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The latest in New Zealand's health and safety news in the workplace
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INDU
STRI
ALSafetyNews
The Health & Safety Reform Bill
PPE • ACCESS • CHEMICALS • HEALTH • INJURY • MANAGEMENT • ENVIRONMENT • FOCUS July-August 2015 VOL 10 NO. 3 Price $9
MindfulnessResponse guideSick buildings
PPE • ACCESS • CHEMICALS • HEALTH • INJURY • MANAGEMENT • ENVIRONMENT • FOCUS July-August 2015 VOL 10 NO. 3 Price $9
Our unique HSNO Approved Codes and chemical safety posters make it as easy and
stress-free as possible to safely manage your workplace chemicals.
SIMPLE STEPS TO MANAGINGYOUR WORKPLACECHEMICALS
Maintain a Site Hazard Register Identify each chemical product you have, particularly Tracked substances. Record the Hazard classification and maximum quantities at any one time, in this Register.
Obtain Compliant Safety Data Sheets (SDS) from your supplier [ACoP].
Appoint a ‘Person in Charge’Responsible for security and management of chemicals [HSNO].
MANAGETHE RISKObtain advice from: Person in Charge, Approved Handlers. Chemical Suppliers.
Group Standards including Site and Storage Conditions. Approved Codes of Practice [ACoPs]. Health & Safety Inspectors. Hazardous Substances Enforcement Officers. Test Certifiers. Industry Association.
SAFELY MANAGEYOUR SITEchemicals Correctly segregate and store chemicals [ACoP].
Ensure Secondary Containment is in place [ACoP].
Provide appropriate fire extinguishers and spill kits. Install Emergency Showers/Eyewash adjacent to chemical operations. Provide trained First Aiders. Review site signage [ACoP] Develop and annually test emergency response plan [ACoP].
Ensure chemicals are correctly packaged and labelled. Ensure SDS are available within 10 minutes [ACoP]. Provide correct Personal Protective Equipment [PPE].
Site Plan must include: Hazardous Substances Locations. Hazardous Atmosphere Zones. Hazardous Control Zones.
Verify the need for: Test Certificates. Approved Handlers. Location Test Certificates. Stationary Container Systems [Bulk Storage] [ACoP].a helping hand
www.responsiblecarenz.com
Another Responsible Care New Zealand chemical safety initiative
HSNO
HSW
RuLEDG
RMA
CODEIBUILDING
Expl
osive
s 1
Flam
mab
le Ga
s 2.1
inclu
ding
2.1.1A
& B
Flam
mab
le Ae
roso
l 2.1
inclu
ding
2.1.2A
Non-
Flam
mab
le No
n-To
xic g
as 2.
2
Toxic
gas
2.3
Flam
mab
le Li
quid
3.1 i
nclu
ding
3.1A,
B, C
& D
Liqu
id D
esen
sitise
d Ex
plos
ive 3
inclu
ding
3.2A,
B &
C
Flam
mab
le So
lid 4.
1 (re
adily
com
bust
ible)
4.1.1
A &
B
Flam
mab
le So
lid 4.
1 (se
lf re
activ
e)
4.1.2
A, B
, C, D
, E, F
& G
Flam
mab
le So
lid 4.
1 (de
sens
itise
d ex
plos
ive)
4.1.3
A, B
& C
Spon
tane
ously
Com
bust
ible
4.2 in
cludi
ng
4.2 A
, B &
C
Dang
erou
s Whe
n W
et 4.
3 inc
ludi
ng
4.3 A
, B &
C
Oxid
iser 5
.1 in
cludi
ng
5.1.1
A, B
& C
- 5.1
.2 A
Orga
nic P
erox
ide 5
.2 in
cludi
ng
5.2 A
, B, C
, D, E
& F
Toxic
6.1 i
nclu
ding
6.1 A
, B &
C (L
iquids
& S
olids
only
- Gas
es se
e 2.3)
Toxic
Cya
nide
s 6.1
inclu
ding
6.1 A
, B &
C
Infe
ctio
us S
ubst
ance
s 6.2
Radi
oact
ive M
ater
ials 7
Corro
sive A
cid 8
PG I &
II in
cludi
ng
8.2 A
& B
Corro
sive A
lkali 8
PG
I & II
inclu
ding
8.2 A
& B
Corro
sive A
cid 8
PG III
inclu
ding
8.2 C
Corro
sive A
lkali 8
PG
III in
cludi
ng
8.2 C
Ecot
oxic
9.1 A
& B
Food
Item
[see
NOTE
S]
Explosives 14 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Flammable Gas 2.1 including
2.1.1A & B
4 ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘ 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Flammable Aerosol 2.1 including
2.1.2A
4 ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Non-Flammable Non-Toxic gas 2.2
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Toxic gas 2.34 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Flammable Liquid 3.1 including
3.1A, B, C & D
4 ✘ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Liquid Desensitised Explosive 3 including
3.2A, B & C
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 ✔ 1 1 ✔ 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Flammable Solid 4.1 (readily combustible)
4.1.1 A & B
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 1 ✔ 1 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Flammable Solid 4.1 (self reactive)
4.1.2 A, B, C, D, E, F & G
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 1 1 ✔ 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Flammable Solid 4.1 (desensitised explosive)
4.1.3 A, B & C
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 ✔ 1 1 ✔ 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Spontaneously Combustible 4.2 including
4.2 A, B & C
4 1 1 ✘ ✘ 1 1 1 1 1 ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Dangerous When Wet 4.3 including
4.3 A, B & C
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 1 1 1 1 1 ✔ 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ 1 1 1 1 ✔ ✔
Oxidiser 5.1 including
5.1.1 A, B & C - 5.1.2 A
4 2 2 ✔ ✘ 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ✔ 3 2 2 ✘ ✘ 2 2 2 2 ✘ ✔
Organic Peroxide 5.2 including
5.2 A, B, C, D, E & F
4 3 3 ✘ ✘ 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 ✔ 3 3 ✘ ✘ 3 3 3 3 ✘ ✔
Toxic 6.1 including
6.1 A, B & C (Liquids & Solids only - Gases see 2.3)4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Toxic Cyanides 6.1 including
6.1 A, B & C
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘
Infectious Substances 6.24 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Radioactive Materials 74 ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔
Corrosive Acid 8 PG I & II including
8.2 A & B
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Corrosive Alkali 8 PG I & II including
8.2 A & B
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Corrosive Acid 8 PG III including
8.2 C
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Corrosive Alkali 8 PG III including
8.2 C
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Ecotoxic 9.1 A & B4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Food Item [seeNOTES]4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✔
KEYThis code is intended to enable Persons in Charge, Approved Handlers and everyone storing
Hazardous Substances to comply with the segregation requirements of regulations 21, 76, 78, 87,
95, 105 and 117 of the Hazardous Substances [Classes 1 to 5 Controls] Regulations 2001, Industry
Best Practice and the NOTES
✔ Compatible substances that can be stored together
✘Incompatible substances that must NOT be stored together. Must be separate so that
substances do not come in contact. Keep in separate compounds or segregate by a
distance of at least 3 metres
1 Separation requirement: Fire resistant wall rated 120/120/120 minutes,or separated by three
metres
2Separation requirements for 5.1: Fire resistant wall rated 120/120/120
minutes, or separate by the correct distance required in HS [Classes 1
to 5 Controls] Regulations 87 and 95
3 Separation requirements for 5.2: Fire resistant wall rating for appropriate use, or separated
by the correct distance required in HS [Classes 1 to 5 Controls] Regulation 105 and 117
4 Explosives require special storage. Refer HS [Classes 1 to 5 Controls] Regulations 2001
NOTES ✱ Consult the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) or Supplier to confirm compatibility
✱Packaging: This code provides a means of compliance for the storage of packages and
transportable containers [IBCs]
✱
Food Item: means both
(a) Anything that is used or represented for use as food or drink for humans or animals, and
(b) Any packaging known, reasonably expected to be known, intended for, or which may
in the future be used to contain food, drink, or any other substance intended for human or
animal consumption. (Land Transport Rule: Dangerous Goods 2005)
✱Classes 6.1D, 6.1E, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5 6.6, 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9 should be stored same as
Toxic 6.1
✱ Classes 8.1 and 8.3 should be stored same as 8.2C
✱ Ecotoxic 9.1C, 9.1D, 9.2, 9.3, & 9.4 should be stored same as 9.1A & B
✱ Ecotoxic pictogram can be or
✱ Classes 2.2, 6.2 & 7 and Food Item are covered by the LT Rule : Dangerous Goods 2005
✱ Class 2.3 is covered by HSNO class 6.1
✱ DG Limited Quantities marks and : consult the SDS to confirm compatibility
✱ DG Excepted Quantities mark : consult the SDS to confirm compatibility
REFERENCES
■ Hazardous Substances (Classes 1 to 5 Controls) Regulations 2001
■ Hazardous Substances (Classification) Regulations 2001
■ Land Transport Rule: Dangerous Goods 2005
Responsible Care New Zealand
PO Box 5557 Wellington 6145 Phone: +64 4 499 4311
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.responsiblecarenz.com ©RCNZ June 2014
Approved Code of Practice under the HSNO Act 1996
Dated: 14/06/2014
STORAGE OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES HSNO COP 16 version 2.0 June 2014
• Carcinogen• Mutagenicity
• Reproductive Toxicity• Respiratory Sensitizer• Target Organ Toxicity
• Aspiration Toxicity
Know Your Chemical Labels
AnotherResponsible Care New Zealandworkplace chemical safety initiative
Phone +64 4 499 4311
Health Hazards
• Irritant (skin and eye)• Skin Sensitizer• Acute Toxicity
• Narcotic Effects• Respiratory Tract Irritant
• Hazardous to Ozone Layer
• Skin Corrosion/Burns• Eye Damage
• Corrosive to Metals
Acute Toxicity (fatal or toxic)
• Explosives • Self-Reactives• Organic Peroxides
Oxidizers
• Flammables• Pyrophorics• Self-Heating
• Emits Flammable Gas• Self-Reactives
• Organic Peroxides
Gases Under Pressure
1.1. 1.2 & 1.3
Ecotoxic
DANGEROUS
GOODS
Mixed Class Tracking
Elevated Temperature Substances
Excepted Quantities
Dangerous Goods
Limited QuantitiesDangerous Goods
Limited Quantities (Air)Dangerous Goods
Environmental Hazard Miscellaneous
Physical Hazards
DATED MAY 2015
Lithium batteries New 1 Jan 2015
RCNZ copyright 2015©
IT’S ALL HERE!
OBTAIN YOUR COPIES FROM WWW.RESPONSIBLECARENZ.COM/SHOP OR EMAIL [email protected] BULK DISCOUNTS ARE AVAILABLE.
Ph: 04 499 4311 ANOTHER RESPONSIBLE CARE NZ WORKPLACE CHEMICAL SAFETY INITIATIVE
RESPONSIBLE CARE NZ PROVIDES PRACTICAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES TO ENABLE COMPLIANCE WITH NEW ZEALAND’S
WORLD CLASS CHEMICAL MANAGEMENT REGIME.
in. And make sure there is a full first-aid kit that is checked regularly – accidents do happen.
You will also need to consider protecting the public. Life will be going on as normal all around your site and you have a duty to make sure members of the public are not put at risk:• is the work fenced off from the public?• do road works have barriers around them –
and are they lit at night?• Is the public protected from falling material?• do you have clear signs in place to warn
people of any danger?At the end of the work day make sure your site
is left in a proper state. Ask yourself these simple questions:• is the boundary secure?• are all ladders removed or their rungs board-
ed to prevent use?• have all excavations and openings been se-
curely covered or fenced off?• is all plant immobilised to prevent unauthor-
ised use?• are bricks and other materials safely stacked?• have all flammable or dangerous substances
been locked away in secure storage?Planning is the key to ensure your worksite is
a safe one. Before you rip into a project, identify your hazards and take steps to minimise the risk. Investing a bit of time at the start of a job could be the difference between a safe, smooth job and one where someone gets seriously injured or worse.
The Absolutely Essential Health and Safety Toolkit for Small Construction Sites is available on the WorkSafe NZ website. It does not cover legal requirements and is a guide only. There is also plenty more information at business.govt.nz/worksafe/construction
F I R S T W O R D > > T o o l b o x T i m e
www.isn.co.nz 3
A house build, re-roofing work – WorkSafe New Zealand’s data shows that smaller constructions sites account for the high-
est proportion of work-related deaths in the construction sector.
Why are small sites more risky? There could be any number of reasons. Maybe the margins are lower and so corners are cut.
Maybe people are trying to do too many jobs on site and end up doing work that is outside of their expertise. Maybe it’s a lack of awareness about health and safety and a lack of planning.
Whatever the reasons, WorkSafe wants to help the construction industry manage risks at small sites better and has developed the Absolutely Essential Health and Safety Toolkit for Small Con-struction Sites.
It’s a starter course in the basics of good health and safety practice that you can slip into your back pocket and use again and again.
The toolkit covers a range of topics including working at height, hazardous substances and how to handle emergency situations.
In this article we will look at a Site and Services Checklist.
Whenever you start a job one of your top pri-orities should be ensuring the worksite is as safe as possible.
That starts with access on site:• can everyone get to their place of work safely,
and work safely when they do?• are access routes in good condition and clear-
ly signposted?• is there suitable edge protection in place to
prevent falls?• are any holes properly covered and marked?• is the site tidy – are materials and tools stored
safely?• is the lighting adequate?
Before work can safely start at site you will also
need to think about the services you will require – and in particular electricity.
You will need power to get the job done, of course, but electricity can be a real hazard on construction sites.
As ever, a bit of planning at the outset is the key:• have all the necessary services required for
the job been arranged? And have you iden-tified existing services (electricity cables, gas mains and the like) on site and taken effective steps to manage the risk they may pose?
• is the electricity supply isolated from earth with a voltage between phase and earth con-ductors not exceeding 230 volts?
• are your electrical extension cords connected using a residual current device (RCD) or isolat-ing transformer?
• are all cables and leads in good condition and protected from damage? What about the plugs and connections – are they suitable? Are tools and equipment checked by users and regularly inspected and tested by a com-petent person?
• are any hidden electricity cables and other services located and marked, and have you taken precautions for safe working?
• don’t forget about overhead lines - has the electricity supply been turned off or have other precautions been taken, such as pro-viding ‘goal posts’ or taped markers?
As part of your site preparations think about the welfare of workers on site too. Make sure there are suitable toilet facilities, including access to a clean wash basin, hot water, soap etc. You’ll need to think about meal facilities too, including a provision for boiling water.
Work outdoors can mean work in all types of weather – provide wet-weather gear if neces-sary and a warm, dry shed for people to shelter
Smaller constructions sites account for the highest proportion of work-related deaths in the construction sector
Check out the hazards to cut the risk
Just because the job is small doesn’t mean the risks are too
Our unique HSNO Approved Codes and chemical safety posters make it as easy and
stress-free as possible to safely manage your workplace chemicals.
SIMPLE STEPS TO MANAGINGYOUR WORKPLACECHEMICALS
Maintain a Site Hazard Register Identify each chemical product you have, particularly Tracked substances. Record the Hazard classification and maximum quantities at any one time, in this Register.
Obtain Compliant Safety Data Sheets (SDS) from your supplier [ACoP].
Appoint a ‘Person in Charge’Responsible for security and management of chemicals [HSNO].
MANAGETHE RISKObtain advice from: Person in Charge, Approved Handlers. Chemical Suppliers.
Group Standards including Site and Storage Conditions. Approved Codes of Practice [ACoPs]. Health & Safety Inspectors. Hazardous Substances Enforcement Officers. Test Certifiers. Industry Association.
SAFELY MANAGEYOUR SITEchemicals Correctly segregate and store chemicals [ACoP].
Ensure Secondary Containment is in place [ACoP].
Provide appropriate fire extinguishers and spill kits. Install Emergency Showers/Eyewash adjacent to chemical operations. Provide trained First Aiders. Review site signage [ACoP] Develop and annually test emergency response plan [ACoP].
Ensure chemicals are correctly packaged and labelled. Ensure SDS are available within 10 minutes [ACoP]. Provide correct Personal Protective Equipment [PPE].
Site Plan must include: Hazardous Substances Locations. Hazardous Atmosphere Zones. Hazardous Control Zones.
Verify the need for: Test Certificates. Approved Handlers. Location Test Certificates. Stationary Container Systems [Bulk Storage] [ACoP].a helping hand
www.responsiblecarenz.com
Another Responsible Care New Zealand chemical safety initiative
HSNO
HSW
RuLEDG
RMA
CODEIBUILDING
Expl
osive
s 1
Flam
mab
le Ga
s 2.1
inclu
ding
2.1.1A
& B
Flam
mab
le Ae
roso
l 2.1
inclu
ding
2.1.2A
Non-
Flam
mab
le No
n-To
xic g
as 2.
2
Toxic
gas
2.3
Flam
mab
le Li
quid
3.1 i
nclu
ding
3.1A,
B, C
& D
Liqu
id D
esen
sitise
d Ex
plos
ive 3
inclu
ding
3.2A,
B &
C
Flam
mab
le So
lid 4.
1 (re
adily
com
bust
ible)
4.1.1
A &
B
Flam
mab
le So
lid 4.
1 (se
lf re
activ
e)
4.1.2
A, B
, C, D
, E, F
& G
Flam
mab
le So
lid 4.
1 (de
sens
itise
d ex
plos
ive)
4.1.3
A, B
& C
Spon
tane
ously
Com
bust
ible
4.2 in
cludi
ng
4.2 A
, B &
C
Dang
erou
s Whe
n W
et 4.
3 inc
ludi
ng
4.3 A
, B &
C
Oxid
iser 5
.1 in
cludi
ng
5.1.1
A, B
& C
- 5.1
.2 A
Orga
nic P
erox
ide 5
.2 in
cludi
ng
5.2 A
, B, C
, D, E
& F
Toxic
6.1 i
nclu
ding
6.1 A
, B &
C (L
iquids
& S
olids
only
- Gas
es se
e 2.3)
Toxic
Cya
nide
s 6.1
inclu
ding
6.1 A
, B &
C
Infe
ctio
us S
ubst
ance
s 6.2
Radi
oact
ive M
ater
ials 7
Corro
sive A
cid 8
PG I &
II in
cludi
ng
8.2 A
& B
Corro
sive A
lkali 8
PG
I & II
inclu
ding
8.2 A
& B
Corro
sive A
cid 8
PG III
inclu
ding
8.2 C
Corro
sive A
lkali 8
PG
III in
cludi
ng
8.2 C
Ecot
oxic
9.1 A
& B
Food
Item
[see
NOTE
S]
Explosives 14 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Flammable Gas 2.1 including
2.1.1A & B
4 ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘ 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Flammable Aerosol 2.1 including
2.1.2A
4 ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Non-Flammable Non-Toxic gas 2.2
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Toxic gas 2.34 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Flammable Liquid 3.1 including
3.1A, B, C & D
4 ✘ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Liquid Desensitised Explosive 3 including
3.2A, B & C
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 ✔ 1 1 ✔ 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Flammable Solid 4.1 (readily combustible)
4.1.1 A & B
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 1 ✔ 1 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Flammable Solid 4.1 (self reactive)
4.1.2 A, B, C, D, E, F & G
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 1 1 ✔ 1 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Flammable Solid 4.1 (desensitised explosive)
4.1.3 A, B & C
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 ✔ 1 1 ✔ 1 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Spontaneously Combustible 4.2 including
4.2 A, B & C
4 1 1 ✘ ✘ 1 1 1 1 1 ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔
Dangerous When Wet 4.3 including
4.3 A, B & C
4 1 1 ✔ ✔ 1 1 1 1 1 1 ✔ 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ 1 1 1 1 ✔ ✔
Oxidiser 5.1 including
5.1.1 A, B & C - 5.1.2 A
4 2 2 ✔ ✘ 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ✔ 3 2 2 ✘ ✘ 2 2 2 2 ✘ ✔
Organic Peroxide 5.2 including
5.2 A, B, C, D, E & F
4 3 3 ✘ ✘ 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 ✔ 3 3 ✘ ✘ 3 3 3 3 ✘ ✔
Toxic 6.1 including
6.1 A, B & C (Liquids & Solids only - Gases see 2.3)4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Toxic Cyanides 6.1 including
6.1 A, B & C
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘
Infectious Substances 6.24 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Radioactive Materials 74 ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔
Corrosive Acid 8 PG I & II including
8.2 A & B
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Corrosive Alkali 8 PG I & II including
8.2 A & B
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Corrosive Acid 8 PG III including
8.2 C
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Corrosive Alkali 8 PG III including
8.2 C
4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ 1 2 3 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Ecotoxic 9.1 A & B4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘
Food Item [seeNOTES]4 ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✔ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✘ ✔
KEYThis code is intended to enable Persons in Charge, Approved Handlers and everyone storing
Hazardous Substances to comply with the segregation requirements of regulations 21, 76, 78, 87,
95, 105 and 117 of the Hazardous Substances [Classes 1 to 5 Controls] Regulations 2001, Industry
Best Practice and the NOTES
✔ Compatible substances that can be stored together
✘Incompatible substances that must NOT be stored together. Must be separate so that
substances do not come in contact. Keep in separate compounds or segregate by a
distance of at least 3 metres
1 Separation requirement: Fire resistant wall rated 120/120/120 minutes,or separated by three
metres
2Separation requirements for 5.1: Fire resistant wall rated 120/120/120
minutes, or separate by the correct distance required in HS [Classes 1
to 5 Controls] Regulations 87 and 95
3 Separation requirements for 5.2: Fire resistant wall rating for appropriate use, or separated
by the correct distance required in HS [Classes 1 to 5 Controls] Regulation 105 and 117
4 Explosives require special storage. Refer HS [Classes 1 to 5 Controls] Regulations 2001
NOTES ✱ Consult the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) or Supplier to confirm compatibility
✱Packaging: This code provides a means of compliance for the storage of packages and
transportable containers [IBCs]
✱
Food Item: means both
(a) Anything that is used or represented for use as food or drink for humans or animals, and
(b) Any packaging known, reasonably expected to be known, intended for, or which may
in the future be used to contain food, drink, or any other substance intended for human or
animal consumption. (Land Transport Rule: Dangerous Goods 2005)
✱Classes 6.1D, 6.1E, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5 6.6, 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9 should be stored same as
Toxic 6.1
✱ Classes 8.1 and 8.3 should be stored same as 8.2C
✱ Ecotoxic 9.1C, 9.1D, 9.2, 9.3, & 9.4 should be stored same as 9.1A & B
✱ Ecotoxic pictogram can be or
✱ Classes 2.2, 6.2 & 7 and Food Item are covered by the LT Rule : Dangerous Goods 2005
✱ Class 2.3 is covered by HSNO class 6.1
✱ DG Limited Quantities marks and : consult the SDS to confirm compatibility
✱ DG Excepted Quantities mark : consult the SDS to confirm compatibility
REFERENCES
■ Hazardous Substances (Classes 1 to 5 Controls) Regulations 2001
■ Hazardous Substances (Classification) Regulations 2001
■ Land Transport Rule: Dangerous Goods 2005
Responsible Care New Zealand
PO Box 5557 Wellington 6145 Phone: +64 4 499 4311
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.responsiblecarenz.com ©RCNZ June 2014
Approved Code of Practice under the HSNO Act 1996
Dated: 14/06/2014
STORAGE OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES HSNO COP 16 version 2.0 June 2014
• Carcinogen• Mutagenicity
• Reproductive Toxicity• Respiratory Sensitizer• Target Organ Toxicity
• Aspiration Toxicity
Know Your Chemical Labels
AnotherResponsible Care New Zealandworkplace chemical safety initiative
Phone +64 4 499 4311
Health Hazards
• Irritant (skin and eye)• Skin Sensitizer• Acute Toxicity
• Narcotic Effects• Respiratory Tract Irritant
• Hazardous to Ozone Layer
• Skin Corrosion/Burns• Eye Damage
• Corrosive to Metals
Acute Toxicity (fatal or toxic)
• Explosives • Self-Reactives• Organic Peroxides
Oxidizers
• Flammables• Pyrophorics• Self-Heating
• Emits Flammable Gas• Self-Reactives
• Organic Peroxides
Gases Under Pressure
1.1. 1.2 & 1.3
Ecotoxic
DANGEROUS
GOODS
Mixed Class Tracking
Elevated Temperature Substances
Excepted Quantities
Dangerous Goods
Limited QuantitiesDangerous Goods
Limited Quantities (Air)Dangerous Goods
Environmental Hazard Miscellaneous
Physical Hazards
DATED MAY 2015
Lithium batteries New 1 Jan 2015
RCNZ copyright 2015©
IT’S ALL HERE!
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T H I S I S S U E > > J u l y / A u g u s t 2 0 1 5
July/August – 20154
38-44 Cover StoryThe Health and Safety Reform Bill38-39 Many duty holders struggle to determine what steps to take to meet health and safety obligations40-42 WorkSafe and MBIE gear up to implement new changes for hazard-ous substances42 Green Party reservations over the Health & Safety Reform Bill43-44 Labour Party looks to further strengthen health & safety Reform Bill44 New Zealand criticised at recent International Labour Organisation session
Comment3 WorkSafe data shows that smaller construction sites account for the highest proportion of work-related deaths in the construction sector6-7 Michael Biddle says it is not just people falls that present a safety challenge when working at height10 Choosing respiratory protection equipment is an important process says Jeffrey Birkner12-13 Practising mindfulness at work may improve safety says clinical psy-chologist Anouk Kelling26 Being assertive and clear with communication can save lives ac-cording to Moira Howson32 The dietary lessons learned by Australian truck drivers could easily be replicated in New Zealand says Dr Marguerite Sendall34 Sick buildings and how to deal with indoor air quality by Carol McSweeny36 Barry Dyer says many health and safety practitioners are not fully con-versant with their chemical safety responsibilities38 Buddle Findlay looks at the re-quirements of safety duty holders under proposed new legislation42 Green Party’s Denise Roche ex-presses disquiet about some aspects of the Health & Safety Reform Bill
OUR COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY
Editor Geoff Picken 0212 507 559geoff@ mediasolutions.net.nz
Managing partnerPhil Pilbrow027 564 7778 or 09 489 [email protected]
Sales manager Phil Daniels 021 182 6468 09 444 5140 [email protected]
Design & pre-press Jamie [email protected]
Web developmentNeo Chen021 507 [email protected] PublisherMike Bishara027 564 [email protected]
ISN is endorsed by NZ Safety Council
43-44 Labour Party spokesman for labour Iain Lees-Galloway offers some pointers to improve the up-coming Health & Safety Reform Bill44 CTU general counsel Jeff Sissons reports on criticism levelled at New Zealand at the latest ILO session in Geneva
Height Safety6-7 Falling tools present a major safety challenge when working at height
PPE8 Beca and Quality Hub have come up with a a Safety Smart App that works on any device10 Breathing easy is a complicated process
Health & Safety11 Noise induced hearing loss is a growing problem12-13 Practising mindfulness at work may improve safety32 Putting truckies on the road to better health34-35 The quality of indoor air can affect health, comfort and productivity
Environment14-15 A new communications and management system to support loggers22 A forestry harvester designed and built in nelson is helping make the sector safer
Management18 Facebook chimes in with a pro-gramme linking families in a disaster
Lighting28-29 Driving at night in New Zea-land is almost three times more dangerous than in other countries
45-47 National Safety Show 2015Record numbers attend the com-bined National Safety Show & buildnz l designex exhibition and seminars in June
Sponsored Articles9 Lynn River innovation in the design of protective gloves offers a range of solutions for industry specific hazards 16-17 Smart Move Products’ custom designs proving a hit for a range of manual moving tasks 19 Vertical Horizonz offers manage-ment and freedom with its “training partners” programme20-21 Intaks offers a single solution to scaffolding requirements on resi-
dential and commercial projects28-29 Being struck by falling objects and tools is a leading cause of injury says Capital Safety31 Safety IQ training programmes re-sults in people who are focused and committed33 Safety ‘N Action has six national training facilities to simulate work-place safety situations 37 New rules around asbestos bring new responsibilities according to CEDA Environmental Services
www.isn.co.nz 5
Supporters
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+64 9 963 5020www.peoplecentric.co.nz
Neglecting psychological health and wellbeing in the workplace costs Australian businesses $10.9 billion and New Zealand businesses over $2 billion a year.
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Smart Move Products P16-17
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Vertical Horizonz P19
A C C E S S
July/August – 20156
A total of 275 people died as a direct consequence of a fall from a height in the period
2003 to 2012 in Australia – around 11 percent of total fatalities. Sur-prisingly however, an additional 227 people died in the same period as a consequence of being hit by a fall-ing object – about nine percent of total fatalities.
Aside from fatalities, drops and falls also represent a significant volume of general injuries. Falls from a height represented over 7,400 workers compensation claims in 2012, with a median lost time of 7.2 weeks. Additionally, over 4,200 claims were recorded from injuries created by falling objects, with a median lost time of 4.2 weeks.
Given that these two mecha-nisms of injury are the third and fourth-ranked cause of death and significant causes of injury, the question is are these inevitable? Are they preventable with the right ap-proach? I believe that most would answer yes, provided there is suf-ficient education, awareness and safety management systems in op-eration. The prospect of reducing these incidents is therefore very high.
Costly dropsThe cost of lost time in both
health outcomes for workers and lost productivity time is concerning. Importantly, it is also the worker’s families that bear the brunt of the impact of these injuries, through loss of income and medical expens-es that may follow from the incident.
In addition, the loss of the items themselves can be costly. If objects are dropped over water, into mud, machinery, down holes and other difficult-to-reach places, they are effectively a sunk cost needing replacement.
While anyone can drop a tool, the chances are vastly increased when other environmental factors come into play. For example, high wind,
rain, greasy environments and even working with ill-fitting gloves can make the challenge of tool secu-rity an issue. For a comparatively low cost, and a different attitude to containment, these costs can be avoided.
Gravity worksCertain job tasks and industries
use ‘gravity’ to work for them. For example, the demolition of a build-ing might allow for materials to be dropped to a lower level using gravity means, rather than a con-trolled mechanical descent process such as a crane and debris bucket. Many buildings are also clad in pro-tective mesh or netting to contain debris and prevent it from causing injury or escaping from the building envelope.
In most cases, these work methods are less safe than alternatives. They rely on the principle of containment, rather than prevention of falls in the first place. On most major metropol-itan work sites, the incidence of this is thankfully infrequent. In locations where there is less supervision or regulator present, the same cannot be said.
Hierarchy of controlRisk management, utilising the
principle of the Hierarchy of Con-trol, is considered to be the best approach to preventing injury. En-gineering a hazard out altogether or utilising alternative means of access to minimise fall risks is best practice.
Wherever possible, preventing the fall of a person or tools through the use of guarding or barriers is the most appropriate means of protec-tion possible as they remove the fall of people or objects altogether in the first place.
Only when there are no alterna-tive means of prevention should fall protection equipment, including fall protection for tools and equipment, be considered for use.
Primary versus secondary consequence
When people consider the use of fall protection equipment, they are primarily concerned about protect-ing themselves or their workers and contractors.
Items such as anchoring devices, full-body safety harnesses, a fall arrest lanyard or self-retracting life-line to connect between the two and some defined rescue means to allow for safe descent are the core components of a fall protection safety system. In this sense, they are concerned about the ‘primary con-sequence’ of a fall.
When it comes to items such as tools and equipment they use for their job, these are often however ‘afterthoughts’. These items are as equally as important to consider if they fall, as dropping them can have secondary consequences on the people working below them – or the innocent bystanders that are in the near vicinity. Although nuts and bolts, spanners and other lightweight equipment are phys-ically small, once gravity is added the outcomes can hold grave consequences.
People don’t realise the impact forces that are generated in a dropped object. A 3kg item dropped 15m could create an impact force of over 500kg. A 1kg item dropped 50m will hit the ground at a little over 112km/h (excluding any air resistance). Even with some form of protection, the result of being struck by an item of relatively low weight can be significant.
Hard hatsThe use of general personal pro-
tective equipment (e.g. hard hats) can be a good front line barrier to reduce the impact of a dropped object if it is relatively light and not dropped from a very high location.
Their effectiveness is however limited when they are exposed to falling bricks, rocks or other heavy items such as hand tools, or indeed even greater heights. A hard hat does not provide any protection for other parts of the body such as shoulders and arms.
The economic loss of equipment coupled with the injury cost to the person injured whilst working below someone dropping an object is high. Even if there are no people in direct danger underneath walk-ways, dropped objects still have the capacity to damage surrounding equipment and machinery. Sub-sequent repairs can be both costly and time-consuming. But this risk is also easily managed if a comprehen-sive management programme for dropped object risk is implemented.
Containment methodsThere are various ways to contain
dropped objects including:• lower the working platform to
the ground/perform all work on a structure at ground level and then lift it into position once com-plete rather than taking the tools and equipment to height
• kick boards and handrails should be fixed on scaffolding, platforms and walkways – by using addi-tional closed mesh solutions,
Stop the drops!It’s not just ‘people falls’ that present a major safety management challenge when it comes to working at height, Michael Biddle believes
Working at Height Association of Australia chairman Michael Biddle: “Preventing dropped object falls is not just the responsibility of the safety supervisor or the site owner”
A hard hat’s effectiveness is limited when it’s
exposed to falling bricks, rocks or other heavy
items such as hand tools
▪ EVA foam nose seal for added comfort ▪ Adjustable nose bridge for secure fit ▪ Valve aids in expelling hot air and assists breathing ▪ AS/NZS 1716:2012 approved ▪ Elastic latex free dual straps, sonic welded, staple free
▪ Carbon removes nuisance levels of ozone and organic vapours
Respirator Features:
RCR International LtdC/O GBS Group Ltd, PO Box 51126, Pakuranga 2140
T: 0800 776 825 F: 0800 776 828 E: [email protected]
P2 with valve
P2 carbon with valve
$18.40 per box
10 masks
www.proval.co.nz
Call us today! 0800 776 825
$14.38 per box
10 masks
www.isn.co.nz 7
plywoods or other solid surface materials, coverage can be pro-vided for all the gaps through which items can potentially fall
• utilise safety mesh or rated bar-rier netting (with debris lining) in areas outside walkways and underneath conveyors, walk-ways, platforms and along
• provide worker education on the risks and outcomes of dropped objects and supply them with the means by which they can mini-mise that risk.
Preventing dropped object falls is not just the responsibility of the safety supervisor or the site owner. It is everyone’s responsibility to manage these risks because the impact might not be personal, but it
The chances of dropping a tool are vastly increased when other environmental factors come into play such as high wind, rain, greasy environments and even working with ill-fitting gloves
ProVal P2 conical no valve respirator is suitable for oxy cutting, fumes and smoke,
welding and grinding. The ProVal P2 with valve respirator has the added benefit of the valve aiding in expel-ling hot air and assisting breathing.
Typical environments include glass etching, brazing, welding, sanding, demolition work and grinding.
ProVal P2 carbon respirator with valve has the added feature of the carbon removing nuisance levels of
ozone and organic vapours. Typical environments include
chemical processing, spray painting, agriculture, sanitation, hot working conditions, refuse collection and grinding.
Why use respirators When the appropriate respirator
protection is not worn you run the risk of developing health issues which could can lead to lung dis-ease, cancer and in extreme cases, death.
Disposable/reusableA disposable respirator can pro-
vide effective protection against airborne particles at levels pro-duced in many jobs, for example dust made by crushing, sanding, sawing, grinding or fumes that are generated when metals are rapidly heated - welding.
When working in an application that can release significant levels of gases or vapours, a reusable respirator made from soft plastics or silicone fitted with replaceable carbon filters matching those sub-stances may be necessary.
When working long hours or a higher level of particulate pro-tection is required - the work environment may have high levels of airborne hazards - then a pow-ered air purifying respirator may be necessary.
Essential ProValWear respirator protection in work environments that expose people to insufficient oxygen or harmful dust, mist, smoke, gases, vapours, fumes, fogs or sprays
building/structure perimeters to prevent the drop of materials to a lower level
• utilise tool lanyards, tool cinches, tool pouches, tethering devices, holsters, tool buckets and other drop containment devices to secure tools and other items during work-at-height-activities
might affect co-workers and unseen bystanders.
We all have to work together to STOP the DROP!
Michael Biddle is the Managing Director, Australia & New Zealand, for fall protection equipment manufacturer Capital Safety and the current Chair, Working at Height Association of Australia
Border Guard is a lightweight debris/
personnel system made for rigging nets around the perimeter
of new concrete buildings to ensure
protection, confidence and productivity
Sponsored article
P P E
July/August – 20158
The Safety Smart App works on any device, providing in-stant reporting of hazards,
incidents, near misses and injuries and creating a safer workplace.
Its unique real-time dashboard highlights the key risks to the com-pany, allowing managers to target the areas that need it most and thus improve safety standards.
The brainchild of software devel-opment company Quality Hub, the Safety Smart app initially targeted
the health sector and was an instant success.
“Safety Smart is unique in that it offers the opportunity to utilise background enterprise systems to support business processes, in-formation flows, reporting, and data analytics in large organisa-tions such as these,” explains Beca Health & Safety Manager NZ Chloe Stewart-Tyson.
Beca partnered with Quality Hub to provide business advisory servic-
es and saw the benefits of offering the app to a wider market, launch-ing the industrial safety version at the recent National Safety Show.
“We wanted to engage small to medium-sized business in thinking about health and safety and provide a start-up tool to log hazards, inci-dents/near misses and injuries,” Ms Stewart-Tyson says. “It’s very easy and simple to enter data into the app via three simple forms, but the power really starts when you view the dashboard and its reports.”
The dashboard displays Hazards, Incidents/Near Miss and Injuries re-ports, which are downloadable in different formats and can be saved
Smart safetyA free, simple yet powerful health and safety app that is used by several of New Zealand’s leading health boards is now available in the industrial safety sector
to any device. “The app runs through the web browser so is compatible with any operating system, which means that off-site staff can report incidents from any computer, tablet or smart phone with an internet connection.”
The Safety Smart app can be up and running immediately after reg-istration at www.safety-smart.co.nz, while plans are afoot to release an Android, Apple and Windows ver-sions in the near future.
“Safety Smart provides added benefits to larger SMEs as the en-terprise system can be switched on with a license fee,” Ms Stewart-Tyson adds.
The Safety Smart app dashboard displays Hazards, Incidents/Near Miss and Injuries reports, which are downloadable in different formats and can be saved to any device
P P E > > G l o v e s
www.isn.co.nz 9
Hands are vital to every aspect of our day-to-day living. They carry out 70 percent of
our total motor abilities and provide us with exceptional mobility and agility.
One of the most common re-quests we receive at Lynn River is for a glove that can stand the rigours of manufacturing, construction or engineering environments while providing excellent dexterity, grip and providing a barrier to a range of fluids.
Until recently this challenging brief usually involved a degree of compromise on at least one of the variables of comfort, grip, durability or liquid resistance.
That is until the R&D team at Showa put their thinking caps on and solved the problem.
Innovations in the manufacturing
process have led to the develop-ment of gloves such as the Showa 377 and 477 which provide full solutions to the challenge without compromise.
The Showa 377 starts with a glove liner created on Showa’s legendary “Ergo Fit” formers that mimic the natural curvature of the human hand - which in turn leads to a re-duction in hand fatigue.
Next the ultra-thin sky blue Ni-trile coating is applied over the full surface of the liner to provide an impermeable surface making it ideal for working in damp or greasy environments.
This nitrile coating has the ad-vantage of providing protection against a wide range of chemical substances.
Finally, the black nitrile foam over dip ensures excellent grip is
achieved for the wearer even in oily applications.
These gloves are both thin and tough allowing precision work to be carried out even in the most de-manding of conditions.
Not to be outdone, the geniuses in the R&D team then went one extra step further and created the Showa 477.
This version follows similar design
Innovation in hand protectionInnovation in the design of protective gloves has resulted in a range of solutions for industry specific hazards
properties as the Showa 377 model but has been created using a ther-mal liner for extra protection from the elements.
To find out more about these innovations, contact your local safety distributor, or call Lynn River’s Customer Services team on 0800 10 45 68.
Sponsored article
PPE
July/August – 201510
The most obvious factor is the type of hazard — this drives whether or not a chemical
cartridge must be used, a particu-late filter, a combination of both, or a higher level of protection.
The concentration of the contami-nant will drive whether a half-mask, full-face, or higher level of protec-tion is needed. Full-face respirators must also be considered when eye protection is required to protect from things such as irritants, or skin and mucosa absorption.
Other factors include the chemi-cal resistance of the materials in the respirator, temperature of the envi-ronment in which the respirator is to be used, and how the respirator will be cleaned and serviced.
Vision, frequency and duration of use, and fit are also important con-siderations. All of these, as well as other programme elements, must be incorporated into the written comprehensive respiratory protec-tion programme.
One factor which is often over-looked is comfort – a respirator that is not comfortable is less likely to be worn. Comfort is affected by mate-rial selection, visibility, weight and ease of use as well as breathability. Duration and frequency of use must also be considered when evaluating the comfort factor.
Disregarding the employees’ input in selecting a comfortable respirator simply increases the likelihood of non-compliance with the respirato-ry protection programme and the likelihood that exposure will occur.
Factors that directly impact respi-rator comfort include:• material• vision• weight• amount of dead space• the type of strap or harness and
its ability to be properly adjusted• and overall resistance, or breatha-
bility, of the respirator.Different types of materials feel
different to the skin. When a res-
pirator is in contact with the skin for extended periods of time, the material’s feeling and softness are important factors.
Today, there are a multitude of materials from which respirators are made. Sometimes choice is depend-ent upon the chemical contaminant and the respirator’s resistance to the substance.
Once the correct materials are chosen, it is important to involve the actual users to see which respirators are more comfortable.
Seeing safelyVision is obviously a safety issue
but it’s also a comfort issue – the greater the field of vision the more comfortable he/she is and the less apprehensive about wearing the device.
Lack of proper direct and periph-eral vision tends to make people uncomfortable and will usual-ly impede their ability to work efficiently. The less vision that they have the more they must rely on their other senses to detect and per-ceive signals, including hazards in their work environment.
Weight is important – the heavi-er a respirator the greater the user fatigue. Although a few ounces dif-ference may seem insignificant in the short term, it significantly adds to the fatigue factor when a respira-tor is worn for extended periods of time.
Dead space is the amount of air that is found between the face piece and the user’s face – the less dead space the more comfortable the user. Dead space also contains residual amounts of exhaled carbon dioxide that affects circulation and breathing and can cause headaches and drowsiness – the greater the dead space, the greater the carbon dioxide load.
The dead space displaces oxygen in the face piece so the user must breathe deeper to obtain the requi-site amount of oxygen. Additionally, excess carbon dioxide levels can cause a claustrophobic feeling.
In addition to the materials used in a respirator’s straps and harness, how well the straps hold the respi-rator in place and the design of the strap both affect overall comfort. For instance, thinner straps tend to exert more force on the skin. Wheth-er or not straps pull on hair and their overall tension adjustability also affect comfort significantly.
Finally, there is resistance or breathability – the easier it is to inhale and exhale the less fatigue created over an extended period of time. In fact, one study showed that increased inhalation resistance
was associated with decreased work performance.
The US’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) requires that respirators meet inhalation and exhalation resistance criteria, but only sets a maximum. The lower the resist-ance, the better off the employee and more likely that he/she will be willing to wear the respirator when required. Increased resistance can make the employee feel out of breath and claustrophobic.
Once the basic questions have been answered and the type of respirator chosen, the employer should obtain several designs and then have the employees try on the respirators to see which one they prefer. Having employee “buy-in” to the respirator programme is critical and should never be overlooked.
Jeffrey Birkner, PhD, is Vice President, Technical Services, of Moldex-Metric, Inc
Breathing easy is a complicated processChoosing respiratory protection equipment is an important process that involves many factors, says Jeffrey Birkner
“Having employee “buy-in” to the respirator programme is critical and should never be overlooked”
H E A L T H
www.isn.co.nz 11
You could be suffering from noise induced hearing loss (NIHL), which is a growing
problem everywhere but one that is particularly prevalent in work sit-uations - factory, shop or even the office.
Research commissioned by the ACC in 2011 estimated that approx-imately 445,000 New Zealanders or 10 percent of the population live with hearing loss, and about a quar-ter of them are affected by NIHL.
The researchers found that:• approximately 71,000 (16 per-
cent) have deafness that is due to NIHL
• approximately 40,000 (nine per-cent) live with NIHL on top of other hearing loss
• 95 percent of the people who have NIHL are male.
The highest average workplace noise levels are found in agriculture, mining, construction and manu-facturing, though many activities outside the workplace can be just as noisy, such as:• ‘do-it-yourself’ construction and
maintenance projects at home, like lawn mowing, using power tools and chain saws
• loud music at night clubs, bars, live music events or fitness classes
• listening to music on your iPod, home stereo or car stereo
• working or playing around a noisy engine, i.e. riding a motor-bike, motor racing, waterskiing etc
• hunting or target shooting.Perhaps the easiest way to see if
an area is too noisy is to try a simple ‘conversation test’ first. If you can’t have a conversation without rais-ing your voice to be heard then the noise is too loud and you’re damag-ing your hearing just by being there.
When it comes to the work-place alone it’s a good idea for employers to get a professional noise assessment done, both to rectify any problems and also help meet the legal requirement to protect employees from excessive noise.
The Health and Safety in Employ-ment Act 1992, the Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995 and the Approved Code of Practice for the Management of Noise in the Workplace all state that employers must take all practicable steps to ensure that no employee is exposed to noise above (a) eight continuous hours of 85 dBA, and (b) peak sound of 140 dB, whether or not the employee is wearing HPE.
This means supplying workers with hearing protection equipment (HPE) and making sure they wear it properly and not over any kind of
beanie or hat because that stops it from working.
HPE needs to be worn in all noisy work areas and whenever someone is doing noisy tasks because even a short exposure to very loud noise (such as firing a gun) hurts your hearing, never mind being in a noisy place all day.
If HPE is worn, doesn’t fit or is un-comfortable to wear or the worker doesn’t know to use it properly, they should talk to their supervisor about getting training or something that works – proper HPE protects hear-ing for life.
The best way for employers to pre-vent NIHL is to reduce the amount of noise that is produced by equip-ment or machinery by buying quieter equipment – there’s an up-front cost but it generally pays back in the long run.
If this isn’t an option, see if you can:• substitute a quieter tool, machine
or process for a noisy one• find ways that your employees
can do their work more quiet-ly, and if there are train them to work that way
• get engineering assistance to reduce noise to acceptable levels.
Some engineering solutions can be expensive, but many are low cost and simple to implement - for example, researchers found that mounting the milking machine motor on a concrete block removed a major source of noise in milking sheds.
Protection paysUnfortunately, there will probably
be some noises that can’t be re-
duced or eliminated, which means workers definitely need to protect their hearing – even though it’s sometimes challenging to make this happen.
Employers need to:• explain that while they may not
feel any pain or have problems hearing now, by the time they notice NIHL it will be too late to do anything about it
• work together with your employ-ees and supervisors to identify sources of noise, agree on how you’re going to manage the noise (get a professional assessment and advice if necessary) and who will do what
• make sure everyone does what you’ve agreed to do about man-aging the noise
• lead by example - wear your own HPE consistently to show every-one that you expect them to do the same.
Using HPE effectively means you need to:• have each employee’s hearing
checked annually – usually by an occupational health nurse or an audiologist
• provide the right kind of HPE - the Approved Code of Practice for the Management of Noise in the Workplace will help you choose the right gear for each job or environment, or you can get pro-fessional assistance
• keep HPE well maintained and fit for the job it has to do
• replace worn or damaged HPE promptly.
Unfortunately even effective use of HPE doesn’t guarantee protection from NIHL for everyone because some people’s ears are more sensi-tive than others, but it does greatly reduce the risk of suffering NIHL.
Keep the noise downWorking in a noisy environment and having trouble hearing what your workmates or employees are saying?
H E A L T H
July/August – 201512
A strong body of research evidence has demonstrat-ed numerous health and
wellbeing benefits by practicing mindfulness at work – including im-proved safety.
Many people are confused by the term, but mindfulness is simply the skill of bringing our attention and awareness to experiences and events in the present moment and observing these without judgment or evaluation.
This process of paying attention to what is happening in the moment can be applied to both internal experiences - thoughts and body sensations – as well as external physical and social environments.
For example, driving to work being mindful could include observing that the traffic is heavy but noticing and being aware of your frustration and then turning your attention to the road ahead.
A number of factors contribute to a mindful state:• awareness - bringing full aware-
ness to the present moment• attention - keeping complete at-
tention on the present moment• intentional - deliberately or con-
sciously bringing this attention• non-judgemental – setting aside
or not following any mental commentary or judgements is particularly important
• curiosity - adopting a curious ap-proach to what is noticed
• openness - noticing new infor-mation or staying open to new experiences.
Mindfulness can perhaps best be thought of as the opposite of auto-pilot – when we go through our day or complete tasks without paying attention to what we are doing, are easily distracted or not “on task”, and are likely to have regular “chatter” in our minds that may not be helpful.
The scientific study of mindfulness has shown very clearly what is hap-pening in the body and brain when people practice mindfulness, as well as some of the immediate and longer term benefits.
Particular areas of the brain benefit
One area of the brain where there is a positive impact from mind-fulness practice is the Anterior Cingulate Cortex (ACC), a structure located deep inside the forehead behind the brain’s frontal lobe.
The ACC is primarily associated with self-regulation and cognitive control, helping suppress knee-jerk responses and alerting us when we’re faced with competing demands.
Consequently, the ACC helps us to decide whether to shift our at-tention and switch tasks knowingly,
deliberately and with intention. The ACC is also associated with learning from past experiences, which helps support optimal decision-making. Some scientists think the ACC may be particularly important in the face of uncertain and fast-changing conditions.
Conversely, when the ACC is “of-fline” or not working optimally, you might see a person easily distract-ed from a task and failing to pay attention to the most important in-formation around them.
As such a well-functioning ACC is likely to be an essential asset – for example, on a busy build-ing site where team members are working alongside each other on different operations under hazard-ous conditions.
Studies have also found practicing mindfulness improved functioning in the insula, an area that is activated when we are conscious of ourselves – including having awareness of our physical body.
Consequently, when researchers exposed meditators and non-med-itators to unpleasant physical conditions, meditators had great-er activity in their insula – in effect were more aware of this experi-ence. Mindfulness could, therefore, perhaps reduce back injuries or repetitive strains by increasing our in-the-moment awareness to early discomfort.
Practicing mindfulness also has an equally positive impact on the amygdala, the part of our brain that puts the body into flight or fight mode when we feel in danger or under threat – important when we
need to react urgently and quickly but not so useful if we need to be in a calm state.
Mindfulness practice has been as-sociated with decreased grey matter volume in the amygdala – effective-ly the amygdala shrinks over time with practice.
Conversely, as the amygdala shrinks a further very important part of the brain – the pre-frontal cortex - thickens. This change in brain structure over time is called “functional connectivity” – as the connection between the amygdala and the rest of the brain gets weaker other connections get stronger.
Aptly named, the pre-frontal cortex manages what is called “ex-ecutive functioning” – essentially all the higher level brain activities such as creative thinking, strategic plan-ning and complex decision-making. Thickening in the frontal cortex improves big-picture cognitive functions such as emotional control and perspective.
Mindfulness also increases the volume and density of the hip-pocampus, our main learning and memory centre that is the brain’s working memory.
This effectively gives us more “space” for noticing and responding to our environments. With more space we can respond more effec-tively to challenging or changing situations.
Transitory states can become lasting traits
A very powerful and exciting finding from mindfulness research is that the states or transitory ex-
Umbrella Health Director and Clinical Psychologist Anouk Kelling: “Mindfulness will help employees pay attention to the most important information, weigh options and choose the best strategy for responding”
Could mindfulness boost workplace safety?An intriguing new strategy may help employers reduce accidents and improve employee safety and productivity, clinical psychologist Anouk Kelling reports
“A strong body of scientific research conducted with diverse groups of people has demonstrated very clearly that people who practice mindfulness experience greater physical and psychological well-being, and less stress reactivity”
www.isn.co.nz 13
periences that people experience during mindfulness practice can eventually become effortless traits over time.
Essentially this means that new neural pathways are being formed by practice and the functions of these pathways then become auto-matic over time.
Why is this helpful? Automatic pathways require less energy and effort, which means again that more brain function can be directed to the task at hand.
Mindfulness leads to improved self-regulation
Scientists have suggested that the benefits of mindfulness occur via particular cognitive (mental) processes and a specific neurobio-logical process.
These “mechanisms of action” are improved: • attention regulation• body awareness• emotion regulation• change in self-perspective.
Mindfulness practice helps us pay attention to the most important in-formation in our environment and our bodies, as well as manage emo-tions more effectively, enhancing the “big-picture” perspective and allowing better self-management.
General benefits A strong body of scientific re-
search conducted with diverse groups of people has demonstrated very clearly that people who prac-tice mindfulness experience greater physical and psychological wellbe-ing, and less stress reactivity.
Some of the specific benefits found include:• physical• lowered cortisol response to
stress• improvements in immune func-
tion response• reduced experience of pain• emotional • improved emotion regulation• less emotional exhaustion• cognitive or mental• greater cognitive flexibility• reduced error rates• faster reaction times• increased ability to manage
distractions
• less rumination• others:• improved quality of sleep• improved task performance
Employee benefitsWhile no specific research has
demonstrated a direct relationship between mindfulness and improved safety or fewer accidents, this re-search on the general benefits of mindfulness and the likely improve-ments for employee functioning provide some optimism that mind-fulness practice is likely to have a positive impact.
Integrating these findings with those of Theresa Glomb, Professor of Organizational Behavior in the Carl-son School of Management, further builds the case for mindfulness as an effective strategy for reducing acci-dents and improving safety.
Specific benefits from mindfulness such as improved working memory are also likely to be very useful for employees in managing “too much information”.
Mindfulness will help them pay attention to the most important information, weigh options and choose the best strategy for re-sponding, as well as managing their own cognitive and emotional responses.
Introducing mindfulness Using existing metrics such as
health and safety data and other key performance data is a good place to start measuring the effectiveness of introducing mindfulness.
Assessing any change in these metrics following the introduction of mindfulness, and at subsequent fol-low-up points, then makes it possible for your organisation to evaluate its impact and effectiveness.
If organisation-wide initiatives are difficult, start with specific teams or across a particular business unit. Demonstrating effectiveness and ROI with a specific initiative then creates a strong business case for a broader application.
A second recommendation is to use appropriately qualified and ex-perienced mindfulness practitioners to teach mindfulness skills to your employees.
Ask about their experience teach-ing mindfulness to similar groups of
employees or in comparable types of organisations and do check quali-fications and references.
It is important also to recruit or-ganisational leaders to participate in the training, and to support their staff in the ongoing practice of the mindfulness skills.
The importance of supporting frameworks to enable practice sounds obvious. However, the skills themselves will be of limited benefit unless employees are encouraged to practice and opportunities to practice are provided during their work shifts.
These opportunities don’t need to be for long time periods, but they do need to be protected to ensure they are not swamped by other more im-mediately demanding tasks.
Anouk Kelling is a Director and Clinical Psychologist at Umbrella Health, which offers health and resilience training
Factors likely to increase the chance of accidents and reduce safety
Demonstrated neurological ef-fects of mindfulness practice
Possible performance and safety outcomes for workers who prac-tice mindfulness
Distraction Improved ACC functionImproved frontal lobe function
Increased awareness to competing demands on attentionIncreased ability to manage impulsesGreater persistenceIncreased goal-directed behaviourIncreased task performance
Stress Reduced amygdala functioning and reduced size of the amygdala
Reduced stressReduced emotional reactivityBetter problem-solving
Fatigue Improved insula functioningReduced amygdala functioningIncreased prefrontal lobeIncreased hippocampusIncreased connectivity between frontal lobe and hippocampus
Greater awareness of fatigueMore capacity for learning and developmentGreater ability to handle multiple demandsGreater ability to problem-solve and see the bigger picture
Complacency Increased prefrontal lobeIncreased hippocampusIncreased connectivity between frontal lobe and hippocampus
More accurate forecasting Improved awarenessLess biased decision-makingFewer accidents
E N V I R O N M E N T
July/August – 201514
The Logsafe GPS Monitoring System developed specifi-cally for loggers combines
GPS tracking, radio communication, data measurement and mapping software via a powerful touchscreen computer in the hauler.
The patented system can help with: • safe retreat management - lets
the operator view the location of breaker-outs live on a computer screen and receive notification of entries into the no-go zone
• faller monitoring - locates the position and welfare of the faller anytime
• performance data - captures safety and production informa-tion to help manage the business.
“Logsafe provides the tools nec-essary to manage hazards and access to information to enable forestry owners, contractors and foremen to better manage their business by capturing data, meas-uring performance straight from the cutover, increasing accountabil-ity and awareness,” claims Logsafe GPS Monitoring Managing Director Joseph Brolly.
“It’s a simple-to-use system which complies with the safe-re-treat requirements of the Forestry Approved Code of Practice and en-courages the extraction team to be proactive with managing break-ing-out hazards,” he explains.
The operator can set safe re-treat distances quickly and change them on the touchscreen comput-er in seconds by entering the GPS position of the skyline anchor to es-tablish the moving rope end point, entering an appropriate safe retreat distance, and choosing the safe re-treat zone - Green, Orange, or Red.
“The GPS tracking system then lo-cates each breaker-out in proximity to the moving ropes and displays their position relative to the moving ropes and the safe retreat zone on the computer screen,” Mr Brolly says.
“An alarm will sound in the hauler cab and the breaking-out handsets if a breaker-out enters the no-go zone while the ropes are moving on inhaul or outhaul – ensuring they are at least 15 metres from moving ropes at all times.”
The safe retreat position is clear: if the handset is beeping breaker-outs know to retreat further while entries into the no-go zone are recorded. “This helps reduce the over-walk-ing that causes fatigue and the under-walking that contributes to hazard exposure.”
Safe retreat performance data is logged in the computer database, including all entries into the no-go zone, and can be downloaded for reporting and analysis.
Breaker-outs can have input with setting safe retreat distances, which increases communication and awareness levels and helps produce more ownership of retreat perfor-mance. “It also means less stress and guesswork for the hauler operator as the position of each breaker-out is shown on screen in relation to the moving ropes and the safe re-treat position,” Mr Brolly says. “It also helps the team be proactive with managing the hazards present in each line or pulling face, such as boulders, contour or rootballs, and provides more clarity and support for the breakouts.”
Safety soundsGo-ahead toots and verbal radio
instructions take precedence over Logsafe communication but once the go-ahead toot is received, the hauler operator can confirm on screen that the break-out team is clear. “This last line of defence provides more peace of mind, par-ticularly when pulling blind.”
As such, Logsafe provides an ad-ditional layer of visual information to assist with decision-making and communication in addition to toots and radio instructions. “In addition,
it counters the tendency of break-er-outs to lose focus on safe retreat when tired, or wander toward the rigging returning on outhaul,” Mr Brolly maintains. “The handset will beep a warning of slipping stand-ards if the breaker-out is inside a no-go zone.”
The computerised system means there are no cumbersome physical markers or extra equipment to carry - each breaker-out simply carries a Logsafe handset for all radio, GPS
and digital communication.The waterproof GPS radios are
programmed on forestry radio channels, and feature heavy duty touchscreen computer and com-ponents, specialist software and contour map displays. “It’s compat-ible with any cable-logging system and is suitable for use in all contour conditions, with either tower or swing yarders, running butt rigging, carriage, or grapple systems,” Mr Brolly claims.
Technology takes over the cutoverA revolutionary safety communication and management system designed to support loggers breaking out and falling could help slash the number of serious harm incidents
Safe retreat distances can be set in seconds by entering the GPS position of the skyline anchor to establish the moving rope end point, entering an appropriate safe retreat distance, and choosing the safe retreat zone
The Logsafe GPS monitoring system lets the operator view the location of breaker-outs live on a computer screen and receive notification of entries into the no-go zone
www.isn.co.nz 15
Logsafe faller monitoring also adds another layer of communica-tion to the traditional faller radio check-in system, achieving rapid response time in locating and assist-ing an injured faller and reduce the time delay in detecting an emergen-cy situation.
Faller location is displayed on screen and updated every 80 sec-onds or the exact real-time position and GPS coordinates can be request-ed at the touch of a button. “This is useful when the faller is working alone in demanding country, or working out of sight hundreds of metres from the crew.”
The innovative system also pro-vides two layers of emergency assistance:• an emergency button on the fall-
er’s handset that transmits the location and GPS coordinates to the hauler computer monitor, ac-tivating an emergency alarm on the hauler and breaker out radios
• and a “man down” alarm that beeps if the handset is on an angle of less than 45 degrees for over 120 seconds and activates
the emergency alert process if the faller doesn’t move to a ver-tical position within 30 seconds.
A further benefit is faster emer-gency detection times compared with the traditional 30-minute radio check-in system, which could see a faller check-in safe and be struck unconscious five minutes into the next 30-minute work period. “With
Logsafe, the emergency alert would be raised 2.5 minutes after the faller was struck unconscious,” Mr Brolly says.
Logsafe has the additional benefit of allowing the operator to record safety and production information in real time, and generating daily reports for management - including no-go zone entries.
It also measures drag cycles per day, log count, faller check-in, tree drives, and tracks downtime and breakdowns, which helps stream-line safety recording and provides the business owner with valuable information. “We’re excited to offer new tools to help protect loggers and reduce injuries in the industry,” Mr Brolly adds.
“It’s a simple-to-use system which complies with the safe-retreat requirements of the Forestry Approved Code of Practice and encourages the extraction team to be proactive with managing breaking-out hazards”
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H E A L T H & S A F E T Y
July/August – 201516
Daryn Murray knows about health and safety – he has to if he is to survive.
Working for 15 years as a shearing contractor with up to 80 staff and another 15 years as a shearer and working in farming, forestry and commercial fishing has given this Southland inventor a solid foun-dation and understanding of the importance of health and safety in the workplace.
“Shearing is an industry that pays on performance so we are always looking for more efficient ways of doing things. And safety – well that’s up to each individual to take owner-ship of.”
“I have regularly shorn 400-500 sheep a day. There are no light duties you can go on if you get hurt. My biggest asset is my back so it’s important to look after that.”
When a farmer friend wouldn’t stop moaning to him about ‘moving these 200 litre drums around’ he thought: “I could sort that for him.
“We move wool bales all day that are that weight and some of the rams we shear are also that weight – and they kick back!,” he says
I came up with a solution for him and he thought it was the “bees’ knees” and so did his mates - the Smart Mover was born.
Its unique design offered a much safer and easier way to move drums and has since spawned a range of other cost-effective devices with simplicity, durability, reliability and safety in mind.
The Smart Mover can load easily off pallets, be used safely on uneven surfaces or handling hazardous chemicals in steel or plastic drums
Mr Murray took his ideas and in-ventions to the National Fieldays in 2014 and it was there where things took off.
Today the Smart Mover has ex-tended its reach way beyond the farm gate.
A mini version is finding a ready market with small business opera-tors who cannot justify the expense of a forklift and both sizes are im-pressing bigger companies who find the Smart Mover more efficient than a forklift and less likely to cause product damage.
“The hero is the Smart Mover which allows the drum to be deliv-ered safely by one person into the Smart Tipper, ready for dispensing or inverting the contents,” he says.
“It wasn’t just dairy farmers who were struggling, it was people in-volved in a range of areas including logistics, retail, manufacturers.
Central Southland Freight opera-tions manager Corey Price says the company’s drivers love the Smart Mover.
“The balance is perfect and it takes all the strain and hassle away. You can even walk it along with one hand.”
Occupational Therapist Jane Llyal of NZROT told Mr Murray that he has “designed a beautifully balanced product to allow the drums to be moved easily, using an upright body position.”
As a result of feedback from Fiel-days, Smart Products has been working for the past 12 months with Health & Safety staff from many industries to provide safe and eco-nomical solutions for their manual handling problems.
The range goes from gas cylinders, kegs, whiteware, chemicals, oils and resin.
“Before you can design a solu-tion you need to understand the problem. We don’t want to sell just a product, we want to provide a solution.
“Many companies that we have worked with already have a pile of unused equipment in their yards that didn’t work.
“If we simply sold them equip-ment out of a catalogue without understanding what they are trying to achieve, then our equipment could join that pile.
When Mr Murray set about design-ing the Smart Mover, his research found that drums were often deliv-ered to a workplace on a pallet.
A common problem was moving them off the pallet in the first place – drums varied in weight from 200kg to 310kg.
In addition, many workplaces had uneven surfaces to negotiate.
“Then we discovered buyers also wanted something that would multi task and be used on other large items in the workplace.
“It is no good having equipment if it only solves one or two of the prob-lems – you will still have an unsafe situation, he says.
Autotec’s Rob Fulton calls it a “pretty exceptional piece of equipment.
“We use it for shifting drums of oil, stacks of tyres and rims every other day and the previous trolley we were using doesn’t even come close.”
Still, Mr Murray has heard plenty of sad stories from older people
who have suffered injuries from moving heavy loads repeatedly in their working career with the wrong equipment.
“Every time you move large items with the wrong equipment, it’s like playing Russian roulette with your body’s health,” he says.
He has also heard some horror sto-ries from close shaves.
“I heard on two separate occasions about power cords being cut by rolling a steel drum on its edge on a concrete floor,” he says.
For Mr Murray, it’s an endless search for knowledge to enhance his product range.
At the recent National Health and Safety Show in Auckland he spent quite a bit of time with er-gonomists Marion Edwin and Sue Alexander from Motueka based consultancy Optimise. (Ergonomics is the study of how a workplace and the equipment used there can best be designed for comfort, efficiency, safety, and productivity. And those factors or qualities in the design of something, especially a workplace or equipment used by people at work, that contribute to comfort, ef-ficiency, safety, and ease of use)
He talked also at length to physi-otherapist Alison Richmond, whose company Provention has provided consultancy services and injury prevention incentives to major companies which have significant-ly reduced strain and sprain injury rates.
“They are really passionate about Health & Safety and I learnt a lot from talking to them that I can use to make Smart Products even safer,” he says.
Smart solution for balanced, safe and reliable manual moving
www.isn.co.nz 17
Smart solution for balanced, safe and reliable manual moving
Daryn Murray has well and truly earned his place as a graduate to the ranks of the
South Island’s Kiwi Ingenuity inven-tors – Number 8 wire technology at its best.
Kiwi ingenuity’s illustrious history in the South began in 1890 when In-vercargill spice and coffee merchant David Strang took out a patent for ‘Strang’s Patent Soluble Dry Cof-fee-powder’ and is credited with inventing instant coffee.
In 1906 patent number 21476 was granted to Temuka farmer Richard Pearse for “an improved aerial or flying machine”.
In the 1950s Irishman Creek sta-tion owner, Bill Hamilton, and his employees developed and patent-ed a plywood boat powered by a jet propulsion unit to navigate the rivers on the property near Lake Tekapo.
No. 8 fencing wire was one of
safety and reminded him of family history.
“Having my children working with me has shown me that a lot of our workplace practices need to change. We have got a real ‘jump in there and get things done attitude’. I’m guilty of doing this myself.
“My grandmother and mother were widowed, both with seven kids from workplace accidents.
“I saw how our community was af-fected when we lost someone in the Pike River mine disaster and I had spinal surgery four years ago, the result of an old injury.
As a result Smart Products has what Mr Murray calls “a fresh ap-proach to Health & Safety.”
“We don’t do manuals or audits – there’s plenty of people doing a great job of that already.
Smart Products has what it calls a “stick man” approach.
“We take it back to basics and look for a simple and affordable solution.
“We favour balance and gravity where possible,” says Mr Murray. It’s free, reliable and the government hasn’t worked out how to tax it yet,” he says.
“We focus on simplicity in our designs which makes them cost ef-fective and reliable.
The company mantra is that every-one needs to come home intact at the end of a working day and we all deserve to have our health intact at the end of our working career.
the materials used by Christchurch engineer John Britten, when he designed a world-beating racing motorcycle in his spare time.
The self-effacing Mr Murray would not compare himself to those pio-neers but Smart Mover and Smart Tipper save lives and stop seri-ous injuries – that’s qualification enough in most minds to grant him membership.
Darryn Murray will tell you he was no great scholar in his younger days.
He had plans of becoming and en-gineer when at high school because he always enjoyed making things.
That didn’t happen and it wasn’t till his late forties that he realized he had dyslexia.
“This explained a lot of things about the choices I have made in life,” he says with a laugh.
“I did ok in subjects like biolo-gy, chemistry and geography, but sucked in Maths – English used to confuse me something bad and still does.
“My ‘spell check’ hasn’t got a clue what I’m on about.”
In the workshop, Mr Murray still doesn’t use a ruler
“I do everything by eye and what looks right. I frustrate others in our team when they go and build some-thing off my prototypes because I don’t use or have a plan, or even measurements.”
He overcomes this by always cut-ting an extra piece and putting it aside to use as a template.
“That’s why I’m only involved in prototyping – not allowed an-ywhere near when it comes to production,” he says.
He may not have become an en-gineer formally but Mr Murray has a good understanding of design and manual handling from knowledge learned “at the coal face”.
“People are surprised when I tell them that when we design some-thing, we only focus on efficiency – getting the task done quicker.
“If we are successful in this, then it is naturally easier and thus safer. Health & Safety and efficiency go hand-in-hand.”
“If you don’t make a product that is more efficient you run the risk of putting pressure on staff, taking short cuts and have less time to think. Many work places are under the pump a lot of the time.”
The family man says his final check is “would I be comfortable with my own son and daughter doing this task.”
“My children started working in the school holidays with me in the shearing shed to earn pocket money and I thought this was great as it taught them the work ethic.”
However, they are the ones who have taught him the importance of
We don’t want to sell just a product, we want to provide a solution
Kiwi ingenuity to the fore
Smart Move [email protected]
0800 3 444 333Daryn Murray: 027 3 444 333
M A N A G E M E N T
July/August – 201518
Until lately social media has been largely overlooked as a potentially invaluable health
and safety tool.Increasing numbers have been
turning to Facebook to get infor-mation about what’s happening around them and to check in on whether their friends and family are safe in times of disaster.
Over 2.5 million New Zealanders use Facebook every month on av-erage, making it a powerful tool to assist organisations, communities and families prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters.
Throughout the world and includ-ing New Zealand organisations like the American Red Cross, World Food Program USA, the New South Wales Rural Fire Service and Federal Emer-gency Management Agency use Facebook as part of their disaster response strategies.
These organisations employ Facebook in a variety of ways, from providing tips on keeping people and property safe, sharing impor-tant updates as a storm front or fire approaches, or rallying people to help others after disaster strikes.
An example close to home is, of course, the Student Volunteer Army, whose members took to Facebook to help others, particularly the elderly, in Christchurch after the devastating earthquakes in 2011.
Civil Defence and the MetService also make effective use of Facebook to communicate important informa-tion when severe weather strikes New Zealand.
Facebook aims to help everyone get more out of its services during difficult times, and as part of that strategy the company has devel-oped a range of guides and tools for organisations as well as individuals.
Prepare & respondJune saw the launch of a New
Zealand version of Prepare & Re-spond, a collection of worldwide best-practice examples for councils, civil defence teams and other emer-gency services to connect with their constituents and better prepare for and respond to natural disasters.
The guide offers tips and case studies on how to maximise the impact of Facebook Pages, which are the foundation for a two-way com-munication with the community of people interested in an organisa-tion’s work.
The different features of Face-book Pages — like Timeline, Cover and Profile Photos, and the About section — allow an organisation to inform and engage members of the public as well as employees or vol-unteers from other stakeholders.
For example, the guide provides tips about how organisations can manage their Page posting strategy to provide people with the informa-tion they need before, during and after a disaster.
Before: create a Page posting strategy to keep people informed in advance of any disasters. Regular-ly posting helps your organisation stay front of mind as a credible and reliable resource during disasters. For example, post relevant tips to remind people of the steps they can take to prepare for a disaster that can strike at any time, like an earthquake, or severe weather or flooding.
During: timing is crucial — post regularly with photos and videos, share links to more in-depth infor-mation, and, when appropriate,
target posts to people in specific locations. Respond to questions and feedback in the comments sections of your posts.
After: post direct and clear infor-mation about where community members can receive assistance and how they can help in the recovery effort through donations or volun-teering opportunities.
Ensuring that a Page posting best-practice strategy is in place can allow councils and other front-line responders to engage the public and help keep people informed.
Safety checkIn times of disaster or crisis its ser-
vices have become an effective way to check on loved ones, particularly when large numbers of people are displaced.
This was evident during the dev-astating 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan when more than 12.5 million people were affected nationwide and more than 400,000 people were evacuated.
During that crisis people used technology and social media to stay connected and Facebook’s engineers in Japan took the first step toward creating a tool – Safety Check – to make it easier to commu-nicate with others.
It is in these moments that com-
munication is critical for people in the affected areas and for their friends and families anxious for news.
If activated by Facebook, the Safety Check tool, which is available globally on Android, iOS, feature phones and desktop, provides a simple and easy way for an individ-ual to let their friends and family on Facebook know they are safe. It also allows friends and family to check in to see if their loved ones in an area affected by an emergency are safe.
Facebook decides to activate the Safety Check tool based on criteria about severity and type of incident, and in consultation with relevant government agencies in the affect-ed area.
The company also works closely with local government authorities including the Ministry of Civil De-fence to identify if the tool can be helpful during an emergency.
To date Facebook has activated Safety Check three times — after Typhoon Ruby, Cyclone Pam and the recent Nepal Earthquake – and millions of people have marked themselves safe and millions more friends and family have seen safety notices that their loved ones are safe.
The comments on these safety notices from loved ones are typi-cally expressions of love, gratitude and relief, confirming how impact-ful social media can be in times of disaster.
Download the Prepare & Respond guide at http://tinyurl.com/pkmuvdkMia Garlick is Head of Policy at Facebook New Zealand
Harnessing the power of social mediaSocial media should be an essential element in every disaster preparedness kit argues Mia Garlick
M A N A G E M E N T > > T r a i n i n g
www.isn.co.nz 19
P 0800 72 33 848 E [email protected]
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H e i g h t s a f e t y
July/August – 201520
New Zealand designed and manufactured, the award winning INTAKS is a simple
access scaffolding system providing guardrails for roof edge protection and working platforms for all trades to work safely.
INTAKS can be used for new home builds, maintenance, roofing pro-jects and commercial construction making it a one-system solution giving builders more freedom and choices.
Lightweight and compact, INTAKS is a modular system has been de-signed to be simple to set-up and easy to adjust.
This means that INTAKS can
quickly be adapted to suit any job or terrain. In fact INTAKS can be assembled into over 15 different configurations to overcome many different working at height issues that face residential and commercial sites.
It can be also be jacked up under a balcony or eave to provide roof edge protection on existing build-ings for maintenance, painting, re-roofs etc.
Because with INTAKS there is no longer any need for harnesses, workers are free to complete the job quicker doing away with trouble-some lengthening and shortening of ropes as they complete the job.
This also opens up the labour field as workers can now work in a passive environment and no longer need to be trained in the use of harnesses.
With minimal ground footprint and plank spans up to 4.8 metres, INTAKS means a building site be-comes more accessible and multiple trades can work together meaning shorter project time frames.
INTAKS is also easier and more cost effective to get to site and set up. INTAKS is 80 percent lighter than steel scaffolding.
The lightweight system means that INTAKS takes far less time, truck tonnage and manpower to put up and pack down.
The INTAKS system is certified as complying with AS/NZS 1664.1, De-partment of Labour Best Practice Guidelines for Scaffolding in New
Zealand, AS/NZS 4994.1.2009 Tem-porary Roof Edge Protection and AS 6001 Working Platforms for Housing Construction.
The interlocking system makes the planks strong and steady offer-ing workers unparalleled support to work safely. The system’s planks also butt join end to end eliminating overlapping of planks and reducing opportunities for trip hazards and the dreaded 50mm death drop.
INTAKS is available for purchase or hire.
INTAKS has installers based around the country meaning builders, roof-ers and main contractors now only need to deal with one company for all their scaffolding needs.
07 577 6469 [email protected] www.intaks.co.nz
Single solution to scaffolding safetyNo matter what the job INTAKS is the only scaffolding solution you will ever need
The 10th annual awards ceremony recognised the people and organisations
demonstrating excellence and achievement in workplace health and safety. It is supported by both ACC and WorkSafe New Zealand -
INTAKS was awarded Best Design Initiative to Eliminate or Isolate a Hazard for their innovative, du-al-purpose work platform and roof edge protection system
Lew Cleveland, a local for 30 years introduced Guardrail - the first resi-dential roof edge protection system to the kiwi building industry 15 years ago after identifying changes in safe work practices being required.
At the same time he was starting up a scaffold business, Scaffold Sys-tems in Tauranga. As he built this business he was continually expe-riencing first-hand all the inherent shortcomings of conventional scaf-fold systems.
He knew there was a better way, so he set about designing it.
Intaks is an exceptionally light-weight scaffold system that uses interlocked aluminium planks to provide a secure working platform and to reduce manual handling in-juries in setup and dismantling.
INTAKS can achieve very wide spans and be installed with no foot-print, so ground space and lower
walls stay clear allowing multiple trades to work on site together with unrestricted access.
The groundbreaking design also offers permanent brackets in buildings for easy reinstallation – es-pecially applicable to buildings such as schools, retirement villages and commercial premises where future maintenance plans are in place.
Proudly NZ designed and made Mr Cleveland acknowledges the amazing support, dedication and engineering innovation of New Zea-land manufactures to Intaks success.
“After 13 years of intense de-velopment, we’re thrilled to have launched INTAKS to phenomenal
response and demand from the in-dustry – and this award is just the icing on the cake”, Mr Cleveland says.
“With the new Health and Safety at Work Act coming into effect this year, we feel confident that INTAKS’ dynamic design is ready to meet the demands of what will be a sig-nificantly altered health and safety landscape”.
The fully certified and patented INTAKS system is now being used on commercial and residential sites around the country, delivering not only workplace health and safety benefits, but significant time and cost savings to building and roof-ing companies, subcontractors and building owners alike.
National Design Award winnerINTAKS won Best Design Initiative at the recent 2014 New Zealand Workplace Health & Safety Awards
INTAKS can be assembled into over 15 different configurations to overcome many different working at height issues
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E N V I R O N M E N T
July/August – 2015
The ClimbMAX Steep Slope Harvester is a huge step for-ward towards achieving the
global goal of getting workers off dangerous slopes.
The only machine of its kind cur-rently on the market, the ClimbMAX is the realisation of logging com-pany owner Nigel Kelly’s vision to make his workers safer when har-vesting on rough terrain.
He discussed his idea with Kerry Hill and the team at Trinder Engineering, who took the concept and transformed a tradi-tional mechanical harvester into a winch-assisted machine with a lower centre of gravity for increased stability on steep slopes.
Fluid Power Solutions Director and Design Engineer Gary Allen de-signed the hydraulics system on the ClimbMAX, which has a number of key elements that make it inherently safer – namely an ability to self-reg-ulate and self-monitor.
The assisting winch and the safety blade are integral on the ClimbMAX, he explains. “Our self-regulating hy-draulics system ensures the tracks and winch always work in unison, and the blade has a rapid deploy-ment function that will stop and hold the machine if required,” Mr Allen says. “The operator only has to set a few system parameters and can then concentrate on felling and bunching trees.”
Fluid Power Solutions’ hydrau-lics system provides full flexibility of movement on slopes, enabling ClimbMAX to safely operate on steep slopes in various conditions, including snow or rain. It effective-ly hugs the terrain and can move considerable distances from side to side, as well as up and down, max-imising the cut area per shift.
Mr Allen says as a designer one of the biggest challenges was to ensure the operators had the utmost confidence that they were safe on steep slopes. “We’ve met the challenge of operator confidence by designing various automatic safety features and by making it simple
for drivers to manage the additional systems,” he maintains.
For example, they can easily select different operating modes by de-pressing buttons on one of the machine’s joystick handles to match the type of terrain they are working on. “In essence, the ClimbMAX can be driven like a standard harvester on level ground, so the operator can fully concentrate on the job, making him and his workmates safer,” Mr Allen adds. “We know we’ve built something that’s going to save lives – it doesn’t get much more reward-ing than that.”
The heart of the machine is the complex winch assist system that is controlled via three smart programmable controllers, specifi-cally designed for use with hydraulic components with high power con-sumption without the need for relays, amplifiers and other electri-cal equipment.
The controllers are uncom-plicated and take up less of the valuable space, monitoring inputs from various parts of the machine and making adjustments to the hydraulic system to maintain maxi-mum safety.
Fluid Power Solutions also designed a completely new pres-surised hydraulic oil reservoir, which doubles as the machine’s counter-weight, and a dry sump system for the engine that allows the hydraulic system and engine to function prop-erly when on the steeper slopes.
Having been tested on slopes up to 65 degrees, the ClimbMAX is currently used by Kelly Logging in Nelson and JB Logging in Hawkes Bay, with interest growing around the country, as well as a forestry company in Canada.
Representatives from Chile, Canada, and three major logging companies in the US visited Nelson in 2014 to view the next generation harvesting machine, while March this year saw a second ClimbMAX Steep Slope Harvester shipped off to another logging company in Canada.
22
Specialty hydraulics drive safer forestry machineA forestry harvester designed and built in Nelson is helping make the sector safer and more efficient
ClimbMAX returns from a slope to the skid site
ClimbMAX underwent safety tests on-site
Showcasing ClimbMAX’s rugged winch housing and heavy-duty feed rollers
Being struck by falling objects is a leading cause of injury for workers and the fourth highest cause of death in the workplace. Dropped object injuries are all too common and range from near misses and minor incidents
through to life-changing accidents or even death. We already prevent some objects from falling, we call those objects people. But what about the tools? Not enough consideration is given to one of the major causes of death in our workplace every year. In the same way we stop people from falling we also need to concern ourselves with stopping tools from falling.There is an absolute expectation that objects are going to fall. It’s not a question of “if an object is going to be dropped” but “when is an object going to be dropped.” The view is that we wear PPE such as hard hats to limit the damage a falling object can inflict when the object falls, or make sure there are debris nets, or try not to stand under areas where objects can fall.
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volve work being performed at height, over water or open pits, and anywhere dropped or lost objects are a concern.Dropped objects can result in huge property damage, lost tools or, worse yet, injury or death. It is our passion to help you protect the people around you.We can provide an entire drop-prevention program or a sample plan to help you deploy a program that fits your needs.
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We never lose sight of the fact that lives are at risk in the industry we serve. Our mission is to protect workers so they can return home safely to their families every day — and we take seriously our responsibility as a world leader in safety-at-height equipment. We save lives every day! Whether it be in construction, general industry, mining, oil & gas, transportation, utilities or wind energy, we have a solution to fit your needs. Under our two globally recognised brands, DBI-SALA® and Protecta®, Capital Safety offers the world’s most comprehensive product range. Our range of products extends from full body safety harnesses, lanyards fall arrestors, anchorage connectors and dropped objects prevention, through to confined space access equipment, post fall
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C o m m e n t > > M a n a g e m e n t
July/August – 201526
More specifically, why do they address the ability and willingness of people
to communicate assertively with others? The reason is that organi-sations that enable and encourage people to communicate assertively have stronger safety cultures than others. If people can confidently state their views as in “I am not com-fortable doing it that way, there is a safer way of doing it” then it is clear that less incidents may occur.
Why assertive communication is important in safety cultures
The importance of assertiveness in safety is not new. Two aviation disasters in the late 1970s focused attention on the inability of the flight crew to effectively commu-nicate with their captain. The first saw two Boeing 747s from Pan Am and KLM collide on take-off at Ten-erife airport in 1979. Amongst the various causes for the crash was one that could have clearly led to a different outcome; on the Pan Am flight, the first officer’s inability to assertively tell the captain to abort the take-off ultimately led to the death of 583 people.
A year earlier, after an aborted landing by UA flight 173 the flight crew focused on diagnosing the problem with the landing gear while the plane ran out of fuel. The failure of the crew members
to successfully communicate their concerns over the diminishing fuel to the captain was a critical factor.As a result, training with particular em-phasis on the merits of assertiveness training for cockpit crew members was recommended.
The need for assertiveness skills has also long been recognised in medicine. For nurses, the ability to deliver an appropriately assertive response to a potentially harmful situation is a critical, and potentially life-saving skill.
Although the magnitude of the in-cidents may vary, and not everyone is flying a plane or operating in a theatre, when a team member does not assert their concerns the results can be dire – near misses and acci-dents can occur.
Furthermore, in the aviation and medical industries there are evident issues of hierarchy at play, but the ability to communicate assertively is important across industries and power structures.
In New Zealand it is often not the fear of asserting your views against the boss’s, but a dislike of being
seen to be different, a “tall poppy”, “too big for your boots”, or “rocking the boat”.
What assertiveness is and is notAssertiveness is not rocking the
boat! It is verbal and non-verbal be-
haviours that enable individuals to maintain respect for self and others, satisfy their needs and defend their rights in a manner that does not dominate, manipulate, abuse or impose.
It is being able to stand up for yourself, making sure your opinions and feelings are considered and not letting people always get their way. It requires a healthy sense of self and acknowledging that you deserve to get what you want and operate in a safe manner in a safe environment. It means standing up for yourself – even in the most difficult situations.
People who don’t state their views or stand up for themselves are pas-sive. It may be that they want to be liked and thought of as ‘nice’ or ‘easy to get along with’, so they often keep their opinions to themselves – especially if they are shy or those
opinions conflict with others. Sometimes it is fine to take a
passive approach if the issue is unimportant, but what if it isn’t? What if the faulty bolt on the crane puts the workers below at risk? In a passive approach the person is dis-respecting themselves, their own views and possibly their own safety (think about the flight crews).
Many people are concerned that if they assert themselves others will think of their behaviour as ag-gressive, but there is a difference between being assertive and ag-gressive. Assertive people state their opinions while still being respectful of others, and aggressive people attack or ignore others’ opinions in favour of their own.
Aggression is based on winning. When you are aggressive you take what you want regardless, and you don’t usually ask. Assertive people are forthright about their wants and needs while still considering the rights, needs and wants of others.
Plus, contrary to popular belief, people can communicate their concerns and needs without per-manently damaging important working relationships if it is done well.
Positive push backDoing it well can be thought of as
“positive pushback”. It is the ability to deliver an appropriately assertive
The importance of being assertiveWhy do so many behavioural assessments looking at safety include a measure on effective communication?
“Assertive people state their opinions while still being respectful of others, and aggressive people attack or ignore others’ opinions in favour of their own”
www.isn.co.nz 27
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response to a potentially negative or harmful situation. A positive pushback is executed by looking someone straight in the eye, and saying with an even, non-stressed tone what is wanted or needed. If you want to be really assertive in-clude the word “I,” such as “I really think we should stop and review our approach now. ...”
Assertiveness trainingAssertiveness training teaches
people the difference between assertive, aggressive and passive communication. It helps people identify their own barriers to asser-tiveness and apply techniques to remove them.
By increasing awareness of the reasons why people avoid com-municating assertively they can recognise and change them. Some people may have low self-esteem and believe they are not worthy of having their needs met. They are passive. Some people find it so dif-ficult express their wants it comes rushing out in anger, or they are so self important they believe their
needs should be met regardless. They are aggressive.
Training increases the awareness of these emotions and how to re-spond to them. It addresses the language of assertiveness, using strong “I” statements and appro-priate non-threatening non-verbal language. This increases the abil-ity to tailor your communication style to the preferred one of others. Scripting statements and role-play-ing enable participants to practice the art of assertive communications.
The benefitsLike most training, there are an-
cillary benefits beyond its targeted objective.For example, if employees are comfortable assertively commu-nicating their needs, conflict in the workplace will be more quickly sur-faced and resolved.
People will be able to state their needs confidently rather than pas-sively or aggressively, or even less desirable, a combination of both. Imagine a workplace where every-one could express their needs calmly and confidently, and people
Are you assertive?
I don’t know - what do you think?
heard them. It would make not only for a safe place to work, but also a healthy one!
Moira Howson is a Senior Consultant at PeopleCentric, a team
of industrial and organisational psychologists who work with a variety of organisations to maximise employee potential and promote the value of psychology in driving business performance
L I G H T I N G
July/August – 201528
New Zealand highways are lit to only three-quarters of the levels enjoyed in the UK,
Europe and the US, notes Strategic Lighting Partners Ltd Managing Director Godfrey Bridger. “And our residential streets are lit to as little as a quarter of the lighting levels in other developed countries,” he adds.
“It should come as no surprise that the risk of death and injury from driving at night in New Zealand is 5.8 times the risk from driving during daylight hours, whereas amalgamated international statis-tics show night-time driving carries only twice the risk of day-time driv-ing in other countries.”
He says three years ago New Zealand researchers Mike Jackett and Bill Frith of Opus Internation-al Consultants discovered that for every 0.5 candela per square metre increase in lighting levels on the roading “midblock” between inter-sections the injury crash rate fell by 33 percent.
“Furthermore, findings from new international research indicate that white LED road lighting can pro-vide better, safer driving vision than the yellow lighting emitted by the high-pressure sodium lights cur-rently used in New Zealand.”
Strategic Lighting Partners has been gathering international re-search on lighting and road safety for several years, and its evidence
shows that with better road lighting New Zealand could reduce its night-time road fatalities and injuries by more than 10 percent.
This in turn would save about 20 lives and about 500 other road users from injury each year, while substantially reducing the estimat-ed $1.2 billion annual cost to the country of night-time road deaths and injuries.
“Transport and motor vehicle acci-dents are the main cause of teenage death worldwide, the third leading cause of loss of life in the US overall and the fifth leading cause of death in New Zealand overall,” Mr Bridger notes.
The social cost of road crashes in New Zealand was estimated in 2007 to be $3.8 billion and with 40 per-cent of crashes occurring at night this suggests that night crashes cost NZ $1.2 billion.
“Factoring in savings from great-er energy efficiency and reduced maintenance requirements, we estimate a $700 million New Zea-land-wide upgrade to modern road lighting would return a benefit cost ratio substantially better than the 2.5 benefit-cost ratio for our Roads of National Significance that are costing $9.7 billion,” Mr Bridger says.
There’s an enormous saving in human suffering and misery which isn’t captured in these statistics, he notes. “And when you consider the
opportunities that a digital lighting infrastructure and new smart city technologies offer local government in terms of new community friendly services and sources of revenue, a national road lighting upgrade is a no-brainer.”
Lighting lackingRoad lighting is such a small
proportion of the overall cost of building and maintaining the na-tional road network that it tends to “fly under the radar” and suffers from little attention.
For example, the Ministry of Trans-port’s excellent road safety strategy “Safer Journeys” makes no mention of road lighting despite going into detail on other important issues such as driving age, road markings, and alcohol.
Mr Bridger admits New Zealand hasn’t been alone in overlooking the benefits of upgrading its na-tional road lighting network as road safety policymakers worldwide are overlooking the importance of road lighting to road safety.
“We could find no evidence of a systematic strategic asset manage-ment approach which incorporates quantifiable safety performance to road lighting worldwide, apart from Canada and Washington State in the northwest US.”
Three years ago Mr Bridger wrote a report on the issue with fellow SLP
director Bryan King entitled Lighting the Way to Road Safety – A policy blindspot? that was developed from a longer, broader-based report for the New Zealand Transport Author-ity (NZTA) entitled Strategic Road Lighting Opportunities for New Zealand.
“Our report was intended to alert transport authorities worldwide, but especially in New Zealand, to the need for greater focus on road lighting to save lives, save energy, improve security, reduce negative environmental impacts, and save money overall.”
He believes their work is final-ly starting to pay off after the consultancy ran two international conferences in Auckland over the past two years, featuring interna-tional experts on lighting, energy efficiency and road safety.
“NZTA recently introduced chang-es designed to encourage road controlling authorities in New Zea-land to introduce modern LED road lighting, although the change was motivated more by efficiency con-siderations than safety.”
Leading international research-er on road lighting and Director of the Centre for Infrastructure Based Safety Systems at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute Dr Ron Gibbons says research on 23,000
Poor road lighting putting drivers at riskDriving at night in New Zealand is almost three times more dangerous than other developed countries and poor road lighting is a significant factor an expert believes
LA Modern Tunnel after LEDLA Modern Tunnel before LED
Continued on page 30
Strategic Lighting Partners Ltd Managing Director Godfrey Bridger: “Research indicates white LED road lighting can provide better, safer driving vision than the yellow lighting emitted by the high-pressure sodium lights currently used in New Zealand”
L I G H T I N G
July/August – 201530
road crashes in the US correlates the crash rate with road lighting in-tensity, confirming the research by Jackett and Frith in New Zealand.
Measurements at intersections show there is a clear statistical link between the level of light delivered and the crash rate – traffic safety increases with every increase in road lighting levels up to five lux, at which point the safety benefits taper off.
“We gather 90 percent of our infor-mation visually – we are not evolved for night driving,” Dr Gibbons insists. “Minor arterial roads have among the most dangers of any road, in-cluding intersections, driveways and pedestrian traffic, and would most benefit from a higher level of lighting.”
Other international findings collat-ed in the internationally-acclaimed Handbook of Road Safety Measures edited by Norwegian road safety expert Professor Rune Elvik demon-strate lighting provides the very highest safety improvement on rural roads, cutting fatal accidents by up to 87 percent and enjoying one of the highest benefit-to-cost ratios available in road safety measures.
Colour crucialThe colour and quality of the
light is also critical to road safety, with recent research by Dr Gibbons and Nancy Clanton of US-based consultants Clanton & Associates showing there is a clear correlation between visibility, stopping dis-tance and light colour. White light of about 4,000 Kelvin – the colour of moonlight – provides the greatest visibility, indicating the possibility of
an evolutionary factor at work.By comparison the yellow light
provided by high pressure sodium (HPS) provides poor visibility. Re-search results show that 146W LED white lights (4,000K) dimmed to 25 percent provide the same stopping distance on wet roads as full inten-sity 250W HPS yellow light provides on dry roads.
This supports findings by the late
Dr Ian Lewin in the United States more than 12 years ago – before white LED lighting was available – that driver reaction time is slower under yellow HPS lighting than under old technology white lighting such as Mercury Vapour and Metal Halide lighting.
Mr Bridger says it was Dr Lewin’s research that inspired Melbourne to switch to white road lighting some years ago, starting a journey that has attracted residents back to the central city, bolstering its visi-tor numbers and night economy. “White light not only improves traf-fic safety, but the improved visibility it affords has also dropped street crime rates in cities like Los Angeles.”
While there are concerns that white light can interfere with astron-omy and may have an impact on biological circadian rhythms, these factors can be managed through
digital control systems to dim or switch lighting off when it’s not needed, he believes.
“The controlled, directional nature of LED lighting also effectively reduces light spill and light pollu-tion,” Mr Bridger adds, noting these are issues of particular concern for communities served by “minor” res-idential roads.
Nevertheless, there are other re-
searchers who see danger in these presumptions about road lighting and road safety because it also means the relationship simply hasn’t been explored properly.
The Director of Enterprise Risk and Safety Management for the Washington State Department of Transportation in the United States, Dr John Milton, says much of our road lighting technology is now 40-years old and so is our under-standing of lighting and “road crash potential”.
“Standards-based application of lighting design is slowing the evo-lution of lighting to optimise road safety, and in the interests of road safety that needs to change,” he maintains. “In Washington State we are shifting from standards-driven application to a performance-based decision-making process.”
Dr Milton says the challenge today
is to optimise spending on road safety techniques such as road light-ing, and to apply its use where it will have the most benefit.
Washington State is using statisti-cal analysis to target the application of digital LED lighting and control technologies at locations that have a higher than expected number of crashes, and consider the removal or reduction of lighting at locations on its 11,200-kilometre highway system that are unable to demon-strate sufficient benefit.
He says while well-designed road lighting can reduce road crashes, poorly-designed road lighting may increase accidents – for example by causing reflective glare that makes road markings invisible in wet weather conditions.
Location of lighting is also im-portant. “Lighting is likely to be of greater benefit on roads where there are lots of intersections and road access points, such as drive-ways, and to be of less benefit on stretches of double-lane highways without intersections,” Dr Milton insists.
He says Washington State Depart-ment of Transportation has ramped up its research on road lighting in the past three to four years since the advent of new technology LED lighting and control systems.
“The energy, cost-efficiency, flexi-bility and greater visibility that LED affords make this a very beneficial technology,” says Dr Milton, “but we haven’t yet researched and devel-oped the performance standards by which we can optimise the use of this new technology.”
“We estimate a $700 million New Zealand-wide upgrade to modern road lighting would return a benefit-cost ratio substantially better than the 2.5 benefit cost ratio for our Roads of National Significance that are costing $9.7 billion”
Continued from page 28
LA River Bridge after LEDLA River Bridge before LED
M A N A G E M E N T > > T r a i n i n g
www.isn.co.nz 31
The Carnegie Foundation con-ducted research into what makes people successful and
they found that there were three key elements – knowledge, skills and attitude.
What surprised them was that combined knowledge and skills accounted for only 15 percent of a person’s success.
Attitude accounted for a whop-ping 85 percent of a person’s success.
Apply those findings to health and safety programmes and ask the
question of just how much focus is there on building the right attitude towards health and safety among your work force, supervisors and managers.
Safety IQ understands the issue and can help businesses make their safety programmes work.
To achieve this, the company pro-motes Safety through Leadership and Safety by Design.
This includes the Systems Ap-proach, expands on it and includes the Human Factors Approach through leadership.
Safety IQ works with businesses on leadership (human factor) in the following areas:• Building Management Com-
mitment – demonstrating the business case for safety and un-derstanding what a safety culture is and how to measure it
Sponsored articleSafety is good for business and safety is about peopleTo reap the benefits from safety policies takes more than a robust H&S system and “fit for purpose” equipment - it takes people who are focused and committed
Safety IQ owner Noel Boulton brings more than 20 years’ experience in health and
safety to the training programme. He started in the New Zealand army (tradesman) and then worked in the civil construction, saw-milling, drilling, mining and tunnelling industries.
His attributes include:• Risk and Gap analysis• Systems and procedure
development• Auditing• Incident Examinations
(Investigations)• Training development and
conduct• Leadership and culture change
Auckland based – covering the Upper North Island
www.safetyiq.co.nz info@ safetyiq.co.nz
Ph: +64 27208 9692 Fx: 537 4233
Safety IQ programmes give the knowledge and skills to all persons in a position of influence to promote an environment where there is a willing following of safety
Ask the question of just how much focus is there on building the right attitude towards health and safety among your work force, supervisors and managers
• Assessing Safety Cultures – making behaviour and moti-vation assessments, and culture maturity surveys. Why some of us take more risks than others
• Change Resistance – coaching business and individuals on how to manage change
• Attitude towards Safety – show-ing how and why we think about safety, how we judge risk and how our bias affects that judgement
• Leading Change and Safety – giving the knowledge and skills to all persons in a position of
influence to promote an envi-ronment where there is a willing following of safety
• CPD for Safety Professionals – learning how to lead safety in their own organisations.
And on the other side, Safety by Design, Safety IQ works with busi-nesses to systematically manage risk – identifying it through specific risk assessments as early as possible.
For example; before a new piece of plant is purchased a design review is done to determine if noise levels can be reduced if it comes with in-terlocks etc.
Safety IQ promotes the use of an Integrated Management System (IMS), based on ISO9001 and meets the requirements of all the other health and safety systems, such as ACC ASMP or ASNZS 4801.
The reason for this is to integrate health and safety into the business’ normal way of operating and reduc-ing the “silo” effect that often occurs in health and safety.
H E A L T H
July/August – 201532
The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) workplace intervention programme
helped truckies eat healthier, exer-cise more and lose weight.
Health promotion expert Dr Mar-guerite Sendall from QUT’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innova-tion says the nature of their job means truck drivers are at a higher risk of developing chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease. “The long hours and sedentary work life of truckies has the potential to be deadly when it comes to their health,” Dr Sendall warns.
Funded by the Queensland Government’s Healthier. Happier. Workplaces initiative, QUT devel-oped the Queensland Transport Industry Workplace Health Inter-
vention project to investigate the effectiveness of workplace-based nutrition and physical activity health promotion programs for truck driv-ers in south-east Queensland.
Dr Sendall says workplaces were recognised as places which could contribute to good health, but truck drivers’ workplaces were their ve-hicle and this mobile environment limited the effectiveness of tradi-tional health-promotion strategies.
QUT overcame this challenge by working with transport industry workplaces to develop health-pro-motion interventions suited to a mobile workforce. “These inter-ventions included offering healthy options in vending machines at work, supplying free fruit to drivers and instigating the 10,000 steps
workplace challenge,” Dr Sendall explains.
The two-year project involved five transport industry workplaces employing between 20 and 200 truck drivers across the south-east Queensland region. “Each work-place implemented up to four or five interventions,” she adds.
There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ when it comes to improving nutrition and physical activity in transport indus-try workplaces, Dr Sendall believes. “What workplaces need to be doing is responding proactively to the bar-riers in each individual workplace,” she advises. “For example, providing microwaves and small fridges, espe-cially for line haul drivers.”
A study of the effectiveness of the programme has shown overall that
managers and truck drivers were satisfied with the interventions de-veloped and implemented during the project.
There were also positive health outcomes for drivers, Dr Sendall adds. “For example, there was an 18 percent increase from 20 per-cent pre-intervention to 38 percent post-intervention in the number of drivers who reported making lifestyle changes to improve their health.”
There was also an increase in the number of drivers self-reporting their health as ‘good’ and ‘excellent’. “Truckies were also better informed of the Australian nutrition guide-line recommendations for fruit and vegetables, and were also increas-ing their daily intake of fruit and vegetables.”
Putting truckies on the road to better health
An Australian programme which saw a 15 percent drop in drivers self-reporting their body mass index as obese holds valuable lessons for local truck drivers
QUT Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation health promotion expert Dr Marguerite Sendall:
“The long hours and sedentary work life of truckies has the potential to be deadly when it
comes to their health”
The dietary lessons learned by Australian truck drivers could easily be replicated in New Zealand, whose truck drivers face the same healthy eating challenges
M A N A G E M E N T > > T r a i n i n g
www.isn.co.nz 33
Our six national training fa-cilities have been purpose designed to simulate the
same situations that are likely to be encountered in your own workplace. Our largest centre in Highbrook, Auckland covers more than 2500m2 and includes 4 well-appointed train-ing rooms.
Safety ‘n Action provides knowl-edge and expertise to enable people and organisations to embrace a cul-ture of safety and wellbeing. When undertaking one of our 30+ NZQA courses, expect to get hands on. Move beyond just the theory, and experience training at real heights, confined space emergency entries, driving EWPs, extinguishing fires, containing chemical leaks and many more realistic learning activities. We have all of the necessary equipment
onsite for our trainees to handle and practise with, so you know exactly how to use real equipment in the workplace.
Our trainers have industry and safety backgrounds. They have de-tailed knowledge on existing and new legislation and can provide practical knowledge around how you can achieve best practice in your industry. Having nationally based trainers means we can also deliver at your own site. There are additional benefits should your company wish to run your own course. We customise all the materi-al, examples, scenarios, equipment, people and procedures so training are 100% relevant to your work-place. Our trainers work alongside your company to improve and add value to your existing systems and
procedures. For nationally based companies, training with Safety n Action ensures consistency in con-tent and messages throughout all of your branches nationwide.
On completion of training you receive a convenient wallet sized Go Safe card. This provides instant proof of training competency when in the field. It displays your name on the front and on the back it shows unit standards completed through Safety ‘n Action, giving the date completed and when these need to be refreshed.
We know your time is limited. That’s why we also offer convenient online refresher training for hazard identification and permit to work.
We are continually updating our course offerings. Seminar pro-grammes on how to prepare for and meet the requirements of the pending H&S at Work Act have been scheduled throughout NZ. This is not a talk fest but is an interactive and “how to” programme.
Visit our website for more details www.safetynaction.co.nz
Get practical, get real and get hands on training with NZ’s leading safety training providerSafety ‘n Action’s NZQA accredited training is designed on the philosophy of being relevant, practical and fun
Sponsored article
E N V I R O N M E N T
July/August – 201534
The air quality of the indoor environment can affect our health, comfort and produc-
tivity whether we work in a training institution, a hospital, an office or in manufacturing.
However, most of us barely notice when indoor air quality (IAQ) is “good” but we’ll often recognise when the air is not good. Indoor air quality is a problem when the air contains dust and objectionable odours, chemical contaminants, dampness or mould.
These contaminants may be pro-duced from inside the building or may be coming from the out-side environment. The physical characteristics of the air are also important, such as the amount of air movement, its temperature and its humidity.
A few basics for achieving good air quality include:• good ventilation in accordance
with the current guidelines, New Zealand Standard NZS4303:1990, which is based on the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 62.1, Venti-lation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality
• comfort factors such as tempera-
ture, humidity and air movement in a range that is acceptable to most occupants, such as those published in ASHRAE Standard 55, Thermal Environmental Con-ditions for Human Occupancy
• keeping air conditioning equip-ment and the building clean
• separating significant emission sources such as large copy ma-chines from occupied spaces and air intakes
• promptly identifying and con-trolling major sources of chemical
or biological contamination• regularly cleaning occupied areas
and ensuring good housekeep-ing practices are in place
• performing operations, mainte-nance, and construction activities in a manner that minimises expo-sure to airborne contaminants.
One of the most common com-plaints relates to temperature – the air is too hot or too cold. Air movement, or lack of it, is another common concern. Other common
comfort-related complaints involve humidity and air that is too dry or too muggy.
Some health-related complaints associated with poor air appear similar to those of the flu or a cold – headaches, sinus problems, con-gestion, dizziness, nausea, fatigue and irritation of the eyes, nose or throat – and are often difficult to as-sociate with the workplace.
The indoor environment is usu-ally not the suspected cause of occupant symptoms unless the
symptoms are shared by a number of occupants, found to be unreason-ably persistent or there is a distinct and suspect odour or other unusual quality to the air.
Some health-related complaints may be due to allergic reactions. Typical indoor allergens include dust mites, animal dander, and mould spores. When exposed to such allergens, 10 percent or more of the population may exhibit symp-toms including sneezing, swollen
airways or asthma-like effects.Potential sources of contaminants
in office buildings include:• dust, bacteria, fungi and pollen,
inadequate design or mainte-nance of heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems
• cleaning chemicals, which may contain irritant vapour and or vol-atile organic compounds
• pesticides• building materials• office equipment such as copy
machines and printers, furnish-ings, people odours (respiration and perspiration) and fragrances/cosmetics and smoke.
All of these are present in all buildings to some degree but it is when they are present in higher concentrations that problems can occur. Activities such as blocking air ventilation grills, overusing office chemical products and improper-ly storing food can also add to the problem.
Dusty surfaces, stagnant water, and damp materials provide a good environment for microbial growth. When odorous compounds result-ing from microbial growth and other microbial particles become air-borne, some people may experience unpleasant odours and symptoms including allergic reactions.
Ventilation valuablePoor IAQ may develop when not
enough fresh air is introduced to reduce contaminant concentrations – the air conditioning system must not only control contaminants it must also provide a comfortable environment. The perception of still or stale air, odours, draftiness or uneven temperature and humidity levels leads to discomfort.
Discomfort, however subtle, can be the beginning of IAQ complaints. Many IAQ complaints originate with the air conditioning system failing to meet occupants’ comfort needs, either by not adequately controlling temperature and humidity levels or by not delivering outside air evenly to occupants.
Some studies have shown that communicable diseases like the common cold, influenza and tuber-culosis spread more efficiently in poorly ventilated buildings. How-
Clean air vital indoors
Indoor air quality is a great topic of discussion - and for good reason says environmental and occupational hygiene specialist Carol McSweeney
“Indoor air quality is a problem when the air contains dust and objectionable odours, chemical contaminants, dampness or mould”
www.isn.co.nz 35
ever, most of these kinds of illness are passed from person to person through the air or from contacting viruses or bacteria on surfaces, and thus are largely beyond the control of the building owners. If there are windows, open them in appropriate weather.
Occupant concerns should be taken seriously and responded to quickly. It is important to gather and verify information in some form. In-terviews are a useful first step and can be used to determine any pat-terns in the complaints.
A thorough inspection of the area of concern is helpful to try and iden-tify any likely sources (from either inside or outside the building), issues with the air conditioning system or other changes that may have occurred.
It is important to communicate to occupants in a timely manner about what is being done to resolve the IAQ issue and any findings from the investigation.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) testing is often performed during the early stages of an IAQ investigation because people exhale CO2 and if there is not enough outdoor (“fresh”) air in a space, the indoor levels of CO2 will increase.
Elevated CO2 concentrations in a building reflect insufficient ex-change of “fresh” outdoor air for “spent” interior air, allowing the accumulation of human-source odours, and possibly other contaminants.
ASHRAE recommends that the indoor levels of CO2 should be controlled to reduce complaints of human-source body odours. When sufficient outdoor air is supplied in keeping with the ASHRAE rec-ommended ventilation levels, the ventilation is generally considered to be adequate.
If it is not possible to directly meas-ure the rate of outdoor air supply, an occupational hygienist can meas-ure the indoor and outdoor levels of CO2 and estimate the adequacy of the ventilation. Note that the occupancy of an area affects the measured CO2 concentration and it should be taken into consideration when interpreting results.
However, this approach does not
work in all cases. If a particularly irritating or toxic contaminant is present, the problem can only be resolved through control of the con-taminant at its source.
Testing for other contami-nants (e.g., particulates, volatile organic compounds, microbes, for-maldehyde, and pesticides) may provide valuable information but is recommended only if there is good reason to believe that a contaminant is present (a source has been identi-fied or medical evaluation suggests a problem). Air testing for a broad spectrum of potential contaminants is generally unproductive.
Some contaminants of IAQ con-cern have published guideline levels that are considered appropriate for indoor air but most do not. Typical concentration levels of contami-nants found in office workplaces are far below regulated workplace exposure limits as published by WorkSafe NZ.
Usually the greatest value of air testing is in the comparison of the results from different locations within a building, indoors versus outdoors and at different times throughout the day. The data gen-erated may yield information about the origin of the problem and possi-ble solutions.
Controlling contaminantsThe best method to control indoor
air contaminants depends on the source or sources causing the com-plaints. Source removal or control is generally the most cost-effective solution to the problem.
For example, environmental to-bacco smoke-related complaints have been eliminated by prohibit-ing smoking within buildings and by isolating designated smoking areas.
Modification of the ventilation system may also be an effective method of resolving IAQ complaints. Contaminants can be diluted with outdoor air, or managed by changing air pressure relationships between adjoining areas.
Increasing the outdoor air supply to meet the criteria of ASHRAE 62.1 may require design and installation of additional heating, cooling, or de-humidification to prevent comfort
or moisture-related problems. However, a well- designed and
maintained ventilation system may be able to improve the work environment enough to pay for itself through improved occupant productivity.
Air cleaning may also be used to control indoor air contaminants, particularly when the contaminant source is outside the building.
Typically, air cleaning is ac-complished by installing higher efficiency air filters in existing ven-tilation systems (if compatible with the system).
During renovation activities avoid running combustion appliances such as propane heaters or fuel-fired generators indoors - carbon monox-ide exposure can be fatal.
If the problem persists even after you have identified and rectified obvious sources, you may want to seek outside assistance. Professional help in New Zealand may be found through such groups as the New Zealand Occupational Hygiene Soci-ety or ventilation engineers. In some cases, assistance from specialists in medicine, lighting, acoustic design, or psychology may be needed.
Ultimately, indoor air quality con-cerns are a fact of life for building
Testing materials for indoor pollutants is a first step to identifying low-emission products
owners, business owners, managers, and workers. It may not be possible to satisfy every occupant at all times, particularly in the case of thermal comfort.
However, it is possible and neces-sary to provide a work environment that is healthy and safe. Establish clear lines of communication so that IAQ issues can be detected and re-solved as soon as possible.
A building managed with an eye for preventing IAQ problems great-ly reduces the likelihood of chronic discomfort and will likely increase building occupants’ productivity.
Carol McSweeney is Director of Air Matters, a leading provider of environmental and occupational hygiene services throughout New Zealand
C O M M E N T > > C h e m i c a l S a f e t y b y B a r r y D y e r
July/August – 201536
A capacity audience for a WorkSafe pres-entation on upcoming workplace health and safety (H&S) legislation confirmed
business operators are eager to identify and prepare for likely additional workplace safety responsibilities arising from the new Health and Safety at Work legislation.
Regrettably, the educational workshops throughout the three-day exhibition did not fully exploit opportunities to not only inform participants of their workplace H&S compliance obligations, but also offer much-needed practi-cal chemical management advice.
Conversations with visitors quickly focused on ‘not knowing what to do and how to do it’, a fa-miliar theme for people wanting to do the right thing but lacking the knowledge or knowing where to easily find the guidance and compli-ance tools they need. Businesses lacking the necessary compliance expertise need help, pref-erably in the form of ‘here is what you have to do and this is how you have to do it’.
While the new workplace safety legislation evolves, there remains much to be done in im-proving compliance with our existing chemical safety performance, which will continue to be a major influence in reducing our unacceptable workplace casualty rate.
The success of six recent regional, free, Acci-dent Compensation Commission/Responsible Care NZ chemical safety workshops confirms the need for free pragmatic compliance advice, perhaps at the expense of government agency support for expensive commercial forums.
Employers are apprehensive about the new legislation and the challenges arising from sig-nificant additional responsibilities. Given the
major HSNO compliance requirements are likely to remain this issue continues to receive priority from responsible chemical suppliers.
There is scepticism politics will dilute the largely pragmatic recommendations and per-formance goals identified by the Health and
Safety task force and subsequently highlighted in many of the submissions to the select com-mittee. For example, the sensible suggestion to include basic risk assessment in the final year curriculum for school leavers has disappeared without trace.
Lobbying for the removal of the mandatory Approved Handler requirement is in reality a justifiable protest against the variable quality of the qualification and the ‘cost’ of upskilling employees. Both disappointing aspects, given government aspirations for a ‘highly skilled workforce’.
No knowledgeResponsible Care NZ assessors routinely find
Approved Handlers who lack the basic chemi-cal knowledge to be considered competent – a consequence of government failing to imple-ment the necessary infrastructure, comprising
comprehensive unit standards, delivered by cer-tified training providers, addressing the clients’ products and activities – and compounded by flawed legislation which allows online re-cer-tification without a practical assessment of competency. As every conscientious business operator appreciates, competent staff are an investment.
For those concerned about the increased HSNO enforcement activity focusing on compli-ant safety data sheets (SDS) and product labels, obtain a New Zealand-compliant version from your chemical supplier. Maintain your Approved Handler capability while the threat to this sensi-ble qualification is debated.
Almost 230 HSNO Group Standards require chemical suppliers to provide a New Zea-land compliant SDS. Responsible Care NZ is seeking the mandating of the manufacturers’ original SDS in the new health and Safety at Work (H&SW) legislation.
Most chemical workers will never see an SDS, relying instead on pictograms on packaging and, most importantly, their chemical safety training. The Approved Handler qualification is an effective strategy for ensuring chemical workers are competent to safely carry out their tasks and provide colleagues with relevant oc-cupational health and safety advice.
Adding new obligations to the present sub-standard HSNO compliance record does not inspire confidence that the business com-munity, struggling to demonstrate the present obligations of a good employer, will readily achieve the new workplace health and safety aspirations.
In preparation for the ‘new dawn’ in workplace health and safety, renewed attention to improv-ing compliance with long-standing workplace chemical safety requirements will help ensure a solid foundation for whatever improvements lie ahead.
Nearly 2,000 safety-conscious show visitors took the opportunity to inspect an impres-sive range of personal protective equipment, software and products designed to safeguard workers in safe and healthy workplaces.
They understand the need to positively influ-ence health and safety performance throughout their businesses. If you are one of them, the new workplace health and safety regime will enjoy a great start - and we will all be beneficiaries.
“Businesses lacking the necessary compliance expertise need help, preferably in the form of ‘here is what you have to do and this is how you have to do it’”
We still don’t know what we don’t knowThree days conversing with visitors during the recent, well-attended ISN Health and Safety Show confirmed too many health and safety practitioners in businesses of all sizes are not yet fully conversant with their chemical safety responsibilities
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ASBESTOS COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT �a�a�i�� as�est�s is st�ai�ht����a�� a�� e��e�ti�e �ith ����� �e �a� a��ise ��� a�� assist �ith ���� �s�est�s �����ia��e �a�a�e�e�t ��a� ������� �e a��ise a�� assist ��ie�ts t� �e�e��� a�� i���e�e�t thei� as�est�s �a�a�e�e�t ��a�s� �a�i�� s��e the� a�hie�e �����ia��e �ith as�est�s sta��a��s a�� �e�is�ati��� �e ����i�e ���ti��e� s�����t th����h a���a� �e-i�s�e�ti�� s���e�s a�� ���� �e�ie�s�
THE PROBLEM �s�est�s is ��e�a�e�t th����h ��st �� �� i���i�t i���ast���t��e� ��st t�a�es a�� s��-t�a�es a�e e���se� t� as�est�s �� a �e���a� �asis�
�he�e is ��� a �e� �e��i�e�e�t ���i�� ��� a�� �e���e ����i�� a����� as�est�s t� �e a�a�e �� �he�e as�est�s �a� �e ����� i� the i���i�t e��i����e�t a�� t� �e t�ai�e� i� ����e� ����e���es i� as�est�s is e�����te�e�� ��� ���st������ �� �e���i��� �i�� �e��i�e a ��e-sta�t as�est�s s���e� t� i�e���� a�� as�est�s i� the ���� a�eas i�����e�� ��� �ai�te�a��e ���� a�� ����e��ia� ��i��i��s ��i�t �e���e the �ea� ���� �i�� �e��i�e a� as�est�s s���e� a�� �e�iste�� �his �e�iste� ��st �e �ea� a�� si��e� �� a�� �ai�te��a��e ����e�s� �ai�te�a��e ����e�s ��st �e t�ai�e� t� ���� a����� as�est�s a�� ha�e a�� the ����e�t ���� ��� a�� ����
YOUR NEED a����ate �ata� �hat �� �e �ea�� ��� ��� ha�e a �e�a� �e��i�e�e�t t� a����ate�� as ��ssi��e �e���� a�� �e���t a�� as�est�s i� a ������a�e that ��� �� ���� ����e�s �i�� ���e i�t� ���ta�t �ith� ��� a�� ���� ����e�s a�� s���ies a�e �� ����e� a����e� t� ���� �� as�est�s ���tai�e� �ate�ia�s ����� ���ess ��� a�e ����� t�ai�e� t� �� s�� ��� ���� �� ���s ��st �e ���e i� a�����a��e �ith the ���th���i�� �e���a���s� �his
�ea�s�
�����ate s���e�s ���e�e��e�t e��i����e�ta� ���it��i�� ���e�e��e�t ��a� ��ea�a��es �� a �e���e� as�est�s assess�� �e���e the
site �a� �e �e-�����ie� �� ���� sta� a�� s���ies�
P��������� N������
T���� ��� ���� � ������ �������� �� ���������� ������ ������ �� ��� ����� ������ ��������� CEDA ��� ������ ������� �� ����� ���������� ������ ������ CEDA ���� ������� ��� �������� ����� �������������� ������� ��� ����������� ����������� ��� ������� ���� �� ������ ���� �� ���� �� ��� ������� �������� ���� ������� ��� ��� �������� ��������� ������� ��� ��� ������������� ���������� ���� �� ������ �� ��� ���� ��� ���� ������ ������
A������� �N�� R���� N�� R�������������� Y��� ������� ��� �������
O�� S������
CEDA �eets a�� the �e��i�e�e�ts set ��t i� �����a�e�s ������� �������� ��� ���� ���������
�������� � ����� ����� ��� a �e���e� as�est�s assess��. CEDA is a��e t� he�� ��� �eet a��
���� �e�a� �e��i�e�e�ts a�� �e ha�e e�te�si�e e��e�ie��e i� �a�a�i�� as�est�s ��� ��ie�ts
�� the ��st ��a��a��� e��ie�t a�� ��e�a���a��� a��a�ta�e��s �a� t� �a�a�e as�est�s�
�ith��t �������isi�� sa�et� iss�es�
SURVEYING
�e �a� �� as�est�s s���e� �� a�� si�e ����e�ts�
SAMPLING AND ANALYSIS
CEDA �a��ies ��t as�est�s sa���i��� ���� sa���i�� a�� a�a��sis �� ��te��a���
as�est�s-���tai�i�� �ate�ia�s� ��� �a��a� �e���a���s ���� �a� ����i�e a� as�est�s
�e�iste� ��� the �h��e �����e� i�����i�� �e� ����s�
ASBESTOS COMPLIANCE MANAGEMENT �a�a�i�� as�est�s is st�ai�ht����a�� a�� e��e�ti�e �ith ����� �e �a� a��ise ��� a�� assist �ith ���� �s�est�s �����ia��e �a�a�e�e�t ��a� ������� �e a��ise a�� assist ��ie�ts t� �e�e��� a�� i���e�e�t thei� as�est�s �a�a�e�e�t ��a�s� �a�i�� s��e the� a�hie�e �����ia��e �ith as�est�s sta��a��s a�� �e�is�ati��� �e ����i�e ���ti��e� s�����t th����h a���a� �e-i�s�e�ti�� s���e�s a�� ���� �e�ie�s�
THE PROBLEM �s�est�s is ��e�a�e�t th����h ��st �� �� i���i�t i���ast���t��e� ��st t�a�es a�� s��-t�a�es a�e e���se� t� as�est�s �� a �e���a� �asis�
�he�e is ��� a �e� �e��i�e�e�t ���i�� ��� a�� �e���e ����i�� a����� as�est�s t� �e a�a�e �� �he�e as�est�s �a� �e ����� i� the i���i�t e��i����e�t a�� t� �e t�ai�e� i� ����e� ����e���es i� as�est�s is e�����te�e�� ��� ���st������ �� �e���i��� �i�� �e��i�e a ��e-sta�t as�est�s s���e� t� i�e���� a�� as�est�s i� the ���� a�eas i�����e�� ��� �ai�te�a��e ���� a�� ����e��ia� ��i��i��s ��i�t �e���e the �ea� ���� �i�� �e��i�e a� as�est�s s���e� a�� �e�iste�� �his �e�iste� ��st �e �ea� a�� si��e� �� a�� �ai�te��a��e ����e�s� �ai�te�a��e ����e�s ��st �e t�ai�e� t� ���� a����� as�est�s a�� ha�e a�� the ����e�t ���� ��� a�� ����
YOUR NEED a����ate �ata� �hat �� �e �ea�� ��� ��� ha�e a �e�a� �e��i�e�e�t t� a����ate�� as ��ssi��e �e���� a�� �e���t a�� as�est�s i� a ������a�e that ��� �� ���� ����e�s �i�� ���e i�t� ���ta�t �ith� ��� a�� ���� ����e�s a�� s���ies a�e �� ����e� a����e� t� ���� �� as�est�s ���tai�e� �ate�ia�s ����� ���ess ��� a�e ����� t�ai�e� t� �� s�� ��� ���� �� ���s ��st �e ���e i� a�����a��e �ith the ���th���i�� �e���a���s� �his
�ea�s�
�����ate s���e�s ���e�e��e�t e��i����e�ta� ���it��i�� ���e�e��e�t ��a� ��ea�a��es �� a �e���e� as�est�s assess�� �e���e the
site �a� �e �e-�����ie� �� ���� sta� a�� s���ies�
P��������� N������
T���� ��� ���� � ������ �������� �� ���������� ������ ������ �� ��� ����� ������ ��������� CEDA ��� ������ ������� �� ����� ���������� ������ ������ CEDA ���� ������� ��� �������� ����� �������������� ������� ��� ����������� ����������� ��� ������� ���� �� ������ ���� �� ���� �� ��� ������� �������� ���� ������� ��� ��� �������� ��������� ������� ��� ��� ������������� ���������� ���� �� ������ �� ��� ���� ��� ���� ������ ������
A������� �N�� R���� N�� R�������������� Y��� ������� ��� �������
F O C U S > > H e a l t h & S a f e t y R e f o r m B i l l
July/August – 201538
They’re also often not sure if they have done enough to meet their obligations. Often,
this results in duty holders putting workers at risk by not doing enough, but it may also result in an over-cau-tious approach that increases the cost and burden of compliance unnecessarily.
Helpfully, the proposed new legis-lation will be accompanied by more detailed supporting regulations, codes of practice and guidance. Unlike the current set of regula-tions under the HSE Act, which are inconsistent, difficult to understand and piecemeal in their coverage, the proposed regulations should provide duty holders with better clarity and certainty on what practi-cal steps they should take to create a safe and compliant workplace.
It is anticipated that 15 sets of regulations will be developed. Of these, three will be adapted from existing regulations under the HSE Act, 10 will be adapted from the Australian Model Law, and two will be developed anew (including reg-ulations for geothermal operations). Seven of these are currently avail-able to the public in draft form for consultation.
General Risk and Workplace Man-agement Regulations
The key proposed regulation, rele-vant to all duty holders, will be the Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations (‘General Risk Reg-ulations’). These regulations will prescribe a risk management pro-cess that duty holders may apply in order to meet their primary duty of care.
While the main focus of the Gen-eral Risk Regulations will be on providing and maintaining safe working environments with safe systems of work, they also set out the minimum standards for work-places in respect of:• providing information, training, instruction and supervision to work-ers, to ensure they know how to work safely • the provision of general work-
place facilities such as toilets, eating and rest areas, seating and lighting
• providing first aid facilities • emergency planning• the provision and use of personal
protective equipment • managing the particular risks of
remote or isolated work, hazard-ous atmospheres, falling objects,
hazardous containers, loose but enclosed materials, and limited attendance child care centres
• the duties owed to young workers • monitoring of workplace
conditions. Though many of these minimum
standards are provided for under the current regulations, the Gen-eral Risk Regulations will set out a consolidated and common sense approach to determining what the minimum standard will be for the particular workplace.
Risk management under the Gen-eral Risk Regulations
The hierarchy of control measures set out in regulations 5 to 8 of the General Risk Regulations illustrate the wider change between the cur-rent and proposed new health and safety regimes.
Risk management will change from being focused on hazards to being focused on risks – that is, the duty holder may no longer focus on merely identifying hazards but must take a wider approach and identify all of the risks that the hazard poses and the steps that can be taken to eliminate or minimise these risks. In addition, the new Act does not allow for control measures that
merely isolate a hazard.The key qualifier under the new
health and safety regime, and therefore risk management, will be ‘reasonably practicable’, which replaces the current HSE Act test of ‘all practicable steps’. ‘Reason-ably practicable’ was preferred by the government because it gives a better sense of what is expected of duty holders, by incorporating the concept of reasonableness based on a risk assessment and cost-ben-efit analysis.
Identification of risksThis requirement to identify haz-
ards and the risks these may give rise to is the first step for duty hold-ers, under regulation 5.
It is likely the Australian model guidance will also be followed in New Zealand (in line with the common sense approach of the new legislation), which provides a risk as-sessment is not necessary if:• legislation requires some hazards
or risks to be controlled in a spe-cific way
• an applicable code of practice or other guidance details how to control a hazard or risk and the duty holder chooses to follow this code or guidance or
A risk worth taking?
The current Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (‘HSE Act’) has shown that duty holders often struggle to determine what steps to take to
meet their health and safety obligations
www.isn.co.nz 39
• well-known and effective con-trols are in use in the particular industry, and are applicable to the situation.
In this way, the new Act would re-quire a risk management process to be completed in its entirety by the duty holder only in situations or for activities where the additional com-pliance cost has been determined to be outweighed by the benefits. If one of these three situations ap-plies, the controls could simply be implemented and the risk assess-ment omitted.
Otherwise, the new Act and the General Risk Regulations will re-quire a duty holder to consider the likelihood, as well as the extent of the risk that the hazard poses. If harm is more likely to occur, then it will be reasonable to expect more to be done to eliminate or minimise the risk.
The greater the degree of harm that could result from the hazard or risk, the more significant this factor will be when weighing up all matters to be taken into account and identi-fying what is reasonably required (i.e. what is reasonably practicable) in the circumstances. This means that if there is a risk of death or seri-ous injury, then the duty holder will be expected to eliminate the risk (rather than minimise it).
The risk associated with the hazard will differ in the different localities/workplaces in which they arise.
Eliminating or minimising risks?The next step, under regulation 6,
is for duty holders to take risk-con-trol measures to minimise risks to health and safety. Importantly,
these control measures should not be taken if it is reasonably practica-ble to eliminate the hazard.
If it is reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, this is the sole step that duty holders will be al-lowed to take and minimising the risk will not be sufficient to comply with their duties. This requirement will be mirrored in section 22 of the new Act.
For example, identifying a slipping hazard will no longer be sufficient.
Duty holders must not only iden-tify the slipping hazard but also consider the risks associated with the hazard and how these can be addressed.
Rather than cordoning off the slipping area, or alerting workers to take care around the area, the focus is on eliminating the risk, such as changing the flooring material to be non-slip. If an accident occurs and minimisation measures have been taken instead of elimination when the latter is reasonably practicable, duty holders will be considered to have failed in their duties.
Hierarchy of control measuresIf it is not reasonably practicable
to eliminate, regulation 6 of the General Risk Regulations sets out a hierarchy of control measures to minimise the risk, summarised as
“The proposed regulations should provide duty holders with better clarity and certainty on what practical steps they should take to create a safe and compliant workplace”
follows:• substituting (either wholly or in
part) the hazard with an alterna-tive giving rise to a lesser risk
• isolating the hazard from the worker exposed to it (e.g. guard-ing of the machinery)
• preventing contact with the hazard (e.g. presence-sensing devices)
• implementing engineering con-trol measures (e.g. two-handed controls and emergency stops).
If the preceding risk control meas-ures do not sufficiently reduce the risk, duty holders must then mini-mise the remaining risk by:• implementing administrative
controls (e.g. signage to warn of hazard)
• providing and ensuring the use of suitable personal protective equipment.
Maintain and review control measures
Finally, under regulations 7 and 8, duty holders will be required to ensure the control measure implemented is effective and maintained. The duty holder must regularly review and revise control measures, particularly when moni-toring demonstrates the measure is ineffective, or if a notifiable incident occurs. Review must also occur if
there is a change in the workplace, engagement with workers indicat-ing a review is necessary, or a review is requested by a health and safety representative.
Relevance of costCosts are only to be considered
after taking into account the extent of the risk and the available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk. These factors assess what can be done and would ordinarily be ex-pected to be done, if cost was not a consideration.
Only if the cost is ‘grossly dispro-portionate’ to the risk, taking into account the possible harm, and the extent to which it will be reduced, will the control measure possibly not be reasonably practicable to implement. For example, where there is a low likelihood of minor injury and the cost of risk control is high, this cost will not reasonably be incurred.
The verdictThe risk management process set
out in the General Risk Regulations should make it easier for business-es and workers to understand and comply with health and safety duties. But the clear emphasis is to eliminate risks and hazards, not minimise them, so duty holders will have to show that if they do not implement a control measure that eliminates a risk, the cost of this was grossly disproportionate to the harm that might be caused. Therefore, where significant harm or death could result from the risk, in our view it will be very difficult to justify not eliminating the risk.
We had expected to comment on the Select Committee report on the Health and Safety Reform Bill but this has been delayed until 24 July 2015. This delay is disappointing, and we hope it does not result in any significant watering down of the current Bill.
This article was written by Sherridan Cook (partner) and Lucy Carruthers (solicitor) at Buddle Findlay, one of New Zealand’s leading commercial law and public law firms with offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Sherridan and Lucy specialise in health and safety, and employment law.
F O C U S > > H e a l t h & S a f e t y R e f o r m B i l l
July/August – 201540
The Health and Safety Reform Bill’s changes to the Hazard-ous Substances and New
Organisms Act 1996 include trans-ferring the regulation of hazardous substances in the workplace from the EPA to WorkSafe NZ.
“WorkSafe NZ has already received a number of functions under a transitional arrangement from EPA, including the management of the test certifier regime and completion of HSNO codes of practices,” says WorkSafe NZ General Manager, High Hazards & Specialist Services Brett Murray. “WorkSafe’s Certification, Approvals and Registrations Team is responsible for these activities.”
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is current-ly drafting phase 1 regulations for hazardous substances following consultation on the proposals in MBIE’s Developing Regulations to support the new Health and Safety at Work Act discussion document.
The ministry is analysing 182 sub-missions on all regulation proposals, with the vast majority including specific comment on the proposed hazardous substance regulations. “WorkSafe and MBIE are working with key stakeholders and a Haz-ardous Substances Guidance Group made up of social partners and key industry representatives has been convened to help inform the regu-lations and guidance development,” Mr Murray explains.
The Health and Safety Reform Bill amends the HSNO Act so that requirements for the safe use, han-dling, manufacture, and storage of workplace hazardous substanc-es will now come under the new Health and Safety at Work Act rather than the HSNO Act. “As a conse-quence, the majority of duty holders will only need to look to one regula-tory regime to know how to manage the full range of hazards present in their workplace.”
WorkSafe is currently working with MBIE to develop a new set of
regulations for the management of hazardous substances in the workplace. “This set of regulations will consolidate and simplify the current requirements from 15 sets of HSNO regulations and approxi-mately 9,000 HSNO approvals,” Mr Murray notes. “The regulations will also incorporate a small number of changes to codify existing good practice.”
However, Mr Murray believes that a “more substantive review” of these requirements will need to be carried out within two years of the new reg-ulations coming into force to ensure they are fit for purpose and to sim-
plify them as much as possible.Analysis of the submissions sug-
gests that the new regulations should:• require Persons Conducting a
Business or Undertaking (PCBUs) to prepare and maintain an inven-tory of all hazardous substances used, handled, manufactured, or stored at the workplace
• prescribe the matters to be included in the inventory of haz-ardous substances
• require PCBUs to ensure that the inventory is readily accessible to any emergency service worker attending the workplace
• prescribe alternative require-ments that apply to a workplace that is a transit depot
• specify that any hazardous sub-stance that is a consumer product and is used at the workplace only in quantities and in a way con-sistent with household use is not
required to be included on the inventory
• require PCBUs to manage risks to health and safety associated with the use, handling, manu-facture, or storage of hazardous substances in accordance with the risk management process to be prescribed in the general risk and workplace management regulations
• prescribe considerations for man-aging risks to health and safety associated with hazardous sub-stances that must be taken into account by a PCBU when carrying out a risk assessment
• prescribe circumstances that would trigger a review of any control measures implement-ed to control risks in relation to a hazardous substance at the workplace
• specify that the risk assessment provisions not apply if:
• the PCBU is a retailer and the haz-ardous substance is a consumer product and intended for supply to other premises
• or the hazardous substance is a consumer product and will be used at the workplace only in quantities and in a way that is consistent with household use
• prescribe a minimum set of matters to be included in any information, supervision, instruc-tion, and training provided to workers that use, handle, man-ufacture, or store hazardous substances
• and revoke the current require-
ment to ensure that one or more workers are trained and certi-fied as an approved handler as it would duplicate the proposed training requirements.
Solid supportThere was clear support for the
introduction of the proposed requirements for information, su-pervision, instruction, and training, Mr Murray notes. “There were mixed views on the proposal to revoke approved handler certification and this is something we will continue to work through before providing our final recommendation to ministers.”
Analysis of the submissions suggests that any information, in-struction, supervision, and training should take into account the nature of risks associated with the work, while any information provided to workers handling hazardous sub-stances should include: • any operations in an area of work
where hazardous substances are present
• the location and availability of safety data sheets
• and the sections of the safety data sheets that provide in-formation about the hazards, emergency measures, and stor-age and handling.
Any training should be based on relevant industry standards recog-nised by WorkSafe and include: • the physico-chemical and health
hazards associated with the haz-ardous substances the worker uses
• the procedures for the safe use, handling, manufacture, or stor-age of the hazardous substances
• the plant (including PPE) neces-sary to manage the hazardous substances
• and the actions that the worker should take in an emergen-cy involving the hazardous substances.
“If approved handler certification is revoked it should be retained
Hazardous substances regulations – what’s coming?The workplace health and safety regulator is busy gearing up to implement the new changes and safety procedures for hazardous substances heralded in the Health and Safety Reform Bill
“WorkSafe and MBIE are working with key stakeholders and a Hazardous Substances Guidance Group made up of social partners and key industry representatives has been convened to help inform the regulations and guidance development”
www.isn.co.nz 41
for explosives, vertebrate toxic agents, and fumigants that require a controlled substance licence,” Mr Murray believes. “Test certifiers should then be required to check the training record of workers han-dling hazardous substances as part of the process to issue or renew a location test certificate.”
This would assist in confirming compliance with the proposed training requirements. “It would also provide a greater level of coverage than compliance monitoring by WorkSafe alone,” Mr Murray adds.
Analysis of the submissions sug-gests that the new regulations should:• continue requirements for the
provision of fire extinguishers currently made under the HSNO Act but simplify firefighters’ capa-bility requirement
• simplify the requirements for the preparation, review, and testing of emergency plans
• outline requirements for the design, fabrication, and certifi-cation of stationary container systems
• specify that any emergency plan applying to major hazard facili-ties, the petroleum exploration and extraction sector or the mining and quarrying sector be deemed to comply with the re-quirements for the preparation, review, and testing of emergency plans made under the hazardous substance regulations
• allow for the review of hazard-ous substance emergency plans
by the New Zealand Fire Service (NZFS)
• limit the scope of any review by NZFS to assessing whether its pro-posed role is achievable, whether the role is consistent with the NZFS’s operational policies, and whether there is anything in the plan that may adversely affect NZFS operations during an emergency
• enable NZFS to request further information from the PCBU if it considers that the emergency plan doesn’t provide enough information to enable NZFS to determine its role in the plan or determine the level or type of resources it may need to deploy effect the plan
• require PCBUs to ‘have regard’ to any recommendation made by NZFS about the content or effectiveness of an emergency plan — rather than a mandatory requirement to implement any NZFS recommendation.
Other issues currently under review include continuing require-ments currently made under the HSNO Act outlining alternative labelling requirements that apply to stationary containers and bulk transport containers.
“Simplified requirements for the workplace labelling of haz-ardous substances should also be prescribed if the substances are transferred or decanted into a portable container and will not be supplied to a person outside the workplace,” Mr Murray adds.
“Similarly, simplified requirements should also be prescribed for the workplace labelling of hazardous substances if they are manufac-tured at the workplace and will not be supplied to a person outside the workplace.”
PCBUs may also be required to ensure that they obtain the current safety data sheet for a hazardous substance from the manufacturer, importer, or supplier of the hazard-ous substance when the hazardous substance is first supplied.
Accessible advice“PCBUs should also be required to
ensure that the current safety data sheet for a hazardous substance is readily accessible to a worker or any other person who is likely to be ex-posed to the hazardous substance at the workplace,” Mr Murray says. “They should also be required to ensure that the current safety data sheet for a hazardous substance is readily accessible to any emergen-cy service worker attending the workplace.”
PCBUs will be allowed to keep safety data sheets at the primary workplace if workers travel between workplaces, as long as those work-ers can immediately obtain the key safety information from the safety data sheets in an emergency.
However, a PCBU wouldn’t be re-quired to obtain and give access to the current safety data sheet for the hazardous substance if: • the hazardous substance is in
transit
• the hazardous substance is a consumer product intended for supply to other premises, and not intended to be opened on the re-tailer’s premises
• or the hazardous substance is a consumer product and will be used only in quantities and in a way that is consistent with house-hold use.
“Analysis of the submissions sug-gests that the toxic and corrosive substances regulations should con-tinue the current requirements of the HSNO Act for the management of risk associated with toxic and corrosive substances,” Mr Murray observes.
They should prescribe:• requirements for the segregation
of toxic and corrosive substances with incompatible substances
• separation distances from areas of high intensity land use and public places
• requirements for the safe storage of toxic and corrosive substances at transit depots
• requirements for the safe ap-plication of toxic substances (agrichemicals in particular) and the management of both on-site and off-site effects.
“They should also require PCBUs to establish a hazardous substance location at a workplace where highly toxic or corrosive substances are present,” Mr Murray adds, “and obtain a compliance certificate for those locations.”
Hazardous waste regulations are likewise being reviewed to clarify
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July/August – 201542
application of the regulations to include any waste product that is a substance that meets the classi-fication criteria for substances with explosive, flammable, oxidising, toxic or corrosive properties.
“There should also be simplified requirements for the workplace la-belling of containers that are used to store these waste products,” he believes. “A simplified list of mat-ters consistent with the Australian Model regulations should also be included in safety data sheets for these products.”
Mr Murray says the changes agreed in July 2013 are intended to improve the Test Certification Regime and to ensure that businesses have access to sound technical advice and com-pliance assurance.
“Under the new regulations, Work-Safe will be granted new functions and powers that will enable great-er oversight and monitoring of the performance of test certifiers and the regime as a whole – including mandatory performance-targeted auditing on a cost-recovery basis,” he explains. “WorkSafe will also be able to appoint its own test certifi-ers to cover gaps in certain markets.”
Enabling WorkSafe to appoint its
own test certifiers will allow it to provide cover in areas where only a few test certifiers are active, he maintains. “The test certification regime is particularly vulnerable in areas where test certifiers stop practicing as there are generally few new entrants in these markets,” Mr Murray observes. “However, there shouldn’t be a need for WorkSafe to maintain an in-house capability for those areas where there are an adequate number of test certifiers.”
Performance-targeted auditing will be introduced on a cost-recov-ery basis because, as Mr Murray explains, test certification is a busi-ness activity. “Auditing costs are therefore a standard operating cost for that type of business and if the regulator were to fund the cost of auditing it would effectively be pro-viding a subsidy to that business.”
A risk-based auditing programme, where certifiers that perform well are audited less frequently than those who are not, introduces a fi-nancial incentive. “Those who are performing well will benefit from comparatively lower auditing costs, while those who aren’t perform-ing will be encouraged to reduce costs through performance im-
provement,” Mr Murray says. “This proposal is no different to that found in other regulatory frameworks that require the auditing of independent third-party verifiers.”
The new regulations for Major Hazard Facilities that are currently being developed and due to come into effect this year will be based on a combination of Australian and UK legislation and use the thresholds in Seveso III, the main EU legislation dealing specifically with the control of on-shore major accident hazards involving dangerous substances.
WorkSafe’s preparations for the new regulations include the ap-pointment of Major Hazard Facilities inspectors, including a Deputy Chief Inspector and five inspectors. “The team has a wide range of skills, including process engineering, au-diting, land use planning and health and safety regulation.”
This team may grow after the regulations commence, Mr Murray advises. “We’re currently engag-ing with industry to assist them in compliance with the proposed reg-ulations. At the end of the day, it’s about ensuring everyone who goes to work comes home healthy and safe.”
The Green Party is disap-pointed that this important legislation has been delayed
while the National Party caucus responds to what the media has reported as lobbying from small businesses.
We are concerned about the po-tential for this type of lobbying to exclude some employers from the legislation when all workplaces need to have some minimum stand-ards for safety and health, as well as some aspects of the Bill as it was presented to the house at its first reading.
It was purportedly based on the Australian model of regulation – however the crucial element of
worker representation and the role of unions for supporting workplace democracy have been basically removed.
The evidence from the independ-ent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety was clear that work-place representation is one of the most important tools for improv-ing health and safety - especially through properly constituted health and safety committees and em-powered, well-trained health and safety representatives. The lack of inclusion of this type of requirement in the Bill gives workers less oppor-tunity for participation than the existing laws.
The Bill as it was drafted seems to
be ideologically opposed to worker participation and many aspects of the existing laws that have kept workers safe. For example, in the Bill as drafted health and safety rep-resentatives may become optional for some workplaces and may be isolated to small workgroups that are determined by the employer; health and safety committees are optional for all workplaces and Per-sons Conducting a Business or Unit (PCBU); there is a greatly reduced role for unions in setting up health and safety committees, the election of health and safety representatives or even of offering assistance to representatives.
The Greens remain concerned that this watering down of worker participation will result in less-safe workplaces. The evidence suggests that where there is a high level of workplace democracy there are fewer accidents.
Creating a culture of safety and health requires good systems and
a workplace environment where all workers are empowered to speak up about risks. I’m not sure that this Bill as first drafted will support this.
Denise Roche is Green Party spokesperson for Industrial Relations
WorkSafe General Manager High Hazards & Specialist Services Brett Murray: “The majority of duty holders will only need to look to one regulatory regime to know how to manage the full range of hazards present in their workplace”The safe use, handling, manufacture, and storage of workplace hazardous substances will now come under the new Health and Safety at Work Act rather than the HSNO Act
Greens seeing red over health and safety billTransport and Industrial Relations committee member Denise Roche has reservations about several aspects of the forthcoming Health and Safety Reform Bill
Green Party spokesperson for Industrial Relations Denise Roche: “The bill as it was drafted seems to be ideologically opposed to worker participation and many aspects of the existing laws that have kept workers safe”
www.isn.co.nz 43
Any honest assessment of New Zealand’s health and safety record would have
led us to implement the Health and Safety Reform Bill whether or not 29 miners had been killed on a single day five years ago.
New Zealand’s workplace health and safety record is woeful. When the Independent Taskforce on Work-place Health and Safety compared the records of nine market economy nations (including the UK, Australia, Canada and France), New Zealand ranked dead last.
Our rate of fatal injuries is over twice that of the UK. Around 100 people are killed at work every year, with agriculture alone responsible for the deaths of as many workers in a year as the explosion at Pike River. With or without Pike River, action was long overdue.
The Bill is based primarily on three sources: • the recommendations of the
Independent Taskforce on Work-place Health and Safety
• the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy
• and the Australian Model Work Health and Safety Act.
We can take comfort from this. It means that the Bill is based on two independent reports that evaluat-ed both New Zealand’s health and safety landscape and the interna-tional best practice for improving safety at work as well as legislation that has been operating for just over 10 years in a country that is econom-ically and socially similar to New Zealand. There is an abundance of evidence that the Bill is both fit for purpose and workable.
At its heart are three important concepts. The old language of em-ployer and employee has been replaced with “Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking” (PCBU) and worker. The language may be a bit clunky but the idea is sound – to recognise that workplace relation-ships today are far more diverse and include contractors, self-employed
people, triangular employment re-lationships, temporary workers and other contractual arrangements.
Anyone in any of these rela-tionships has a responsibility for workplace health and safety. Asso-ciated with this is a clarification that PCBUs operating on a shared work-place such as a port have a shared responsibility for the safety of all workers on that site.
There is a far greater expectation on directors and senior managers to take responsibility for health and safety. In reality this will mean ensuring that good policies are in place and that resources are avail-able to maintain best practice. It is
expected that this added respon-sibility will encourage directors to take a greater interest in health and safety. That is a good thing.
There is a considerable empha-sis on worker participation in matters relating to health and safety. If there is one thing the internation-al evidence tells us is vital to making workplaces safer, this is it. Changes to employment law and greater pre-cariousness of employment have shifted workplace power dynamics and dampened workers’ willingness to speak up about safety concerns. It is critical that the law both en-courages and supports workers to participate in decisions that impact their safety.
Myths madeSome myths have developed
about what the Bill does and does not do. Unfortunately, National Party MPs seem to have succumbed to this myth making and have sought changes to the Bill. The fact that its report back from select com-mittee has been delayed because of National’s concerns is well known.
In fact National MPs on the com-mittee had already made significant changes before that delay occurred. It is contempt of Parliament to reveal what those changes are before the Bill returns from select committee but what can be said is that they are unnecessary and make the Bill less fit for purpose.
Many of the concerns raised ac-tually relate to how the Bill will be implemented rather than its content. Business owners appear concerned that there will be a checkbox mentality and that they will be required to do things that are costly but make no measura-ble difference to the safety of their
workers. That is the exact opposite of what the Bill seeks to achieve.
It is worth noting that clause 17 of the Bill makes it clear that in as-sessing the steps a business must take to eliminate or minimise risk, consideration must be given to how suitable those steps are and that the cost should not be grossly dispro-portionate to the risk.
Ensuring that WorkSafe is properly resourced to work alongside busi-ness people proactively rather than simply issuing infringement notices or pursuing legal action is also vital to creating the culture change that the Bill is supposed to lead. Resourc-ing WorkSafe is in the government’s hands and outside the scope of the Bill.
However, WorkSafe cannot be everywhere at once and this leads to one of the key ways in which Labour believes the Bill needs to be strengthened.
The Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety listed ‘tripartism’ as a pre-requisite for a high-functioning workplace health and safety regulatory system. Tri-
partism involves the government regulator, employers and unions working together to improve work-place health and safety outcomes.
There are multiple deficiencies in the government’s commitment to tripartism, starting with the Work-Safe board having just one member out of seven with a background of representing workers, but let’s focus on what the Bill could achieve.
The most obvious manifestation of tripartism in the Bill is the option to have workplace health and safety representatives and committees which give workers a say in the implementation and enforcement health and safety requirements alongside business and WorkSafe.
Labour does not believe there is any need to in any way diminish the provisions relating to health and safety representatives contained in the Bill as it was introduced to Par-liament. Those provisions are based on best practice and robust interna-tional evidence.
WorkSafe inspectors cannot be everywhere and trained health and safety representatives can not only ensure that safety standards are enforced, they can take a proactive role in making sure workers’ voices are heard when workplace systems are established and reviewed.
The Bill could be strengthened by taking a concept that has been applied solely to underground coalmining and adapting it for other high-risk industries. Industry health and safety representatives are appointed by a union or non-un-ion group of workers to represent them across their industry. They are paid for by the union or group that appoints them and must meet specific competency requirements. They have powers that are slight-ly stronger than workplace health and safety representatives and can operate at any worksite within their industry.
Industry health and safety rep-resentatives could be particularly helpful in reaching the thousands of small, isolated and high-risk
Long overdue law could be betterIain Lees-Galloway believes the impending workplace health and safety legislation that followed the loss of so many lives at Pike River could be strengthened further
“It is clearly important that the government works harder to help businesses understand the value of the Bill and the intention to make positive and practical changes”
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CTU General Counsel Jeff Sissons gave a damning ac-count of what has happened
in health and safety since 29 men were killed in the Pike River Mine methane explosion on 19 Novem-ber 2010.
New Zealand is grappling with health and safety reform in the wake of one of the country’s worst work-place tragedies, Mr Sissons told the labour representatives of some 185 countries.
A Royal Commission of Inquiry in 2011 found a series of systemic fail-ures – the mine did not have safe systems of work and should not have been producing coal, early warnings had been ignored and government inspection was inadequate.
The Minister of Labour resigned her warrant in response to the report and the government convened an expert tripartite taskforce in 2012 to conduct a root-and-branch review of New Zealand’s health and safety system.
“The taskforce found that New Zealand’s health and safety perfor-mance was hobbled by confusing and inadequate law and regulation, a weak regulator that did not carry out its functions properly, and in-adequate leadership, capability and knowledge by all participants in the system,” Mr Sissons recalls.
The taskforce noted that “worker participation is a crucial weak link” that must be strengthened and that small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) employing fewer than 20 workers
safety representatives will have their remit restricted to employer-de-termined groups of workers,” he predicts. “These changes will strain the crucial weak link of worker par-ticipation to breaking point.”
Mr Sissons says there is “compre-hensive international evidence” that collectivised workplaces with strong worker voice are consider-ably safer. “Co-determination of health and safety between workers and employers leads to significant improvements,” he adds. “Individu-alised, top-down health and safety systems do not provide the same level of protection.”
The CTU agrees that SMEs pose a particularly difficult challenge. “New Zealand does not have good data on rates of injury by enterprise size but OSHA research suggests that the incidence rate for fatal accidents in SMEs is around double that for large companies.”
Some 30 percent of workers in New Zealand work in SMEs and their safety is as important as workers in large companies, Mr Sissons insists. “We understand the pressures on SMEs but they need more support not less regulation.”
New Zealand ratified Convention 155 on Occupational Safety and Health in 2007 and he believes the proposed changes appear to con-travene Convention 155. “They are also contrary to workers’ ability to elect their representatives in full freedom.”
The CTU is therefore urging the
government to honour the memory of the 29 miners buried at Pike River and to be on the right side of histo-ry. “It is not too late but a window of opportunity is swiftly closing,” Mr Sissons says.
CTU President Helen Kelly adds that it’s “distressing” that the CTU is having to tell the world that New Zealand is not doing all it can to keep its workers safe. “New Zealand is now falling behind internation-al standards on health and safety because the National government is indulging the desire of some of our most dangerous employers to exclude workers from proper em-ployee participation in health and safety.”
workplaces in industries such as agriculture and forestry. When they were originally recommended for mining, they were also recommend-ed for quarrying and tunnelling.
The spate of tragic deaths at quar-ries this year and the admission by WorkSafe that many quarries are op-erated illegally and that data about them is scant suggests they should never have been excluded.
Labour strongly supports reform
Labour Party spokesperson for labour Iain Lees-Galloway: “Industry health and safety representatives could be particularly helpful in reaching the thousands of small, isolated and high-risk workplaces in industries such as agriculture and forestry”
of the health and safety law. We believe that the Bill is an important step forward and must be part of the culture change our country desper-ately needs. We do not see a place for watering down of any aspect of the Bill and can see some areas where strengthening it is desirable.
It is clearly important that the government works harder to help businesses understand the value of the Bill and the intention to make
positive and practical changes. It ought not to result in mindless box-checking. That will get us nowhere.
Iain Lees-Galloway is the MP for Palmerston North and the Labour Party spokesperson for labour
found health and safety particularly difficult.
The taskforce said New Zealand needed “an urgent, sustainable step change in harm prevention activi-ty and a dramatic improvement in outcomes” and made a sweeping set of recommendations; the most profound of which was replacing New Zealand’s primary health and safety law with a new law based on the Australian Model Workplace Health and Safety Law. “The govern-ment replied stating that it would broadly follow all of the taskforce’s recommendations.”
The Health and Safety Reform Bill was introduced on 10 March 2014 and followed the Australian model closely. “While the Bill was not perfect, we were hopeful that this signalled the start of a new era,” Mr Sissons said.
Unfortunately, following inten-sive lobbying, Mr Sissons says it appears that the government plans to amend the Bill to significantly reduce workers’ rights to negotiate a health and safety system. “System design becomes the responsibili-ty of the business alone,” he notes. “The government members intend that, unlike current law, business-es employing less than 20 workers may choose to ignore the request of workers for health and safety representatives.”
As a result, Mr Sissons says workers and unions will have less involvement in the set-up of worker participation systems. “Health and
Local health and safety slammed on international stageWorkers voiced concerns about the reform of health and safety happening in New Zealand at the recent 104th session of the International Labour Organisation in Geneva
CTU General Counsel Jeff Sissons: “The government members intend that, unlike current law, businesses employing less than 20 workers may choose to ignore the request of workers for health and safety representatives”
N A T I O N A L S A F E T Y S H O W R O U N D U P
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Organisers of the Nation-al Safety Show, XPO Exhibitions (XPO), said the
three-day event in June was a huge success.
Almost 300 exhibiting companies were assisted in part by the deci-sion to co-locate the National Safety Show alongside the award winning buildnz | designex event.
This decision proved to be a positive step forward given the many complementary crossovers between the building and design in-dustry and health and safety sector.
More than 6,200 visitors, of which 5,467 were unique, attended the co-located events. With 1,120 of these unique visitors registered to attend The National Safety Show, many thousands more trade visitors crossed over from buildnz | de-signex as they searched out health & safety products and solutions for their business.
XPO says exhibitors put in a great
deal of effort building large interac-tive exhibition stands onsite at the expo, hosting live demonstrations of safety products and services, and showcasing new product releases.
“It’s pleasing to see that the exhib-itors hard work has been rewarded with a strong flow of qualified and quality industry professionals at-tending the event and a high level of engagement between visitor and exhibitor as they explored the many product and service innovations on offer” says Tony Waite, Sales and Events Director of XPO.
The National Safety Show is an important event because it is highly targeted at health & safety leaders and decision makers. It gives ex-hibitors the opportunity to make meaningful connections with a wide range of new and existing contacts.
The strong number of industry professionals in attendance was really pleasing with many noting the seminars and workshops and
product education being an impor-tant reason to attend.
“We hosted three full days of free seminars for the industry, with speakers ranging from The Drug Detection Agency and SARNZ through to Worksafe New Zealand, as they updated attendees on the new Health and Safety Reform Bill and what Worksafe Inspectors will be focused on when visiting your business.
“We’ve been inundated with feed-back that the show had a lot more new products and innovations than prior shows – a mix of kiwi made and/or internationally sourced,” says Mr Waite.
“We’ve had good feedback that the show is hitting all the buttons in terms of a targeted trade whole industry attendance.
There is no other event bringing the biggest and best innovators in Health and Safety together under one roof.”
The organisers are now ramping up for Canterbury buildnz | designex in August 2016 (Winner of Best New Trade Show in Australasia in 2014) which will also feature a Health and Safety area. Last event sold out exhibitor spaces very quickly so we’d encourage those interested to get in early! www.canterburybuildnz.co.nz
Huge turnout at The National Safety Show 2015Record crowds attended New Zealand’s largest trade exhibition dedicated to workplace health and safety solutions and education
Exhibitors like PBI and NZ Red Cross put in a great deal of effort building large interactive exhibition stands onsite at the expo -- hosting live demonstrations of safety products and services and showcasing new product releases
Janet Carmichael and Marcus Bird (left) with National Education Training Manager Graham Wrigley at the Red Cross stand
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July/August – 201546
Jonathon Hillary (left), Jamie Sutherland looking happy with the show results for total safety solution supplier Active Safety
Chief executive of Responsible Care Barry Dyer was on the Industrial Safety News stand to talk about chemical safety
Marcus Bathan (left) and Andrew Sykes of international training company Vertical Horizons Group
Elizabeth Thomas (left) and Sheryl Jones were on the stand of broad based training providers Safety ‘N Action
The stand of environmentally conscious Arrow Matting Systems (above) was manned by William Ford while (below) Autoline’s Matt Fisher (left) and Ebony Fisher explained the company’s 1Guard modular safety system
Safety Nets Craig Daly (left) and Krael Turner reported good interest in their products
Anthony Griffin of “the glove professionals” glove supplier Lynn River enjoyed a steady stream of interested customers
www.isn.co.nz 47
St John explained their training programmes and other services to visitors
Top E-learning provider NOSA was represented at the show by vice president of the Pacific Rim Lance Hiscoe
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Bevan Taylor manned the stand for Tru- Built and its range of heavy duty barrier system, access and loading innovations
Managing director of Oliver Footwear Phillip Hughes came from Ballarat in Australia to help with the presentation
Moira Howson (left) and Andrea Polzer-Debruyne of leading training group PeopleCentric
Safety Ladder Legs’ Nicole Kempthorne demonstrates the safety aspects of their product while John Kempthorne looks on
Jessica Coleman and Ben Martin of asbestos control’s CEDA Environmental
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