Proving Safety

Johno Tunnell is Senior Health and Safety Advisor with the National Wilding Conifer Control Programme team at Biosecurity New Zealand. There's nowhere he won't go to make sure every wilding warrior gets home safe!

Johno shared some food for thought after attending a roadshow Proving Safety, hosted by the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management (NZISM).

The road show was led by an acclaimed author and lawyer, Greg Smith who is a senior Occupational Health and Safety professional and has worked on the frontline in some of New Zealand's highest hazard industries.

"In other words, he knows what 'real life' looks like for safety professionals," says Johno.

Greg examined traditional views about evidencing, measuring, and demonstrating workplace health and safety and whether they are effective in demonstrating and measuring workplace health, safety, or legal compliance. Greg challenged the audience to think about alternative ways of thinking about safety measurement. Greg highlighted that Safety is a narrative not a number and metrics are not reliable indicators of a baseline.

Some key take home messages to think about:

• Critically think about your workplace health and safety initiatives, do they achieve the intended outcome? Do they contribute to a safety workplace?
• Explore ways to report on health and safety that gives meaningful insight into the efficacy of health and safety management.
• Understand if you have “proper” systems in place to manage risks.
• Ensure adequate supervision (i.e. systems of assurance) to know if your “proper” systems are implemented and effective