No more 'she'll be right' attitudes with health and safety

The 'she'll be right' attitude has to go out the window with tighter regulations around health and safety in New Zealand.

New laws governing H and S took effect on April 4 and if you are owning or managing industrial or even private sites where people could get hurt, you are responsible for everyone's safety.

The tighter regulations are in light of the Pike River Mine tragedy where 29 miners died.

Presenters of the new regulations and laws say, although our H and S laws are robust, there is still a lot of room for improvement.

They say there are still too many people either, not coming home at all because they have died, or they are coming home mamed for life.

http://www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/hswa

David Grindle of Northland, New Zealand law firm, WRMK, presented the new regulations and how they affect business people at a recent business breakfast meeting, hosted by the Dargaville Business Forum.
The presentation included highlighting the fact that anyone is responsible for any site where people are working and where there may be hazards.

The three high risk industries are; forestry, construction and agriculture. Death rates have fallen but are still shockingly high in these industries.

In New Zealand, there are 4.1 deaths per 100,000 workers annually.

So consequently, safety responsibility now falls on a Person Conducting Business or Undertaking Business (PCBU), on any site.

For example, if a home owner engages the services of a plumber at the home, the plumber would become the PCBU and is responsible for the safety hazards at that address.

The legal and financial consequences of not adhering to these new laws are high.

Failing to comply can result in PCBUs being hit with fines of $600,000. An individual who may not be a PCBU but may be in a leading role, could be looking at $300,000.

The responsibilities include; identifying risks or hazards, conduct training with staff, make staff totally aware of risks and hazards and ensure a hazard plan is in place, keeping records of incidents is most important.

 



Necessary skill: The frequent use of the chainsaw in the forestry industry, is necessary and takes a high level of skill.   Photo - www.alamy