best overall contribution to improving workplace health and safety in New Zealand

Canterbury Rebuild Safety Charter

Kensington Swan best initiative to address a work-related safety risk

ANZCO Foods

Developed a full scale model of its new boning room and involved boning room staff in identifying the best design for safety and productivity.

WorkSafe New Zealand best initiative to address a work-related health risk

Vector

Repetitive strain injuries for staff filling LPG cylinders were reduced or eliminated by a new filling station design inspired by the dairy industry.

Vitae best initiative to improve worker health

Methanex NZ

Introduced screening programmes for bladder and bowel cancer.

Blackwoods NZ Safety best initiative to encourage worker involvement in health & safety

KiwiRail

A welding incident prompted the creation of a Hotworks team including workers, union and managers to come up with a solution and implement it.

3M best use of New Zealand design/technology

Waratah NZ

Developed a chain head orientation sensor to warn mechanical tree harvest operators when they are at risk of exposure to chain shot.

Site Safe best health and safety initiative by a business of no more than 50 staff

King Country Energy

Addressed a variety of lone work risks facing meter reading staff working in remote locations, along with appropriate emergency responses.

Impac best collaboration between PCBUs

PF Olsen Ltd

Initiated a project involving multiple PCBUs to clarify and improve the expectations on forest service providers when they come onto a working forestry site.

Simpson Grierson best board level engagement in health & safety

Department of Corrections

A new Board risk committee has reviewed multiple risks including prison industries, vehicle fleets, construction, and community sites. It has provided a tool for easy reporting.

ACC best leadership of an industry sector or region

Canterbury Rebuild Safety Charter

The initial scheme involved 51 mainly large private companies and government agencies. Now 70% of the 320 participants are SMEs.

NZISM health and safety practitioner of the year

Sarah McDonald, M2PP Alliance

A key player in forging a consistent approach out of the different cultures of the seven Alliance members and 5000 individual contractors, she has positively influenced health and safety thinking in the wider Wellington region.

edenfx HSE Recruitment health & safety representative of the year

Brett Swanson, NZ Automobile Association

Sits on the organisation’s national roadservice health & safety forum and has been a key player in a major project to re-assess all tasks for their hazards, their risk level, and has generated many suggestions for improvement.

Business Leaders’ Health & Safety Forum leader of the year

Steven Carden, Landcorp Farming

Has sought to influence health and safety not only within Landcorp but far beyond its own farm gates, including being the driving force behind the formation of the Agricultural Leaders’ Health and Safety Action Group to share good practice and drive up performance levels.

Countdown Lifetime Achievement Award

Rob Jager, Shell Todd Oil Services

For playing a role in nearly every significant health and safety initiative over the last decade, including Be Safe Taranaki, the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum, the Canterbury Rebuild Safety Charter, the Independent Taskforce which recommended a separate regulatory agency and new legislation, and urging the creation of an independent review into forestry.

A Fonterra judges’ commendation award went to:

Rail and Maritime Transport Union

For effective use of union organisation to bring multiple parties to agreement on a good outcome which reduced health and safety risks including whole body vibration and unsafe visibility and ground conditions at a rail siding.

ENDS

© Scoop Media