trendz - our client newsletter

march 2005

health and safety for small to medium sized businesses 

• Why?
• Employees have responsibilities too!
• Some key health and safety info to get you thinking…
• What is a significant hazard?
• There has been an accident in the office, when do you have to notify OSH?
• What is "serious harm"?
• Health and safety considerations for offices
• Some health and safety suggestions to get you started…
• Useful websites
• send to a friend
• subscribe

The Health and Safety in Employment Act was first passed in 1993, but reviewed and amended substantially in 2003. It is essential that you make good health and safety practice a core part of your business and that everyone in your business is aware of their responsibilities.

Under the Act the employer has a responsibility to take "all practicable steps" to ensure a safe working environment. Did you know that this responsibility reaches further than immediate employees to include contractors and subcontractors, customers, guests, clients, visitors and even people in the vicinity of the workplace.

Why?

First and foremost your motivation for being proactive about health and safety should be to protect the wellbeing of yourself and your employees. In 2003/04 33, 988 people were moderately to seriously injured in the workplace. 101 were killed.

As an employer duties imposed by the Act require you to take "all practicable steps" to ensure the safety of employees while at work (section 6) which the law says you must

• provide and maintain a safe working environment
• provide and maintain facilities for safety
• ensure that the equipment used is designed, made, arranged and maintained to a safe standard
• ensure non-exposure to hazards
• develop procedures for dealing with emergencies
• provide relevant information, training and supervision

Small to Medium sized Enterprises involve higher injury claim frequency and costs than larger enterprises. Did you know that there doesn't have to be an accident causing any harm for an employer to be fined. You can be fined up to $250, 000 for failing to identify and control a hazard. The courts are imposing significant penalties as warnings to businesses.

In terms of the immediate impact on productivity, failure to take pre-emptive action when it comes to health and safety can be costly. Some of the consequences can be:

• Employees on extended sick leave or stress leave
• Loss of productivity o the effected employee
• Loss of productivity of the other employees being called on to pick up the slack
• The affected employee taking legal action against the employer that could result in penalties and costs being awarded against the employer

On the flip-side you can be rewarded financially for instituting good health and safety practices. ACC provide levy discounts to employers with good health and safety systems.

Employees have responsibilities too!

Under the Health and Safety Act, employees have responsibilities too. Section 19 of the Act requires

• employees to take all practicable steps to ensure their own safety
• that nothing an employee does or fails to do while at work causes harm to themselves or any other person

And it's not just employers who can be prosecuted. Employees can be prosecuted too, for example for failing to wear safety equipment or causing injury to another person. In addition an act such as this would constitute serious misconduct so is likely to have disciplinary consequences for the employee.

Some key health and safety info to get you thinking…

What is a significant hazard?

The Act defines significant hazards as

a hazard that is an actual or potential cause or source of –
(a) serious harm, or
(b) harm (being harm that is more than trivial) the severity of whose effects on any person depend (entirely or among other things) on the extent or frequency of the person's exposure to the hazard.
(c) harm that does not usually occur, or usually is not easily detectable, until a significant time after exposure to the hazard.

Remember, hazards aren't just things like heavy machinery, or dangerous chemicals. A significant hazard in your workplace could be a workstation that is not set up in an ergonomically correct way, as it could potentially cause serious harm if not attended to.

There has been an accident in the office, when do you have to notify OSH?

When a serious harm injury occurs (see definition below) you must notify OSH as soon as possible and send an OSH completed serious harm form to your nearest OSH office within seven working days of the incident occurring. It is a good idea to have a written procedure in place outlining what is to happen in the case of serious harm occurring and who will take responsibility for notifying OSH.

What is "serious harm"?

The Health and Safety in Employment Act defines serious harm as:
1. Death
2. Any of the following that amounts to or results in permanent loss of bodily function, or temporary severe loss of bodily function: respiratory disease, noise induced hearing loss, neurological disease, cancer, dermatological disease, communicable disease, musculoskeletal disease, illness caused by exposure to infected material, decompression sickness, poisoning, vision impairment, chemical or hot metal burns of eye, penetrating would of eye, bone fracture, laceration, crushing
3. Amputation of body part
4. Burns requiring referral to a specialist registered medical practitioner or specialist out patient clinic.
5. Loss of consciousness from lack of oxygen
6. Loss of consciousness, or acute illness requiring treatment by a registered medical practitioner, from absorption, inhalation, or ingestion if any substance
7. Any harm that causes the harmed person to be hospitalised for a period of 48 hours or more, commencing within seven days of the harm's occurrence.

Health and safety considerations for offices

It is important to remember that health and safety standards don't just apply on a construction site or in a factory. Good health and safety practice is just as important in an office. Consider the following in relation to health and safety in your workplace:

• stress
• the behaviour of others
• persons under the influence of drugs or alcohol
• noise
• overcrowding
• toilets and hand-washing facilities
• making sure all staff are aware of the location of emergency exits and the emergency evacuation procedure and muster point
• first aid facilities
• safe lighting
• ventilation
• control of humidity, atmospheric conditions and temperature
• control or treatment of atmospheric contaminants
• sick-bay facilities
• clean drinking water
• general cleanliness of the workplace

Some health and safety suggestions to get you started…

• Appoint a health and safety officer in your workplace or in a larger business set up a health and safety committee.
• Undertake a hazard assessment and create a register of all the hazards in your workplace – identify, isolate, minimise.
• Create an accident register. This can be as simple as a register on your intranet or an exercise book kept by the health and safety officer. Note down when, where, what, who, how and why? Remember if the incident causes serious harm you will need to notify OSH.
• Create a training register to make sure any necessary licences or certificates are up to date.
  Include health and safety information in your induction kit and make sure that "re-inducted" on a yearly basis.
• Get emergency procedures and equipment in place. Make sure every one is clear about the evacuation procedures in your building – what to do in the case of an earthquake, fire, bomb threat.
• In the event of a natural disaster such as an earthquake it is important that you and your staff prepare the workplace. Keep an emergency supply of water stored in a cool dark place. Ask your staff to bring along some spare warm clothing, a small amount of food and any prescription medications they may be taking long term. Asking them to bring an old pair of walking shoes is also a good idea. Have them keep these items at work in the event of an earthquake. 

This is just a starting point. There are many more issues within the health and safety area, that you must comply with to avoid penalties. Experience shows that a small investment of time and money spent ensuring systems of compliance are in place by developing a code of practice, can save significantly in the long-run. In order to ensure that you are properly protected and that you meet the legal requirements you should seek the advice of employment law specialists. Please contact us at Barbara Buckett & Associates to discuss a tailor-made code of practice best suited to your needs.

Useful websites

www.acc.co.nz/injuryprevention/worksafety/smallbusiness

www.osh.dol.govt.nz (see codes of practice for hazard management and control)

You should also check out the handy stuff section of our website where there are links to useful Health and Saftey information.

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Disclaimer: This article is necessarily brief and general in nature. You should seek professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication. Please refer to our Legal Notices.

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