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Health and safety is a core part of any business but incidents and injuries on the job can still happen. According to WorkSafe New Zealand’s 2022 – 2023 data, the construction industry had 6,240 injuries which resulted in more than a week off work. In that same year, there were 11 deaths. Construction and trades make up a significant portion of incidents and injuries at work and when you think about not only the cost of life but the time off, loss of productivity and money spent on rehabilitation it adds up to a pretty staggered sum.  

From 2022 – 2023 there were 586 Notifiable incidents and 604 Notifiable injuries or work-related illnesses. With numbers like this, we need to help you find a way to improve the health and safety culture so you can make sure it’s safe and profitable as well. 

The signs of poor health and safety
If you’re concerned that your health and safety policies and procedures aren’t being followed or maybe not quite up to scratch, there are a number of things you can keep your eyes peeled for: 

• Poor incident reporting 
• Blame culture 
• Poor communication 

So, how do you get your crew on board?
When it comes down to it, creating a culture of site safety isn’t as easy as putting new procedures in place and calling it a job well done – it’s up to you to involve and motivate your crew to be proactive and take safety into their own hands. 

Some steps you can take include:

Communication
It seems like an obvious one but poor communication can really affect your efforts to create a safety culture. Having regular open communication with your crew about why you’re talking about all things safety is the best way to help them understand the importance. 

The more transparent and clear you are, the more likely they will be to action any new initiatives. Make sure that your crew has easy access to your current health and safety guidelines so they can stay in the know about any changes. 

Support your staff
If you are taking steps to improve your site safety culture, make sure you factor in both physical and mental health awareness in all that you do for your staff. By providing resources and establishing an environment where your crew feels respected and safe to open up and express themselves you’ll be able to create a support system where you can look after each other’s wellbeing and mental health. 

Training
Ensuring that your crew are trained up on all the correct licenses, procedures and health and safety practices is a surefire way to make sure that they are fully knowledgeable on procedures. With the right training in place, you can have confidence that they know how to safely perform their jobs. 

Be a leader

If your crew see you leading by example and taking health and safety seriously, they are more likely to as well. So lead from the front and be the one to start those open conversations about what’s going on on-site.

Reporting
You need to set the tone with your crew that reporting incidents isn’t something they need to feel anxious or uncomfortable about doing. Make it clear that reporting is a way of finding out what caused the accident or injury and what can be done to make sure it won’t happen again. By making proper reporting a core element of your crew’s job responsibilities it can become second nature to them. 

Make it a team effort
Site safety impacts everyone, so it makes sense that your crew should have a hand in shaping their site’s culture. The more input they have, the more likely they are to follow precautions. 

By having regular health and safety chats with your crew, you can give them the opportunity to voice their own safety concerns and opinions. By having open conversations and allowing input from your crew you’re giving them the ability to implement safety measures that affect their own jobs, ultimately making them more likely to follow processes and encourage others to do the same.

If you have any questions reach out to the HazardCo Team today