Going right back into the purpose of the act is "to provide for a balanced framework to secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces".The Act says the controls-test is reducing risk to "as low as reasonably practicable". — PaulReyneke
I personally hate the use of "acceptable risk", or at least how it is generally used in business. The main reason that I hate it is that those that are deciding on what is considered an "acceptable risk" are not normally the ones that are exposed to that "acceptable risk" - e.g. it is the company directors / boards / CEOs / MDs / etc. and that decision is usually one of "we have done enough" rather than "we have done all we can".↪Aaron Marshall I like the idea of "acceptable risk" and your distinciton between hazard maangement and risk management. — Andrew
To expand on that - Give much more attention to any credible likelihood of death (or serious injuries) from exposure to a hazard associated with your business (or undertaking)Give much more attention to any credible likelihood of death from exposure to a hazard (an eruption - yes; an elevator - no) — robert parton
Yes there is - and I clarified this in my reply, but did miss to mention that there will also be actions which don't actually minimise the risk an appreciable extent (especially when considered agajnst the cost/effort required or opportunity cost of other actions). If you are at the point if diminishing returns then you will have minimised the risk so far as reasonably practicable, i.e. done all you can to minimise the risk.There is no end to doing "all we can". — Andrew
This is exactly what I meant though. Companies taking the bare minimum statutory requirement (or minimum ACoP guidance) and calling it a day because they have decided it is now an acceptable risk.This is the whole problem with certification - eg "OSH Forklift Licenses". People think they only have to prove their competence once every few years - when it should be assessed/monitored much more regularly. Despite NZ Land transport thinking you only ever need to be assessed once and you are good to go virtually forever from that point on. — Andrew
If you are interested in workplace health & safety in New Zealand, then this is the discussion forum for you.