Summer is here – longer days, sunshine, and the outdoors sound like the perfect conditions to get all that work done. It doesn’t matter what time of year it is, hazards and risks are forever present and summer brings with it its own risks. Have you thought about what you are doing to protect your team from the effects of the summer sun and heat?
“Slip, Slop, Slap and Wrap” to minimise the obvious risks of sunburn or skin cancer, but we also need to be aware of the risk of heat exhaustion, dehydration and fatigue.
Heat exhaustion occurs when our bodies overheat from the loss of water and salt due to sweating. If left untreated it can lead to heat stroke.
Heat stroke occurs when the body is no longer able to keep itself cool causing a high body temperature of 39.4 degrees or more.
Heat rash and heat cramps are earlier stages of the onset of heat exhaustion. Knowing the signs and what to do will help prevent the onset of heat exhaustion or worse, heat stroke.
If you have underlying health issues that could be affected by extreme heat make sure you let your business know.
Planning is key – With the sun at its peak between 10am-4pm, make sure you take regular breaks within this time and where possible arrange work that can be done in covered or shaded areas to be completed during this time period.
Check out this handy resource on how to protect yourself when you’re outside
Take it easy – Don’t overdo things. Keep strenuous tasks to a minimum and regularly rotate work tasks.
Listen to your body – Just because the weather is nice and you can work longer to get those jobs done doesn’t mean that you should. Fatigue affects your mental and physical capabilities making it harder for you to concentrate. When we lack concentration is when incidents can occur.
Discussing the effects of the Sun (UV and Heat) at your Safety/Toolbox meetings is a great way to remind everyone of this often overlooked environmental hazard. You can easily record your Safety/toolbox meetings using the HazardCo App.
If you have any questions or would like to discuss your work hazards give our Advisory team a call on 0800 555 339, option 4.
Most cement, lime, mortar, concrete, and plaster products are hazardous substances that contain strong alkalis.
As seen in the image above, alkalis are on the opposite end of the PH scale from acids, however, can be equally as dangerous, being extremely destructive to your eyes. The way you handle the first seconds, minutes, and hours after you get the dry powder or wet mix in your eyes, will determine the outcome.
Alkalis may start their damaging work in your eye without much pain or symptoms, but over time the damage gets worse. So beware, follow the first aid steps below even if you don’t feel pain.
Don’t become one of the statistics: in 2021, there were 56 burn injury claims to the eyes in the NZ construction sector, with 90% of chemical eye burn injuries that could have been prevented.
Every second counts! Run to the closest tap, eye wash station or water bottle and start flushing your eye. You are aiming to dilute the alkali to lessen the damage.
Wash your face and hands, you don’t want to get more cement product in your eyes. Flush your eye with a steady stream of running water. Let it pour into your eye while lifting both eyelids to rinse out all the cement granules underneath. Do not reuse the water and do not let contaminated water run into the unaffected eye.
If you do not flush your eye, or stop before you are told to do so, you may suffer from permanent eye damage, dry eyes, vision loss and more.
HazardCo’s Site Box or Emergency Box is ideal for storing your SDS files and eye wash stations on-site. You can also upload and store your SDS and other H&S documents on the HazardCo Hub to keep them all in one place.
If you have an incident where someone gets cement/concrete in their eye, remember to report this as an incident in the HazardCo App. This will automatically be added to your incident register in the HazardCo Hub, and the Advisory team will be in touch with you to discuss next steps if it is deemed to be notifiable to WorkSafe NZ.
For questions or support, contact the friendly advisory team at HazardCo at 0800 555 3339 or info@hazardco.com.
The Toolbox Meeting feature on the HazardCo App means you’ll no longer have to carry around paperwork for your meetings. Our app makes it easy for you to keep energy levels high and hold everyone’s attention with short and focused talks. With the HazardCo App running on your smartphone, you can easily move the meeting to the most relevant place on-site. One man band? No worries, you can use the toolbox feature to capture conversations when you talk to other subbies on-site.
On the HazardCo App, the Toolbox Meeting feature guides you through a team chat with an easy to follow guide that helps you cover all the necessary points and capture key details as you go. It means you don’t need to do any special preparation for your toolbox meeting, just make the time, follow the app, and you’ll get a completed report on the Hub at the end which you can download or email to others. Plus, save yourself some time by using your voice to text feature on your phone which comes as part of most Android and iPhone devices, look for the microphone icon on the keyboard pop up. You can also record attendees with a photo.
Using HazardCo Toolbox Meetings gives you another easy way to keep the team involved too – simply get someone different to run the meeting each week. It keeps everyone thinking more about health and safety, and it shares the admin around. And did you know that the Toolbox Meeting feature isn’t just for toolboxes, you can also use it to conduct safety meetings, pre-start meetings, and committee meetings.
Toolbox Meetings are a vital component of keeping your site safe, and with HazardCo in the palm of your hand, you have all the tools you need for great toolbox meetings with your wider crew.
The holiday season is over and it’s time to get back into the swing of things. Coming back to work and reopening your site is just as important as shutting it down. The New Year is the perfect opportunity to refocus and set the tone for the year ahead. Coming back to work after a couple of weeks off can give some people a serious case of Mondayitis, so consider taking the following steps on the first day back:
Having a soft start can ensure that everyone has enough time to check their work areas and equipment, and remind everyone that safety is the number one priority. This also includes keeping in mind workers don’t overheat.
As the weather heats up, so can risks on-site. Make sure that workers are provided with adequate protection from working in the heat so that they can do their work safely and comfortably.
If it’s too hot, consider rescheduling tasks to perform more strenuous work outside of peak sun hours. You may also think about swapping physical work for plant or machinery, for tasks such as lifting or digging.
Make sure there’s good airflow going through the workspace by opening up windows or using fans. If the work is outdoors, make sure workers take regular breaks in shaded areas and stay hydrated.
Ensure your workers have access to drinking water and sunscreen. Wearing the right clothing and PPE will also make working in the heat more comfortable such as wearing loose-fitting, light-weight clothing, sunglasses, and sun-protective hats.
Not everyone reacts to heat the same way so you should keep an eye out for each other and if a worker experiences heat-related illness, you must act quickly. For the early stages of heat-related illness, first aid can often be effective, but you should always seek medical assistance if in doubt, or if the person’s symptoms are severe. Symptoms to look out for are:
Be prepared this summer, make sure and remember to keep the health, safety, and well-being of workers first. If you have any questions give our Advisory Team a call on 0800 555 339.
Noise is a very common risk across many different types of worksites. One of the most common sources of loud noise is machinery and equipment.
Machinery and equipment operate at high speeds and generate a great force that can generate significant noise. In certain worksites, this noise can be at increased volumes for long periods of time. Noise poses a risk to workers as it can cause long-term and irreversible damage to their hearing. Once the risk to workers hearing is identified it should be managed by either removing or minimising the risk.
Hearing protection should only be used when extra protection is needed after using the above noise controls. If hearing protection is required:
Workers should be aware of the risk that exposure to excessive noise has to their hearing. Talk about managing noise during your safety meetings and keep a record of it in the HazardCo App. Make sure workers are provided with the appropriate training in the correct use, maintenance and storage of hearing protection. A Training Register template is available on the HazardCo Hub which can be downloaded and filled out.
You can view these resources below:
Is your work too noisy?
WorkSafe NZ’s Hierarchy of controls for noise video
If you have any questions about noise in the workplace, give HazardCo a call on 0800 555 339.
Using machinery and equipment for work on-site puts workers in close contact with powerful and fast moving tools. This makes getting the job done easier and more efficient but it does also present some risks to workers health and safety. If a worker comes into contact with machinery or equipment in an unsafe way, it can cause significant harm or injury. It is common practice to use guarding on machinery and equipment to create a barrier between the workers and the moving parts that can cause harm or injury.
Machinery and equipment guarding is designed to eliminate or minimise the risk of workers being harmed while completing their work. It is important to assess the hazards and risks involved with all the machinery and equipment used in the workplace. If machinery and equipment is not guarded properly, workers can sustain significant injuries due to coming in contact with moving parts.
Some common injuries are:
Because there is potential for serious harm when using machinery and equipment, it is necessary to plan a safe approach when conducting a job. This will help identify the hazards of working with machinery and equipment.
The hazard management process includes:
There are many different types of guards that can be used to protect workers from being harmed when using machinery and equipment. Here are some common types of guarding and examples of when they are used:
When choosing a guard, It is important to make sure the guard can actually prevent an operator from reaching into the dangerous parts of machinery and equipment. To make sure the operators are protected from the dangerous parts, the safest guarding must take into account an operator’s ability to reach into or come in contact with moving parts.
There are many different types of guards to choose from. It is important to choose guards that eliminate the potential for harm. If this is not possible, then guards should be chosen that isolate or minimise the risk to workers. It is very important that guarding is not removed or tampered with as this will increase the risk of harm to workers.
Control hierarchy:
Workers should be trained to competently complete the work they are required to do. Workers should be trained and educated on the purpose and function of the different types of guarding in the workplace. Make sure that workers have the appropriate training, supervision, and qualification (if required) to safely use the necessary machinery and equipment. Keep an up-to-date register of what machinery and equipment workers are trained on and competent in using. A Training Register template is available on the HazardCo Hub which can be downloaded and filled out.
If you have any questions about guarding machinery and equipment, give HazardCo a call on 0800 555 339.
Machinery and equipment are used everyday on the worksite. Machinery and equipment are designed to make work easier, more efficient, and can generate great amounts of power and speed. This is really handy when there is a job to be done, but this also means there is a greater potential for harm and injury. When there is a potential for harm, especially in the workplace, it needs to be managed to prevent incidents or injuries. A great place to start is by identifying the hazards and risks involved with the machinery and equipment being used so that you can put controls in place to effectively manage them.
Many pieces of machinery and equipment use force and motion to cut, bend, join or shape materials. This force and motion can harm workers in many different ways such as crushing, cutting, puncturing and burning.
It is good practice to identify the risks to workers’ safety. When machinery and equipment is identified as a hazard in the workplace, the next required step is to manage the hazard. Begin by assessing the risks that these hazards pose to workers. A risk assessment in relation to the machinery and equipment can be completed in the HazardCo app to record hazards and the controls put in place to manage these risks. Keep a list of the common hazards in the workplace and how they are controlled in a hazard register. A Hazard Register template available in the HazardCo Hub.
It is also good practice to complete Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for your machinery and equipment. The SOP should document instructions on the safe operation and maintenance of and training for any machinery or equipment. Ensure that the SOP is created using the manufacturer’s instructions so that it is specific to the machinery and equipment used. A few example SOP’s and a template are available in the HazardCo Hub that can be used to create SOPs for all the machinery and equipment in the workplace.
Machinery and equipment are often used in harsh working environments, and on a daily basis. These two factors mean that eventually machinery and equipment can become faulty, damaged or break down over-time. If and when this happens, it can pose a risk to the workers who are using or working closely to the machinery or equipment. It is good practice to manage these risks by doing daily pre-start checks before beginning work. This ensures that the machinery and equipment are inspected and are in good working order before beginning the works. These pre-start checks should be recorded and the records should be kept. There are Pre-start Checklist templates available on the HazardCo Hub.
Workers should be trained to competently complete the work they are required to do. This is especially important when using machinery and equipment as there is an increased potential for harm when it is not used correctly. Make sure that workers have the appropriate training, supervision and qualification (if required) to safely use the necessary machinery and equipment. Keep an up-to-date register of what machinery and equipment workers are trained on and competent in using. A Training Register template is available on the HazardCo Hub which can be downloaded and filled out.
If you need a hand with managing the hazards and risks involved with using machinery and equipment, give HazardCo a call on 0800 555 339.
What is Hi-Vis?
Hi-Vis is a form of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) designed to minimise the risk of personal injury by making the wearers visible.
The New Zealand legislation has standards around the criteria that hi-vis needs to meet, the types available, and when they should be worn.
As a business owner, you must manage the risks associated with your workplace activities and in doing so follow a process to control those risks. If you cannot eliminate a risk, you must implement measures to reduce the level of risk, provide training to workers, and provide PPE – which can include hi-vis.
Protective clothing is one of many control measures used to mitigate risk, however, it is the ‘last line of defense’, and all other reasonably practicable control measures should be in place first before relying on protective clothing. It is up to the PCBU if hi-vis clothing is a control that will be implemented on-site. However, we do recommend that it should always be worn around moving vehicles, plant and machinery.
Types of Hi-Vis
There are many types of hi-vis clothing available in New Zealand, and it is important to understand the different types., what is appropriate for your workplace, and ensure that you supply hi-vis that meets the standards. The only two hi-vis colours that are acceptable in NZ are yellow and red-orange.Red is only allowed if it is in the orange spectrum. Otherwise, it cannot be considered a hi-vis colour, because it is not easily visible for some people with a specific type of colour-blindness.
Maintaining Hi-Vis
It is important that the correct hi-vis is selected and used correctly. Your workers should know:
Hi-vis should be maintained to ensure that it remains effective, over time the materials can fade which will affect the performance of the tape and fabric. It should be regularly checked for wear and tear, fading, and ensure that there are no additional fabrics, logos, or pockets impacting the functionality of the hi-vis in accordance with the standards AS/NZS 4602 and AS/NZS 1906.4.
If you have any questions get in touch with the HazardCo team
HazardCo was created by tradies, for tradies. We understand that on-site risks change, all day, every day, and have experienced what happens when they aren’t well managed first hand. So we formed HazardCo to help tradies get their health and safety sorted – and help you to feel confident that you’re doing the right thing.
HazardCo’s digital health and safety solution uses everyday technology to help you complete all your health and safety requirements – all from your back pocket. Plus, HazardCo helps you to cut back on paperwork and saves you time by using straightforward templates and reports, which are full of tips and suggestions to give you the confidence you have it all covered.
You can use the HazardCo App on your smartphone to create a Toolbox Meeting, Site Review, Risk Assessment, Incident Report, Vehicle Checklist, and more. The app is packed with simple-to-use tools that guide you through each of these activities, making them super quick and easy to complete. The HazardCo App enables our members to feel confident that they are on top of their health and safety from anywhere, at any time – whether they’re on-site, taking a coffee break, or even at home after a long day at work.
HazardCo takes the hassle out of getting your team on board because the app is free to download for everyone on-site; this includes subbies, your team, and also visitors to your site. This means that at the site Hazard Board all they need to do is use the app or your camera to scan the QR code when they sign in and out which gives you the visibility of knowing who has been on-site and when, without having to be there in person. Plus, there’s no need for loads of paperwork and meetings the first time someone arrives on-site – all they need to do is scan in and complete their induction on their smartphone. It’s simple, smart, and time-saving while also giving you the confidence of knowing you have your bases covered.
Along with the app, being a HazardCo member also gives you access to the HazardCo Hub – our digital tool for setting up new projects. All of the information you need is stored online meaning that you can login from anywhere, at any time. Plus, you can use the hub to view, download, and review activity reports, including site reviews, risk assessments, and inductions.
Good health and safety practices are about more than just following the rules; they’re about doing the right thing to keep you and your team safe. HazardCo’s smart digital tools save you time and paperwork, giving you the confidence that you’re doing everything you can to keep your team safe.
Any questions, get in touch with the HazardCo team today
When it’s not possible to work from the ground, the use of scaffolding is highly recommended to complete those at height tasks. Generally, any building, demolition, or at height repair works will require scaffolding.
There are other height equipment available such as;
Doing a thorough risk assessment is key to determining what the right equipment for the job will be. Use this table as a guide for your choice of height equipment.
As always if you would like to discuss your health and safety requirements further please call our Advisory team on 0800 555 339, extension 4.]
