Page 10 - Marlborough Chamber of Commerce Voice Magazine Spring 2023

B U S I N E S S F O C U S O N H E A L T H & S A F E T Y

GIVING YOUR TEAM A VOICE

By Emma Blackburn Matrix Safety and Compliance Ltd

Health and safety, did I hear you sigh? It’s one of As a business leader, you are key to determining
the aspects of running a business that often how health and safety is perceived and
gets left on the ‘to do’ list because it seems managed, and your relationship with your team
daunting or creates unnecessary valueless is central to this. If you don’t maintain your
paperwork. Worse, it can be seen to be awareness, or worse, you lie about things that
reducing productivity and creating a financial have gone wrong, you can get a personal fine,
overhead that does not earn its cost… or go to jail (google ‘Aimex’). You need to ensure
that everyone in the team has a voice, and that
The Health and Safety at Work Act (HASWA) their individual needs are supported
was significantly revised in 2015, and since then, appropriately.
several changes and updates have occurred.
The most recent of these (in June this year) is There are lots of training and development
that where previously businesses had more opportunities for you and your team to help
than 20 employees, the team could request with the skills and processes that will work with
that a health and safety committee is formed, your business, there are no excuses.
this has been revised, to 5…yes, 5. Why is this?
Because sadly, adjusted for population and So, when was the last time you mucked in and
industry base, NZ Inc. continues to kill 4 x as chatted with the cleaner, the till operator or the
many people as the UK and 2 x as many people supervisor in your team?
as Australia every year…and we need to act.
Action starts with communication….

If you own a business, are a board member or
are the general manager, you are an ‘Officer’
under the HASWA, this means that you have
several responsibilities with respect to health
and safety. The primary activity seems easy – to
understand how your business operates and
the risks that apply to the team during their
everyday work. However, if you’re busy minding
the $, you’re probably not noticing that a
machine is difficult to use, or keeps getting
jammed, or that the team are standing all day
without a break, or that people don’t put on the
PPE when they use the cleaning stuff, because
the goggles steam up, and the gloves mean you
can’t undo the childproof lid. Health and safety
committees are a tool that provides a clear
voice for the team, they have powers (e.g.
Provisional Improvement Notices, such as at
Waikato Hospital in August) and they need to
be able to be heard and to hear your response –
communication…

9 VOICE MAGAZINE