The establishment and maintenance of health and safety compliance in any business or undertaking for the purposes of beginning to reduce that business or undertaking's contribution in any civil matter is typically the focus of most businesses.
This approach leads to big money for lawyers and the courts but does nothing to actually achieve real health and safety management and worker engagement.
Authorities generally seek to determine what the company and its officers did, or did not do, which led to the breaches of the law that led to the horror of the health and safety accident or incident.
Contribution is generally based on the actions or inactions of workers, officers and managers, and the company itself.
The higher the contribution, the higher the fine, fee, or penalty subsequent for each breach.
There are a number of topics and law to consider when genuinely beginning or engaging workers in health and safety:
This is only a beginning.
Short answer: Get assistance from outside your organisation.
Why? Because if the culture is to say they do health and safety and you still feel unsafe, it is likely that this organisation is not genuinely doing health and safety in a way that will prevent injury and illness.
What is often missed from the health and safety responsibilities of all parties is the regulations. The regulation suite is significant and features a number of important rights and responsibilities.
For example, workers should consider the Health and Safety at Work (Worker Engagement, Participation, and Representation) Regulations 2016 and the Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 to begin with.
It is very likely that the policies of many employers, incorporated societies, companies, and other organisations may not actually conform with these regulations.
Given that these regulations must be complied with, Working for Workers is repeatedly involved in cases where they are not. If the organisation only has policies and no controls in place, they have likely already failed in their obligation to protect workers, the public, stakeholders, contractors, and customers.
A shining example of where procedure and paper policies ended in the death of a worker is the most recent incident at the Ports of Auckland where a worker was crushed by a shipping container and killed.
The father of seven was a stevedore who had only worked for Ports of Auckland for a couple of months.
Two weeks before this incident, the same policies in place at the port had led to the port company being fined after the Ports of Auckland admitted a health and safety charge at the Auckland District Court following the death of 23-year-old Laboom Midnight Dyer two years earlier.
Summary: Two deaths, same workplace, same Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU).
No father for seven children. Heartbreak for families. Employer repeated the mistakes and didn't have the right controls in place to protect workers.
Had the workers organised and refused to work under those conditions by citing the regulations, then this may not have happened.
There are over five hundred and fifty-six cases (556) that demonstrate that not taking health and safety seriously can lead to death or serious injury of workers as of the 1st of November 2023.
The most recent being: Whakaari/White Island trial: Whakaari Management convicted of one health and safety charge relating to fatal eruption
What is deeply concerning is that this number is set to rise unless workers speak out, as the number of WorkSafe New Zealand (WorkSafe) inspectors is on the decline. Employers are likely spending good money on lobbying to reduce these inspectors.
However, if workers want to raise concerns then the first step is to raise a protected disclosure to ensure that the worker's job is protected when raising any health and safety matter.
If you or someone you know is considering raising a health and safety matter, or is ending employment because of health and safety and does not have a representative, then any delay in seeking the right advice can hurt any chances when it comes to any future process.
Working for Workers is happy to assist in engaging in raising health and safety matters pursuant to your employment.
Working for Workers understands that it is hard to trust anyone when it comes to ending your employment.
Often, the experience of raising matters of health and safety and trying to resolve matters can be stressful and you often feel alone without representation.
Working for Workers advocates and representatives have the skills and expertise to help you out and restore balance to the situation.
No matter how bleak or difficult it seems, there are ways and means of getting your rights observed and your position protected in an early resolution process.
Please contact us today to discuss the matter and start turning things around for you.
Contact us today