Notifiable events are one of the most frequently asked about topics for the HazardCo Advisory Team. As a tradie or a business owner, you have a legal obligation to report notifiable events to WorkSafe NZ – it sounds like a lot of paperwork right? Wrong. With HazardCo, the App helps you with reporting the accident or near miss easily, and then we can assist you with what to do next!
By reporting all near misses and accidents on-site, everyone is working together to identify areas where you can better manage risks – it’s all about helping to prevent harm. Everyone on-site has a right to know of potential threats that may impact them, and everyone plays a role in protecting everyone else on-site. Getting everyone to report near misses and accidents creates a culture of open, honest discussions about health and safety.
No matter how big or small, report all near misses and accidents so you can all learn from it. Using the Report Incident feature on your HazardCo App, fill out the fields to capture what happened. Your completed report is available in the Hub, and HazardCo retains this for as long as you’re a member.
If medical treatment was required, it could be a notifiable event. So at this point the App will prompt you to call HazardCo, and our Advisory Team will talk you through what to do next and how to notify WorkSafe NZ.
As well as taking photos of the accident scene, we’ll recommend you carry out a Site Review and communicate both the review and Accident Report findings to your own team and the wider site crew, by conducting a Toolbox Meeting – again via your HazardCo App.
Remember that it’s a legal requirement to keep these records for a minimum of 5 years so doing everything on the App helps ticks that box for you.
We all dread an accident occuring, but if anything serious happens on your site it’s important you are prepared, remain calm, and do the right thing. When in doubt, call HazardCo – we are here to support the health and safety needs of all HazardCo members 24/7.
If you have any questions get in touch with the HazardCo team today!
A wise Desmond Tutu once said, “There is only one way to eat an elephant: one bite at a time.”
And Health and Safety is no different. We know that Health and Safety can feel daunting, overwhelming, and even impossible at times, but it can be accomplished by taking on just a little at a time.
You can get your on-site safety on track this year by just starting one step at a time. Health and Safety is a team sport, you can’t do it by yourself, so you need to make sure everyone is involved, and scanning on and off site is a great place to start to create behavioral habits. Encourage your subbies and everyone on-site to create a habit of scanning on and off of your site every day with the HazardCo App.
When workers are engaged in work Health and Safety, everyone benefits. Your business is a healthier and safer place for everyone, performance and productivity increases, and a more engaged workforce means better builds, a stronger and more well-regarded brand in the market, more work, higher margins, and ultimately more money! What’s not to love?
Most people know how to, and do operate safely, recording activity – that’s what you need, and once you have that sorted – the rest is a piece of cake.
If your subbies already have the HazardCo App you’re already halfway there. Now you just need to get them to use it and make it a regular and consistent part of their workday on-site.
It couldn’t be any easier. All your subbies have to do is simply open the HazardCo App on their smartphones, scan onto your site using the unique QR code located on your site’s Hazard Board and they will be able to successfully complete a contactless induction onto your site! As the Main Contractor, you will have full and real-time visibility of scanning activity stored securely in your Hub – and what’s more? you’ll be stoked that your subbies are supporting your Health and Safety efforts.
Bottom line? Safe sites are better sites. So make it a priority this year to make Health & Safety top of mind, and get your subbies using our scanning feature on the HazardCo App today.
For you, for your team, for the families waiting for you at home. Safety first, always.
If you need a hand getting started or would like more information, get in touch with the friendly HazardCo team today.
With everyone coming back to work after a few weeks away, it is the perfect time to review your health and safety on-site. Easing back into work after the Christmas and New Year break may seem difficult with a looming mountain of work ahead of you, but before you get overwhelmed with day-to-day activities, take stock and prepare yourself for the year ahead. So, here are the top suggestions from the HazardCo team to help you start the year with the right mindset.
Catching up on where things are at is a good place to start. Refresh yourself on priorities for your current projects and plan out the next few months to make sure you’re on top of key milestones. Before you crack into any work, conduct a site review – after a few weeks away, you never know what might have happened on-site, so be sure to check it thoroughly and brief the team on any new hazards or site changes.
It’s also a great time to action change, so think about how your projects have gone over the past year… is there anything you want to be doing more of or doing differently? Setting new goals can be really motivating. Some popular health and safety goals amongst our HazardCo members include:
Make sure your health and safety goals are achievable and measurable. Don’t forget to celebrate when you achieve a goal – it can help you and your team build more confidence in yourselves as you see progress, and that keeps you all motivated and inspired to continue trying to improve.
We challenge you to create new routines, such as a weekly Toolbox Meeting that you can do with everyone who is present on-site every Monday morning – as a group talk about current hazards, progress, key activities happening that week, and how you’ll all work together to manage them. The HazardCo App makes it super convenient to complete reviews and conduct meetings from anywhere on-site – so you can get your health and safety sorted from the palm of your hand, and even hold the meeting where the hazards can be seen at the same time. Simple, regular routines can be a great way to build the team and effect change.
It doesn’t take a lot of time to plan how you’d like to approach the year, yet it can have a significant impact on your achievements and your crew’s job satisfaction. Whatever your goals are, the team at HazardCo wishes you a safe and successful year, and we look forward to working with you on your health and safety goals this year.
If you have any questions get in touch with the HazardCo team today!
The year’s end has snuck up on us once again, bringing the added pressure of work deadlines, projects, social events, and family commitments. It’s time to check in our your wellbeing!
With these additional pressures occupying our headspace over the festive season, injury rates and incidents tend to increase. The team at HazardCo have a few tips on ways to manage your stress, energy levels, and overall wellbeing at this busy time.
Deadlines – short deadlines for projects and pressure to reach end-of-year-goals can add additional stress to the holidays and cause health and wellness to fall by the wayside. As always, communicate early on, and involve everyone in the project timeline and any dependencies… that way time pressures become a shared problem. And if you do have a looming deadline you don’t think you can make, now’s the time to start talking about it and looking at options with your wider team and client.
Temporary Workers – great for covering annual leave and busy periods, these staff members are often at a higher risk as they don’t have the experience or knowledge of processes specific to your workplace. If you engage temporary workers to cover annual leave or busy periods, it is important that they are inducted correctly, and receive full and correct safety instructions and supervision for any work with machinery or unfamiliar tasks they may be doing.
Social Events – whether it’s purely a social catch-up, or an end of year work party, remember to drink responsibly; monitor and manage alcohol provided to staff, and never drink and drive. This way everyone can have a safe and enjoyable time celebrating their achievements throughout the year.
So, whether you are actively working, or in the midst of the holiday season, try to stay focused on the job at hand, and pay close attention to the task you are performing.
The HazardCo team wishes you all the best for a safe and happy holiday season and look forward to catching up in 2022!
Things can get pretty hectic on a construction site so it can be hard to find time to keep on top of everyone and everything. With HazardCo’s Quick Share, the latest innovation in health and safety, subbies can now share their on-site activity with the main builder – all online and at the touch of a button. It keeps builders and their subbies on the same page when it comes to health and safety, and gives them both one less thing to remember to do later.
HazardCo created Quick Share to let subbies easily share their on-site health and safety activity with the main builder. Subbies no longer have to find, download, and print or email reports since Quick Share does the sharing for them. It works on the HazardCo App so it’s all online and shared instantly, meaning less paperwork, and since there are no delays there is also less chance of being chased by the site supervisor for health and safety activity.
When subbies use Quick Share, the main builder has a better view of what’s happening on-site and more peace of mind that everything is being completed as it needs to be. It also saves the main builder time since they don’t need to chase their subbies for that paperwork.
The online HazardCo Hub retains all activity created by the main builder for a site, as well as any activity shared by their subbies for that project. With all health and safety activity saved in one place, on-site health and safety becomes more streamlined.
Quick Share saves both builders and their subbies time and makes sure they’re on the same page when it comes to health and safety. True to HazardCo’s purpose, Quick Share is yet another feature that helps HazardCo members create a safer site and have more time to focus on the job at hand.
If you have any questions reach out to the HazardCo team today!
Excavation is among the most hazardous construction operations. Therefore, to protect your workers from injuries, measures should be implemented to minimise the risks around excavations.
Planning the work
Planning involves identifying the hazards, assessing the risks, and deciding suitable controls in consultation with everyone involved in the work. Remember to consider the unique characteristics of the site.
Controlling excavation risks
Common risks to be considered when planning excavation works are;
Securing the work area
Ensure excavations are suitably fenced at all times with barriers strong enough not to collapse if someone leans or falls against them. Where possible cover excavations if not working in or near them, or backfill immediately once work is completed.
Falling from height
Working at height involves if a person could fall from one level to another. Click here for the controls to minimise the risk of falling.
Ground Collapse
Ground collapse is one of the main risks of excavation work. You can prevent collapse by shoring, benching, or battering back. Do not assume the ground will stand unsupported.
Safe access and egress
Provide safe access and egress for all workers at all times. Ensure you keep the floor of the excavation clear of anything that would obstruct workers’ safely exiting in an emergency
Overhead and underground services
Dial before you dig, and make yourself aware of the unseen services below and above that could be a risk to your works.
Ground & surface water
Workers should not work in excavations where water has collected or is collecting unless the necessary controls are in place.
Notifiable works
Do you need to notify WorkSafe NZ of your excavation work? You can notify WorkSafe by completing a Particular hazardous work notification form. Remember this must be done 24 hours before works commence.
For more information on work that needs to be notified to WorkSafe, including notifiable events and incidents, click here.
Keeping you and your workmates safe at work is a priority, so make sure you are aware of your requirements for managing the risks of excavation.
The HazardCo App site review resource has a list of risk controls that should be in place to minimise the risk associated with excavation work.
If you need a hand getting started or would like more information, get in touch with the friendly HazardCo team today – we’re always happy to help.
Slips and trips often get a few good laughs, so these incidents are often overlooked in the workplace. However, slips, trips, and falls are one of the most common causes of injuries for workers.
Ground clutter, uneven or slippery floor surfaces, poor lighting, or lack of signage all contribute to thousands of workers getting injured every year. It is important to define these terms in order to better understand how they can be prevented.
Fall – Can generally be caused by a person’s sudden loss of balance.
Slip – A slip can be caused by factors such as wet or frozen surfaces
Trip – Commonly happens due to overlooked objects lying on the ground
The role of the PCBU
PCBUs must oversee the health and safety risks associated with slips and trips, and are responsible for minimising if not eliminating these risks in a reasonably practicable manner. Such as:
– Identifying hazards
– Making a proactive assessment of risks associated with these hazards
– Managing risk control measures
– Reviewing the implementation of the risk control measures
How to reduce slips and trips in the workplace
Here are some methods of addressing and managing slips and trips in the workplace.
Eliminate the risk
Take control of your work area from the design stage and carefully plan changes in floor levels.
Substitution
Design floors with a more slip-resistant surface.
Isolation
Barricade access to high-risk areas and make sure the necessary signs and measures are taken when cleaning or other activities are taking place.
Engineering Controls
Make your floors more slip-resistant by applying appropriate treatments and illuminate your work area. Plan your drainage system well to suit your business’ requirements.
Administrative controls
Increase training and supervision measures. See to it that there is a checklist of the routine cleaning procedures.
Personal protective equipment
Safeguard your staff with slip-resistant footwear.
Keeping your workplace safe for you and your employees is a priority. The HazardCo App site review resource has a list of site housekeeping and material storage risk controls that should be put in place to mitigate the risk of slips and trips.
If you would like more information, get in touch with our friendly HazardCo team – we’re always happy to help!
Did you know that nearly 1 in 4 Kiwi adults report experiencing poor mental wellbeing? This makes up a significant percentage of our workforce in NZ. This means that there is a good chance that you or someone you work with is struggling with or at some stage has struggled with their mental wellbeing.
There are some pretty shocking stats that show how mental health and wellbeing affects Kiwis:
We are increasingly more aware that Mental Health and wellbeing is a serious issue that affects so many of us. When people are struggling with their mental health and going through a rough time it can be hard for them to seek help or talk about it. We can lookout for our friends and colleagues because we know there is a good chance that at least one of them may need someone to talk to. Poor mental health and well-being come in many shapes and sizes but there are some common signs to look out for. It typically looks like a change in behaviour rather than a one-off incident or if they are just ‘having a bad day’. If you see any of these signs or changes in behaviour it might be time to reach out to your friend or workmate :
If you see these signs your friend or workmate might need a helping hand. They might need you to check in on them and see how things are going. This can be hard and scary if you don’t know what you are doing when dealing with mental health and wellbeing. Reaching out to someone who is struggling can be the first step towards getting them the help that they need. You don’t have to be an expert, you just have to be a friend.
Fortunately for us in NZ there are so many organisations that exist solely to help people with their mental health and well being. If you see someone struggling, encourage them to get in touch with one of these organisations for more help. If you need more guidance in dealing with the situation you can call too. Here is a some of the places (there are more) you can contact if you or a friend are struggling with mental health:
A construction site can be a risky place. We are aware of the common hazards that we see daily but what about the dangers you can’t see? We’re talking about respirable crystalline silica dust (RCS).
There are serious health and safety concerns emerging from the exposure of silica dust for those who work in the construction industry, so we want our tradies to be aware of this threat so they can protect themselves and their workmates on-site.
RCS is found in products such as stone, brick, rock, concrete, asphalt, and mortar – common materials used in the engineering of kitchen, bathroom, and laundry stone benchtops. These materials are cut, ground, sanded, and polished, and through these methods, fine dust is released, known as RCS.
This dust is extremely harmful when inhaled, and high exposure can result in significant health risks, including Accelerated Silicosis – an aggressive respiratory disease that scars the lungs and causes progressive respiratory failure. This disease is dangerous amongst the construction industry, as workers could be exposed to silica dust inhalation on-site, without being aware of it.
It is important to understand the risks associated with exposure to high levels of RCS so that employers can make necessary efforts to protect their workers. WorkSafe New Zealand has outlined several measures that employers can take to minimise exposure, and ultimately mitigate risk:
Using alternative materials that contain a lower silica content.
Isolate work areas that are likely to produce RCS exposure with physical barriers or computer numerical control (CNC) machines to contain the dust
Using dust collecting tools with an H-class HEPA filter.
Wet cutting to prevent dust from becoming airborne.
Regular cleaning practices such as low-pressure water cleaning, wet-wiping, and using an H-class HEPA-filtered vacuum are essential.
Using appropriate respirators at all times that are fit-tested to each worker and cleaned after use. Wearing disposable coveralls or other protective clothing is crucial to ensure that the worker does not take these contaminants home with them.
Employers should ensure that workers who may have been exposed to silica dust inhalation are health monitored. These workers should be tested in order to identify any changes in their health status due to exposure to hazardous contaminants.
The majority of confirmed silicosis cases report having no symptoms. Therefore it is crucial that your workers are educated on both the health and safety risks of RCS, and the measures that can be taken to prevent it.
No one knows the hazards of the job better than your workers. Let’s make sure they are aware of this safety concern, so we can get them home safely at the end of each day.
Want to know more? Get in touch with our friendly team at HazardCo today.
Any airborne contaminants are a cause for concern, but one of the main offenders in the dust world is wood dust.
Workplace dust is unavoidable on-site. Whether your cutting, sawing, sanding, or drilling, many day-to-day tasks produce both fine and large dust particles which, when inhaled, can be harmful to your body.
What’s the damage?
Our bodies are able to filter out any large particles that may enter our respiratory system, however the smaller particles can go deep into our lungs which overtime can lead to damage and scarring of lung tissue.
This damage reduces the lungs ability to take in oxygen, which means over a period of time, it’s going to make it harder to breathe and can cause problems such as asthma and lung cancer. It’s not just the wood that’s the issue either… glue, resin and other treatments on the wood are also harmful and increase the risk even more.
As well as our breathing, dust can also cause issues with our eyes, causing irritation and damage, and our skin, which can lead to irritation and dermatitis.
That’s why it’s important that you cover your bases, which we’ve outlined below.
Controlling wood dust in the workplace
Education is key when it comes to making sure your workers understand the risks of wood dust. To ensure you and your team are up to speed, we recommend regular training, which can be done at your weekly toolbox talks.
