Features & Current Events
IN THIS ISSUE: SUMMER 2017
Risk, crisis and change communication advice- Changes afoot for Hazardous substances,
- A momentous year for health and safety
- Climbing successfully with ropes and ladders
- Improvements to asbestos disease diagnosis
- One in five employees a victim of workplace bullying
- Resilience key to enjoying jobs and life
- H&S systems key to staying in business
- When your hearing is gone it’s gone forever
New Registered Inspector Programme for MEWPs
Large variances in the quality of inspections and the abilities of inspectors have driven the Elevating Work Platform Association of New Zealand Inc. Continue →
Health and safety enforcement measures a live wire
When the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) came into force in April 2016, there was much discussion about the new enforcement measures introduced to ensure duty holders complied with their obligations, Graeme Tanner and Joseph Williams note
The HSWA signalled a clear legislative intent to ensure duty holders under the HSWA were held accountable where acts or omissions in a workplace caused, or created an undue risk of, harm. Continue →
Kicking the pesticide can down the road
The government is seeking to increase the use of pesticides which scientists claim are causing overwhelming negative effects on hundreds of species of microbes, fungi, plants, insects, fish, birds and mammals that they are not intended to harm. Continue →
Survivors recount toxic gas ordeal
As a WorkSafe prosecution comes to a close, two workers overcome by fumes from a toxic gas pit have for the first time told of their experience of narrowly dodging death
The men were doing an excavation, to try to fix the smell of rotting plasterboard at the Taylorville Resource Park near Greymouth in August 2023. Continue →
Is your virtual background making you unproductive?
As working from home remains common, so does fatigue from virtual meetings, but new research points to one quick fix that might help
On many videoconferencing platforms users can set virtual backgrounds. Continue →
Agriculture sector ‘needs to up its game’
Ahead of Fieldays kicking off in Hamilton, a farm manager has been sentenced for health and safety failures resulting in the death of his farmhand
A quad bike rollover which cost a Tararua farmhand his life could have been avoided if the farm manager had kept the bike in good working order, WorkSafe New Zealand says. Continue →
Employee stress Is a business risk — not an HR problem
Workplace stress has been treated by many organisations as a personal issue instead of a business-critical risk that merits executive oversight according to a new report from Walking on Earth and published in the Harvard Business Review. Continue →
What to think about when picking the right PPE
The specific hazards that may be encountered on the job are among the factors you should carefully consider before choosing personal protective equipment (PPE)
PPE is an essential component of any tradesperson’s toolkit. Continue →
New Zealand introduces its first Fluid Power Engineering Certification
For the first time, New Zealand has a dedicated certification for fluid power engineering, providing new training and career path options to those in the hydraulics and pneumatics industries
The Certificate in Fluid Power Engineering Fundamentals (Level 3) approved by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) is the result of sustained effort by several key people in the industry and of a newly formed New Zealand Fluid Power Association. Continue →