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In this issue we cover:
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- Musculoskeletal disorders
- Manage manual handling risks with ACC risk reckoner tool
- New good practice guidelines on the manual handling of people in the healthcare industry
- Government's Health and Safety at Work Strategy development emphasises health
- Raising awareness about the health risks of noise in the workplace
- Health effects from psychosocial risks
- Bullying toolkit to help businesses and workers
- Pink Shirt Day
- Fatigue prosecution highlights work-related health issue
- Impact on worker health as we head into winter
- Hazardous substances training requirements
- HASANZ conference programme released
- HASANZ register gets ready to launch
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Musculoskeletal disorders
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Lifting, carrying, pushing or pulling heavy loads incorrectly can result in serious injuries to workers in many different sectors.
For example, did you know that one in every five farm incidents arise from a manual handling task?
Unsafe handling practices can lead to several problems, including:
- serious back injuries
- musculoskeletal disorders, including occupational overuse syndrome
- acute injuries like muscle or tendon sprains and strains, and lower back pain
- abdominal hernias
- injuries from slips, trips and falls.
Businesses must eliminate or minimise manual handling risks in the workplace by:
- training workers in correct techniques
- designing or re-designing the workplace
- using lifting aids where possible.
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Good practice guidelines on the manual handling of people in healthcare
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We have published new good practice guidelines (GPG) for the moving and handling of people in healthcare.
Healthcare workers have one of the highest rates of musculoskeletal disorders among all occupational groups.
The moving and handling people in the healthcare industry GPG is aimed at healthcare and social services businesses and organisations. It clarifies their duties under health and safety legislation and provides advice on building and maintaining robust moving and handling systems as part of their larger health and safety management systems.
Moving and handling programmes significantly reduce the rates of injury resulting from client moving and handling, as well as the associated costs. Each facility needs to develop its own programme for all workers involved in moving and handling people.
ACC intends to follow our GPG with worker-focused practice advice.
We will move on to guidance for businesses in three other key healthcare risk areas – violence, manual handling, and slips, trips, and falls.
Keep an eye out in work-related health updates for future news about healthcare health and safety.
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Government Health and Safety at Work Strategy development emphasises health
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Consultation on the Government’s Health and Safety at Work Strategy ended earlier this month. Thanks to those of you who made a submission.
The Strategy will look at how best to reduce all types of significant harm at work. This means broadening the focus from acute harm to better managing wider work-related health risks.
These include work stress, sexual harassment, bullying, fatigue and increased workplace expectations.
While work can be good for health, and health can be good for work, workers can become unwell or develop poor health from their work environment.
The burden on workers, their families and the wider economy from work-related ill-health far outweighs the burden from work-related injuries. Work-related health is a huge challenge: biological, chemical, and physical risks contribute to an estimated 600-900 work-related health deaths each year.
Work is beginning on the analysis of submissions on the Health and Safety at Work Strategy. The submissions will be used to inform advice to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety on the final Strategy, which is expected to be released later this year.
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Raising awareness about the health risks of noise at work
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Our strategic plan for work-related health maps out our activities and outcomes by 2026 to meet our vision to get everybody home from work healthy and safe.
The next work-related health risk we will focus on is noise at work.
Approximately 30% of New Zealand workers are exposed to loud noise at work at least a quarter of the time, and approximately 80% of those are male. Many are production workers in primary industries such as construction, manufacturing and some transport and service sectors.
Loud machines and work tools can cause harm to workers’ hearing. Hearing loss can also result from sudden loud noises, heavy loads being dropped, or heavy hammering. These types of noises are referred to as ‘impact’ noises and if loud enough, can cause immediate, permanent damage.
If you or your workers are working within a metre of someone and you have to shout to be heard, then it’s likely that the noise level is excessive.
We will have more on noise and our new toolkit to help manage its risks very soon. In the meantime, check out what our Use Your Mouth commentators have to say about noise.
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Health effects from psychosocial risks
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The growing awareness of the harm from psychosocial risks such as work stress, bullying and harassment reflects a global trend.
The Government’s inquiry into mental health and addiction is looking into unmet needs to develop recommendations for a better mental health and addiction system for New Zealand.
We have contributed our thinking to the inquiry as the effects of psychosocial harm on work can lead to poorer health and safety outcomes. The inquiry is due to report back to Government towards the end of the year.
Read our Safeguard article on the importance of protecting mental health at work.
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Bullying toolkit to help businesses and workers
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There has been a lot of media coverage recently about workplace bullying.
No one should be made to feel threatened, fearful or unsafe at work.
We define workplace bullying as repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers that can lead to physical or psychological harm. We support businesses and workers dealing with workplace bullying concerns through our bullying prevention toolkit.
Rather than being the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, we want to help employers to create a positive workplace culture. Every workplace needs to minimise the likelihood of bullying and have processes in place to deal with it if it happens.
Since our Use Your Mouth campaign began in April, our bullying video has been viewed more than 100,000 times, surpassing some of the other videos which have been viewed around 10,000 times.
This is a great result! You can check out the video on our website.
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Fatigue prosecution highlights work-related health issue
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The death of a tractor driver who had worked nearly 200 hours in the fortnight before his death at work is an extreme example of the risk of fatigue.
We recently prosecuted the tractor driver’s employer - an agricultural contracting company - for failing to ensure the health and safety of its worker in an incident in which fatigue was a factor and resulted in his death.
Fatigue is a state of physical and/or mental exhaustion that can reduce a person’s ability to perform work safely and effectively. Fatigue reduces alertness and this can lead to errors, and an increase in workplace incidents and injuries.
To work safely, workers need to be physically and mentally alert. Both businesses and workers have a responsibility to manage fatigue at work.
Seasonal work such as harvesting puts a lot of pressure on everybody, so managing the risk is essential. The life, health and wellbeing of workers must be top priority.
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Hazardous substances training requirements
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The new hazardous substances training requirements came into effect on 1 June. This means that from now on businesses must ensure every worker who uses, handles, manufactures, or stores a hazardous substance (including hazardous waste) receives appropriate information, training and instruction on hazardous substances they use.
They must also be aware of procedures and practices for the safe handling of those substances.
Note also that businesses must now keep a record of training and instruction provided and make sure that this record is available.
If you want more information check out our quick guide on hazardous substances training requirements.
The new training requirements follow the new hazardous substances regulations which came into force on 1 December last year.
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HASANZ conference programme released
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The Health and Safety Association of New Zealand has just released its conference programme for this year.
The conference is on 5 - 7 September and is for everyone with an interest in workplace health and safety looking for practical tips and tools, in addition to insights from health and safety sector experts.
International keynote speakers include:
- Dr John Green, Safety II expert and Director HSE for the Battersea Power Station Development
- Geoff McDonald, mental health champion and former Global Vice President HR Unilever
If you register before 30 June, you will qualify for the early bird rate.
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HASANZ register gets ready to launch
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The HASANZ Register of workplace health and safety professionals opens for business next month on 27 July.
It’s a one stop shop for businesses to find reliable, quality health and safety professional advice and services.
The HASANZ Register is business-centred so you can search for professionals to provide solutions to the problems you need help with – everything from asbestos disposal and noise monitoring to developing health and safety systems and policies.
And it's free to use!
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