Welcome to our August Newsletter. In it, we bring a digest of safety and health information that is most likely to be of interest in developing and maintaining successful safety systems, with particular emphasis on ACC, audits, OSH rules and regulations, Training and keeping abreast of current trends.
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In this edition:
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Safety Humour
Once again, we have trawled the globe for funny safety pictures, to retain that mischievous element of political incorrectness that is so often lacking in the safety industry. Please help by sending your pictures and stories. Lunacy is the key. They have to be so daft that even OSH would laugh! Thanks are due to Gordon Anderson for sending a superbly funny video. It takes less than a minute to download and you’ll love it.
Caption Competition - We just couldn’t think of one for this picture. Another of Gordon’s gems!
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ACC and NZS/AS 4801 “hybrid audit tool”
Recently, two of our larger clients wanted to be assessed against NZS/AS 4801 and ACC standards. One of them had to implement both simultaneously! The other was already in the ACC Partnership Programme at Secondary Level, but aspired to full 4801 conformance. We put on our thinking caps. The solution is unique, we believe . . . [ more ]
- ACC
Audits
For those of you in either of the ACC’s incentive schemes (WSMP and Partnership Programme), just be aware that your auditor can only do 2 audits consecutively. This rule was introduced some months ago. Seems someone at ACC thought auditors, who are independents, may be “captured” by their clients. This rule is retrospective, so start looking for a fresh face. You can visit the list of auditors at: http://www.acc.co.nz.
- Those
letters from ERMA . . .
ERMA has recently been sending out letters to holders of Hazardous Substances. There are four versions, depending on factors such as whether your approval/application is new, incomplete, change of ownership etc, however, they all essentially say the same thing: You have a date by which you must replace your old DG licence with Test Certificate(s). [ more ]
- Internet
based OHS System
In the last newsletter, we floated the concept of partnering to finish the development of a highly interactive OHS system. [ more ]
- Sacrificing
forests to cover bums
What is the one of the least effectively performed activities in employer safety obligations? Without question, contractor management is very poorly understood. The legislation is hard to interpret. Where does your liability begin and end? If you are in one of the ACC schemes, the requirements intentionally fall well short of what the HSE Act requires and that can be confusing. [ more ]
- Professionalism
among Safety Practitioners
If you are looking for value, ethics and professionalism in safety consultants or recognition as a safety specialist employee, you can now confidently access an internationally recognized Register of New Zealand individuals. They are known as Registered Safety Professionals under a joint venture between the New Zealand Safety Council and the Quality Society of Australasia (QSA). [ more ]
[ Return to Top ]
ACC and NZS/AS 4801
“hybrid audit tool”
Recently, two of our larger clients
wanted to be assessed against NZS/AS 4801 and
ACC standards. One of them had to implement
both simultaneously! The other was
already in the ACC Partnership Programme at Secondary
Level, but aspired to full 4801 conformance.
The solution we developed was an audit tool
that combined ACC and 4801 together. The trick
was to “slot” 4801 requirements into the
appropriate levels and sections of the ACC audit tool.
This led to a Tool that truly combined the two
standards into Primary, Secondary and Tertiary
levels, thus allowing a realistic method of implementation
and progression.
Using this tool, it is possible to “arrive”
at ACC tertiary level and full 4801 compliance at the
same time.
Please e-mail or call (09) 535 4355 for details.
[ Return to Top ]ERMA has recently been sending
out letters to holders of Hazardous Substances.
There are four versions, depending
on factors such as whether your approval/application
is new, incomplete, change of ownership etc, however,
they all essentially say the same thing: You
have a date by which you must replace your
old DG licence with Test Certificate(s).
Despite ERMA’s good attempt at helpful language,
unless you deal with this legislation daily, chances
are the letter creates more questions than answers.
The reason for this is the complexity of
the legislation and the technical rules for classifying
your substances and determining if they trigger
the new requirements.
Take your previous DG licence with a pinch of salt. It is probably way out of date and the new classifications use different criteria. All it tells you is that if nothing has changed, you will probably still need to get your site and personnel certified, however, we have seen several cases where there was no further requirement. This can often be achieved by a small reduction in quantities, moving the location of some substances or using acceptable alternative substances.
So, what do you need to do? [ Full
story on the web ]
[ Return
to Top ]
In the last newsletter, we floated
the concept of partnering to finish the development
of a highly interactive OHS system. (The
product is already at demo level, and features reminders,
e-mail, task list and a wide range of “closed
loop” systems).
Some of the feedback was interesting. We
are now favouring the idea of it being web based and
we are talking to some providers about cutting the
code for it.
What do you think?
-
Do you feel people are more amenable to web-based systems than they were perhaps a year or two ago?
- Would you buy a system that you didn’t actually get in a box?
-
Would you be interested if it was compatible with ACC Audit? 4801? Both?
[ Return to Top ]
Sacrificing forests to cover
bums
What is the one of the least
effectively performed activities in employer
safety obligations? Without question, contractor
management is very poorly understood. The
legislation is hard to interpret. Where does your
liability begin and end? If you are in one
of the ACC schemes, the requirements intentionally
fall well short of what the HSE Act
requires and that can be confusing.
You exchange reams of paperwork with
the contractor (don’t worry, they get it
all the time, they have a photocopier). Somehow,
this forms a security blanket. Bums are covered and
the contractor gets the job. You stay in your office
with the security blanket and the contractor gets
to work unhindered.
Nothing changes in terms of behaviour.
The contractor may be good at looking after themselves
but then again… Accountability often gets delegated
to a collection of paper: But like
it or not, you share the liability, and
that means active management. Policies, indemnity
forms and good intent are not enough.
If an accident happens, the forest was sacrificed
in vain and OSH will be looking for something else:
Whether YOU could have done more within reason –
within the meaning of “all practicable
steps”.
So what are the options? Do you wrap the contractor
in cotton wool? Do nothing? Or is it somewhere in
between?
[ Return to Top ]
Caption Competition
Thanks to Gordon
Anderson of Aardnet for sending this picture.
We just could not think of a suitable caption. Please
e-mail us your offering. Winners will get a warm
glow of satisfaction and a mention on our web site!
Email
us.
[ Return to Top ]
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Privacy
Statement
Systems4Business is committed to protecting
your privacy. We will not distribute, sell, or rent
any information about you to anyone else, under any
circumstances. Equally, if you do not want to be on
our distribution list, we will remove any reference
to you from our distribution list. If you have any
questions at all about our privacy policy, please
e-mail us.
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