Are you managing the risks for your business?

Have you put health and safety in the “too hard” basket?

You’re not alone—but the consequences of inadequate safety management in your business can be catastrophic. Not only can people be hurt (or worse!) when things go south, but as a business owner you can bear legal responsibility for failing to take due care.

We spoke to the wonderful Dave Pinchen of The Safety Lab, an internationally experienced H&S consultant who helps companies understand their risks, develop safety management systems, and effectively implement them.

Dave broke it down for us, highlighting a few key themes and considerations that will set trades SMEs on the right track.

Understand your duty of care

NZ law, specifically the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, lays out the responsibilities of various parties when it comes to workplace safety. One important term to know here is PCBU—Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking. A PCBU can be a single person or an entity/group, and they have certain duties which include having systems in place to ensure that safety laws are being followed. 

The places in which your organisation works will affect the level of responsibility that falls on your (the PCBU’s) shoulders. When working on a construction site, for example, there will likely be larger contractors above you who will set the standards for ensuring site safety. When working in someone’s home, you may be the primary contractor and therefore entirely responsible for the safety of your workers and also the home occupiers.

As a business owner you should always be aware of what falls on you when it comes to safety, and not just because you’re a good person. There are legal liabilities. The death of a stevedore at Ports of Auckland in 2018 resulted in charges against the ports as a PCBU following investigation. This ultimately fell back on former CEO Tony Gibson, as the person who had ultimate decision-making responsibility and failed to adequately discharge his duty of care.

Make safety a priority

As New Zealanders, we tend to have a “she’ll be right” attitude when it comes to all things including safety. Risk management practices can seem like mere box-ticking (and that’s not entirely untrue—more on that later), and risk avoidance can be viewed by Kiwi tradies as a personal choice to make, or simply as common sense. This mindset might be partly to blame for the current dire state of workplace safety outcomes in New Zealand.

The Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum recently released the "State of a Thriving Nation” report which painted a concerning picture:

• The total cost of fatalities, serious injuries and health effects totalled $4,391m in 2022.

• Our workplace death rate is double that of Australia’s.

• Our fatality rates match those of the UK in the 1980s.

This report was followed up by another called “Been there. Done that.” which reiterated the concerns, highlighted the nation’s poor progress, and made recommendations for positive change. Issues highlighted included a lack of national oversight and implementation for the current safety strategy, little regulatory clarity which results in performative safety efforts, and confused safety incentives and sanctions. Dave also pointed out that our safety framework is modelled on Australia’s, which in turn was borrowed from the UK. 

That said, it comes down to business owners and managers to promote safety in their teams—even if it feels like a confusing framework. If safety management is incorporated into the rhythms of everyday work, they are not thought of as interruptions but just as part of the flow. Leaders can engage workers in safety discussions, helping them to understand and own the systems and processes they will follow. 

Creating a culture where safety is not just a priority but a natural part of day-to-day operations is the best way to avoid incidents and the nasty consequences they can bring for workers and for owners. It’s also not that hard to do!

Create a paper trail

Almost nobody loves paperwork, but sometimes it’s essential to have things written down as a record. A paper trail is not just for detectives solving crimes. Recording all actions you take towards risk management will help to demonstrate, if an incident does occur, that the PCBU in question took their duty of care seriously.

Procedures

These govern the way your employees will operate, taking into account required safety controls. It’s likely that you and many of your people know exactly how things should be done. However, you still need to write it down for onboarding and training purposes, as a reference for anyone who needs it, and also as proof that you have systems in place. Think about this as taking “how we do things” and putting it in writing for everyone to see and agree to. 

A safety consultant like Dave can help you to ensure that your procedures are useful, accurate, and tailored to your specific operations. Generic policies are usually not helpful or relevant; if you’re going to do it, it’s worth the time to get it right.

Risk assessment

Your risk assessments should detail your significant hazards and record things such as:

• the nature of the risk,

• who could be harmed, 

• your assessment of the level of risk, 

• potential consequences, 

• the control you will put in place to reduce the risk, 

• the residual risk that remains, and; 

• the person in charge of managing that particular risk. 

You could go one step further and use your risk assessments to develop a risk register for your business.

Reviews

Procedures and risk assessments are living documents that must be updated to remain relevant and helpful. Regular reviews should be scheduled according to the expiry period listed in the policy, and Dave recommends staggering these review dates so that you’re not having to review all risks and policies in one month—a big task! 

There are also trigger events that should prompt reviews. Following any accident or incident, you should review the associated risk assessments and procedures as part of your investigation. The review should be proportionate to the severity of the accident or the potential for serious injury. Any person or people involved should fill out a reporting form with the necessary information. 

Dave mentioned that although keeping your paperwork updated is not the most exciting task, it’s an important one. Many businesses pay a lot of money for consultants to help them create safety management systems and leave them to get dusty on a shelf or in the cloud somewhere. The system won’t work if you don’t use it and update it!

Keep it simple

Bureaucracy is a primary pain point for Dave’s clients. He mentioned a tradie who rolled his ankle coming down some (very normal) steps. The organisation he was working for had him fill in a 3 or 4-page incident form just to notify them that this very simple event had occured. Dave calls this lazy safety management—ticking unnecessary boxes without any consideration for actual impact. An accident or incident notification should only need a simple response: what happened, where it happened, why it happened. 

We’ve emphasised that paperwork is important—when it has a clear purpose! Excessive forms and other red tape is often intended to protect the company, not the people. And while legal protection for those holding the responsibility is a major consideration, when it gets too much, (ticking non-existent, irrelevant boxes that go far beyond that actual legislative requirements), people tend to ignore the whole system rather than engage. 

Get help from The Safety Lab

We’re well aware that smaller businesses often have to rely on outsourcing specialised services—after all, that’s why Released exists! The Safety Lab is another hugely valuable resource for trades SMEs like our clients. 

Dave is not your normal “safety guy”—in fact, he says that the biggest problem with health and safety is often the health and safety people. Across various industries, he simplifies bureaucracy to help create effective, people-centric safety systems and initiatives. Originally a mechanic, he has experience in a vast range of safety-related roles in asbestos demolition, utilities, ports, construction, and more. 

If you’re seeking effective, targeted advice to keep your people safe and meet your responsibilities as a PCBU, start a conversation with Dave to discuss where you’re at and where you’d like to be: 

(+64) 09 217 1895

(+64) 09 870 4407

info@thesafetylab.nz