Comments

  • Is the Safe Use of Machinery Best Practice Guidelines 2014 by Work Safe still relevant
    The guidelines have good info around guarding. Be advised that plant and structures is a focus area for worksafe and inadequate guarding will be treated seriously in an incident
  • Work Should Not Hurt
    Great stuff Chris, I look forward to digging into it
  • Use of Mini-SDSs
    Mini sds are great for point of use. No one wades through a 14 pager before using a substance. Having the full system readily available (soft copy is ok) satisfies the requirements
  • Machinery reluctance?
    One of my areas of work with the University of Auckland was to sort out machine guarding. There was a fair amount of initial resistance from some users who were happy using non compliant but robust equipment. After a good amount of engagement, older machines were either retired or disposed of, upgraded (only for special stuff used in research) or replaced with fewer, more efficient and easier to use machines. In addition, much of the work to manufacture specialist items is carried out by a few very experienced operators as opposed to students ( who now mainly provide drawings, etc) all in all a great success.
  • How to reduce 'safety clutter'?
    Butt covering paperwork that everyone needs to sign before starting a stupidly simple job
  • Who influenced you?
    In the late 90s I was designated Unit Safety and Health Coordinator (USHC) at the technical training school at RNZAF Base Woodbourne. Beverly Taylor was the Base Safety & Health Advisor who corralled us all and got us motivated, and her guidance was instrumental in setting my path in the field of H&S. A decade and a bit later, I was in charge of the BSHAs and had a gradDip OSH under my belt. Beverly is a wonderful person, and I thank her for mentoring me way back then.
  • ACC to retire Habit at Work
    We realised that the tool was to be retired along with flash player, so we used the ACC guidance to develop this document. Feel free to borrow and adapt.
    Attachment
    OPL Computer Workstations (605K)
  • Safety documentation saves lives - a continuation of the safeguard debate
    Hi Susan, I agree that the information that goes to workers needs to be easily digestible. Thankfully we have access to a good chemical management database, and we can print out the one page "mini-SDS" for workers at point of use. These summarise what they are working with, what the hazards are, and what protective gear they need. We also took this concept and developed "Safe Work Instructions" for much of our machinery, and the buy-in has been good (they are treated as aide memoires)
    Attachment
    SWI-Drill Press (v1 7 5) (258K)
  • Safety documentation saves lives - a continuation of the safeguard debate
    As I said in the debate, it is important where the work is complex or high risk. It is also important to bear the principles of reasonableness and appropriateness in mind, therefore you probably do not need a risk assessment for making a cup of tea. If it seems over the top to have paperwork associated with a low risk task, chances are that you do not need it, but if you are heading out in the bush to do some field work, you do need to plan where you are going and what you are doing, and leave contact details with someone.
  • Mythbusters - NZ version
    ANZAC Day is coming up, and the Australian Navy is worried that people may trip in the dark.... https://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/6012695/south-coast-navy-personnel-banned-from-marching-at-anzac-dawn-service/
  • E-scooters: am I right to be worried?
    They appear to be a lot safer than quad bikes
  • Long read: Andrew Hopkins on "safety culture"
    I agree with him that Safety cannot be prioritised, however it can be considered a core value. This was the concept we had in the Airforce, with our motto being "mission first, safety always".
  • Three questions from the current edition of Safeguard magazine
    On HASANZ, I can see the value if you are an independent contractor or work on short term engagements, but it is less relevant if you are in long term employment. I fully support the need for some form of industry benchmarking in order to weed out the cowboys.
  • Introduce yourself here!
    Hi All, Rob Powell here. Currently HSW Manager at the University of Auckland, and newly elected Branch Manager of the NZISM (Auckland). I am also the safety officer for the NZ Institute of Advanced Motorists, a volunteer group, so can assist with enquiries about how H&S affects those.