Improving New Zealand’s Work Health and Safety System

In her role as Chief Financial Officer, Nicola oversees the performance of Z’s Safety, Wellbeing and Risk, recognising the crucial role of keeping its people and communities safe. 

Z also knew that the size and scale of its operations, its own robust safety systems and its experience working with a range of other suppliers and contractors across Aotearoa put it in a strong position to share its observations and expertise in this area.  

And, as MBIE outlined in the submission request, change is certainly needed. The Health and Safety at Work Act is now almost 10 years old, and as the Government states, outcomes have not materially improved in that time. With radical improvements required in this area, Z wanted to play its part in supporting the change. 

A centralised safety system 

Z’s own approach to health and safety is rigorous, and aims to meet domestic and international best practice. “Because of the broad nature and the span of the risks that we are managing regularly, we do so with a really well organised and centralised safety system,” explains Nicola. “We’re constantly reviewing the most important controls, and verifying and validating that they actually do what they are designed to do.” 

Depending on factors like size, experience, resources and awareness, not all businesses in New Zealand are where they need to be when it comes to work health and safety. “We believe all businesses are trying to do the right thing, but particularly with small businesses – and there are a lot of small to medium-sized businesses in New Zealand – they don’t always fully understand what is required of them under the Act,” says Nicola.  

Raising the standard 

Meanwhile, Z is already contributing to some positive change in this space through its own business requirements. “For all the contractors and suppliers we work with, we have prequalification criteria, so essentially you have to have certain safety management processes in place in order to be able to work with Z,” Nicola explains. “It’s been quite eye-opening to realise that some small to medium businesses don’t have those in place. But what we’ve seen is that through these processes, large corporations in New Zealand can actually lead the way in helping smaller businesses get up to speed and lift their capability.” 

Improvements at every layer 

In its submission to the Government, Z points to a range of measures that could be taken at different layers of the system. From receiving more clarity and guidance from the regulator, to increasing worker participation within organisations, to sharing knowledge between businesses, Z believes that these changes combined could make a significant difference to New Zealand’s health and safety statistics. 

Communication and commitment 

“For large corporates, having clear visibility on exactly what the strategy or focus of the regulator is would help them make the changes they’re committed to,” Nicola says. “For example, if the regulator decides that they’re focused on psychosocial risk based on the data they’re seeing, they could then engage with New Zealand businesses so that we could also increase our focus on that area. It’s not currently clear exactly what the regulator’s strategy and focus area is.” 

Then within businesses, the regulator could potentially play a key role in increasing worker participation. “Most businesses have some participation forum or group, but what isn’t clear is the guidance that’s provided to those groups. Educating them on what best practice looks like and informing workers on what their powers actually are, and that they have the right to have a voice in the room, would help.”  

Collaboration is key 

Along with greater transparency and more practical advice, Z believes fostering more ways for businesses to work together is also key. “When it comes to health and safety at work there is no competitive advantage, so we should always be sharing learnings on anything that involves safety outcomes,” Nicola says. “There are multiple business forums that Z participates in – as do many other large and small corporates across New Zealand – where learnings could be shared, and the regulator could be involved in that too. Because the regulator sees the various trends and learnings as and when they come up, they could be sharing these in the most timely and practical way possible. We’d love to see them and contribute to them.”  

The health and safety the big picture 

Ultimately, Z is pleased to have shared its knowledge and experience via the submission and welcomes the opportunity to continue to work constructively with the Government to support positive progress in this space. In terms of Z’s own approach to health and safety, the company continues to take a holistic view.  

“We believe that the objective of the work health and safety system is to ensure that work is a positive force and factor in the lives of our people and communities,” says Nicola. “We are committed to providing workplaces that enable safe, engaging and productive work which enhances the physical and mental wellbeing of our people and the communities we operate in.”