Health & Safety Risk

“Arms work best when attached to the body”

On average, every week in New Zealand, 1 person dies at work and 15 people die from work-related diseases (such as Asbestos related cancers). These figures are about twice as bad as those in Australia and three times the rate in the United Kingdom. Workplace accidents and illnesses cost the NZ economy about $3.5 billion each year.
But perhaps more importantly 16 loved ones don’t go home each week and together we must do better.

Section 44 of the Health & Safety at Work Act 2016 requires businesses and the people that manage them to exercise proper due diligence including an assessment of all risks and hazards associated with business operations. A business must take all “reasonably practicable” steps to make sure that people are kept safe in the workplace, including:

• The likelihood of a particular risk or hazard occurring;
• The degree of harm that might result from that risk or
  hazard and;
• What you know or should know about the hazard or risk and how it might be eliminated or minimized.

Introducing the OMNI HEALTH & SAFETY RISK ASSESSMENTS,
risk assessments designed to determine any threats or risks that might arise from:

• A history of Enforcement Action against a business.
• No Health & Safety Policies that demonstrate a commitment to keeping people safe in the workplace, or clearly set out responsibilities of both
  the employer and employees.
• Poor Hazard Management procedures for such issues as drug and alcohol use, emergency procedures or the control of visitors to the
  workplace.
• Poor Accident Management procedures. For example, the business might only keep a record of all serious accidents, however, near misses and
  near hits also have the potential to make a serious impact.
• Failure to implement effective Health & Safety Communications. Does the business “have compliance on paper or compliance in practice?”.
  The difference is an effective communication policy.
• Poor Health & Safety Training Systems. Are people competent to undertake all tasks and operations, particularly those that involve risk or potential hazard? Does the business have an induction training process for new employees?
• No Safe Work Process or Procedure, such as a Safe Work Method Statement, for tasks involving risk or potential hazard such as working from heights, hazardous substances, remote or isolated work, working with asbestos etc.
• Sub-standard procedures for the use and maintenance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and Plant, Equipment and Machinery. Does the business have an effective system of ensuring that sub-contractors are health & safety compliant?

What will the Omni Report tell me?

• A percentage (%) rating of all health & safety documents such as the Health & Safety Policy, Hazard and Accident Registers, Safe Work Processes, emergency procedures etc.
• A record of any health & safety procedures that have not been implement or are non-compliant in some way.
• A Total Risk score for all risks and hazards identified in the assessment calculated from the likelihood and impact of each of those risks and hazards. The score is reported in a risk matrix (using the ISO 31000 format).
• Individual matrices for each of the areas of risk that have been assessed namely, Enforcement History Risk, Health & Safety Policy Compliance, Health & Safety Communications Compliance, Hazard Management Compliance, Accident/Incident Management Compliance, Health & Safety Training Compliance and Risk Management Compliance.
• Recommendations for the improvement of all non- compliant or sub-standard workplace processes and procedures.

What are the advantages of completing an Omni Health & Safety risk Assessment?

• An independent verification of a commitment to health and safety.
• An independent verification of an ability to work safely.
• A verified assessment will assist in obtaining new contracts and sub-contracts.
• Demonstrate to employees, sub-contractors and clients that you are concerned about safety in the workplace.
• One assessment for multiple principals or clients means less compliance cost for the sub-contractor.
• One objective and standardized assessment process means less compliance cost for a principal contractor.

What is unique about the Omni Risk Assessment methodology?

All risk assessments adopt the same unique Omni methodology that ensures that assessments are both comprehensive and objective:

• Firstly, what are the risks and hazards that have been identified by the assessment?
• Secondly, is a particular health & safety system used by the business?
• Next, can the business provide evidence that a particular health & safety system is documented, complied with and fully understood by all those involved?
• And finally, does the business have any history of non-compliance and, if so, the seriousness of that non-compliance and, if so, the seriousness of that non-compliance?

What is the cost of Omni Risk Assessments?

H&S Risk assessment – there are three components:

• The online risk assessment – $595
• Verification of documents by a highly qualified auditor – $200 – Optional but recommended
• Should you require it we can help you complete the assessment and upload your documents by video conference our cost – $300 – optional