GHSL Update April 2018

It’s been a few weeks since our last update and a lot has been happening.

Employee Engagement Conference - 10 May

Preparation is well underway for the Employee Engagement Conference at Te Papa on 10 May.

The response from agencies has been fantastic and we reached venue capacity within a week of the invitation going out.

We’ve received some excellent nominations for the Spirit of Service, Health and Safety Awards. Six health and safety representatives have been chosen for awards, as well as an overall Health and Safety Representative of the Year.

We're very much looking forward to hearing the great presentations we have lined up and spending time with your best health and safety representatives.

Health and Safety: A Good Practice Guide for Public Service Chief Executives and Officers

Chief Executives will soon receive an electronic copy and 10 hard copies of a new resource: Health and Safety: A Good Practice Guide for Public Service Chief Executives and Officers.

This guide provides practical advice on health and safety governance for senior leaders in the public service with responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

The guide has been extensively consulted on and we hope it will be a very useful tool for senior teams to guide their governance.

Government Health and Safety Lead website

Testing is underway on our new Government Health and Safety website, and we have begun loading content in preparation for go-live in May.

The website will showcase case studies and good practice guides on health, safety and security. You’ll be able to see upcoming events and workshops, and view our work programme.

A big thank you to ACC and WorkSafe for sponsoring the website. We will let you know when it is all up and running.

Health and Safety Governance Groups

Increasingly agencies are appointing external members to their Health and Safety Governance Group to bring new perspectives and to support their officers in their duties. We have recently assisted two agencies to identify external members for their governance group. If you are considering an external appointment and would like some assistance in identifying potential names please contact me.

New forums for the sector

A number of new forums have been set up over the last few weeks to assist the sector become more connected in health and safety

A Small and Medium Agency Forum had its first meeting on 17 April, attended by 12 small and medium agencies. The agencies discussed key health, safety and security issues that effect organisations of their size.

Feedback from the first meeting was extremely encouraging, with agencies recognising the value of such a forum. The forum will meet every six weeks and is available for other functional leads, such as PSR, to engage with the smaller agencies.

A High Risk Agency Forum has been established which includes New Zealand Police, NZDF, the Department of Corrections and Fire and Emergency NZ. The Forum is facilitated by Mike Cosman and involves senior operational managers from each agency.

The Heads of Health and Safety from the larger agencies met in April and have agreed to meet on a regular basis. The Ministry of Justice will be hosting the next meeting of this group in May.

A Health and Safety Advisers in Government forum is currently being planned. This group will replace the All of Government Health and Safety Advisers Group which has met for a number of years under the leadership of Theresa Khatchian. Theresa has agreed to assist in establishing and supporting this forum with leadership from Felicity Lamm. I am grateful for Theresa’s many years of service to the sector and I’m sure that this new forum will provide a more integrated means by which health and safety advisers can network and further their professional development.

Government Health and Safety Summer Intern Programme shortlisted for Safeguard Awards

Last week we heard that the sector’s intern programme had been selected as a finalist for the Safeguard Awards. We’re delighted for the nine agencies and interns that were involved in 2017. We’ll be coming out shortly to take soundings with agencies for the 2018 programme.

Lastly, we understand that some of you get SEEMAIL warnings when you receive this newsletter. We are looking into this and are investigating possible alternatives to MailChimp to send these updates out in the future.