Cannabis, cocaine and the workplace drug landscape
Workplace drug and alcohol risks were a health and safety challenge for employers throughout 2025. Continue →
Author Rachel Loo
Australia’s toll roads are mainly built and operated by public–private partnership contracts to shift financial risk from government . The New Zealand government is actively encouraging the same funding model here — a private operator finances, builds and maintains a road in return for the right to collect tolls — often for decades at a time. The problem is that investors build these risks back into the contracts they have with governments.
A Future Fund would secure New Zealand’s infrastructure pipeline, a positive step towards long-term, non partisan infrastructure planning, says a member association which promotes best practice for transport, energy, water, telecommunications and social infrastructure. “Labour’s proposed New Zealand Future Fund could also depoliticise key aspects of the funding process – a long overdue move,” says Infrastructure New Zealand chief Nick Leggett. The Future Fund should complement, not replace, other investment tools.
A survey by Content Partner McKinsey reports that nearly nine out of 10 survey respondents say their organizations are regularly using AI although most have not yet embedded them deeply enough into their workflows and processes to realize material enterprise-level benefits. Organizations are also beginning to explore opportunities with AI agents — systems based on foundation models capable of acting in the real world, planning and executing multiple steps in a workflow.
Height safety basics missed in preventable fall from pole
WorkSafe is cautioning all businesses that work at height to review their safety systems, following sentencing for a fall that nearly killed a KiwiRail employee. Continue →
Election year brinksmanship games are underway early with voters promised free doctor visits from one side and now a call for rate caps in 2027 from the incumbent government. Infrastructure New Zealand’s Nick Leggett warns that the Government’s proposed rate capping policy risks weakening councils at a time when the country urgently needs stronger, better-resourced local government to maintain and build the infrastructure that communities rely upon.
Link Financial has partnered with AI technology company Afterburner to transform the workday for hundreds of advisers, loan writers and administrators in Link’s network. Afterburner automates administrative tasks including mortgage recommendations, analysing business financial statements, bank handover forms, compliance documentation and client interview notes, drafting mortgage applications and writing up expert-level communications to clients and banks. Tasks that previously could take up to a couple of hours can now be completed in seconds.
McKinsey takes a 16-country look at the productivity of micro, small and medium-size enterprises which account for more than half of global GDP, make up more than 90 percent of companies worldwide and provide 21 percent of total banking revenue pools. New Zealand was not one of the study countries but Australia was and offers valuable information for SME on both sides of the ditch.
The Drug Detection Agency has a stark warning for employers as the festive season approaches. It recommends educational activity before year-end social events, which often coincide with an unwarranted social tolerance for substance use. Its latest report details the most pressing issues for employers following an eight percent jump in cannabis detections nationwide and concern that opioid positivity rates “remain stubbornly high at 18.6 percent.”
Increase in cannabis use sparks workplace fears
The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA) tracks regional fluctuations in drug detections to allow employers to better address workplace safety through targeted testing and education services. Continue →
Multitudes of studies conducted over decades have failed to find compelling evidence of a link. Still, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has publically softened its stance that vaccines do not cause autism over the objections of career staff and counter to years of scientific evidence, the latest proof according to the subscription based Atlantic magazine, that health secretary and longtime vaccine sceptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is remaking US Health and Human Services in his own image.
A real-time waste analytics platform is transforming workers from manual sorters into data-driven decision-makers, upskilling teams rather than downsizing them. “We wanted to make our data accessible and usable with as little training as possible. As an operator, you want to use tools that are tailored to your needs. That’s why we spent a lot of time developing intuitive dashboards that make data easy to understand and act on,” says Gaspard Duthilleul from Greyparrot
Not great news for the anti fluoride brigade
A long-term US study shows water fluoridation at recommended levels doesn’t reduce cognitive ability, with kids who drank such water doing slightly better in school tests. Continue →
If your business owes more than $1000 in tax debt that is between six months and five years old, you might receive a call from IRD soon. They will encourage you to pay up or set up an instalment arrangement. If you owe $10,000 or more you will still have a chance to call on support from IRD but the options start to tighten up after that if you ignore warnings.
While it is hard to imagine that there is any business in New Zealand that does not need to be aware of its obligations for handling hazardous substances, not enough seem to realise that there are cost-effective compliance tools and services, including monthly alerts, available through membership of our national chemical industry association, Responsible Care NZ, part of a global voluntary chemical industry safety, health and environment protection initiative
Catch the latest alert
Greetings Members and Colleagues,
Kindly note the following date-sensitive events of interest arising from the
EPA Hazardous Substances Update Advisory, Issue 10:
Webinar: New Hazardous Substances Notification and Reporting Requirements
Join the EPA webinar on Wednesday, 26 November from 10.30am to 11.30am to learn more about what’s required under the Consolidated Hazardous Substances (Importers and Manufacturers) Notice 2015 and the online portal. Continue →
There’s no doubt the past decade has been one of the most extraordinary periods for New Zealand’s construction industry, says QV CostBuilder Quantity Surveyor Martin Bisset. While the last decade included dramatic spikes — particularly through 2021–2022 when global supply chains were disrupted and material costs soared — more recent years have brought greater stability.
Despite the growing adoption of solar power and other renewables, fossil fuels still rule our energy world. So, taking steps to make them cleaner is increasingly vital. The ability to convert coal and other carbon-containing compounds into liquid fuels requires a feedstock called syngas, a mixture of carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H2), which is highly polluting and created by cooking the feedstock under high temperatures and pressures.
The 100-year-old Master Electricians announced the winners of its Annual Apprentice challenge, following hard on the heels of resolution in the High Court of an issue which consolidated sub-contactors’ rights. And the Employers and Manufacturers Association awarded the Patrick Seaman Award for Excellence in Health and Safety to Briscoes H&S manager.
