• Exposure and health monitoring
• Managing the risks of shift work
• Hand-arm and whole-body vibration
• Maintaining air quality in enclosed cabins
• New hazardous substances information for agrichemical retailers
• Updated guidance - service station compliance
• Carcinogen exposure and how social/psychosocial factors affect health and wellbeing at work
• Health and safety innovation by worker wanting to help others 
• Case study on preventing injuries from manual tasks  
• Heads up

A key way that we support businesses and workers to meet their obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) is through guidance. Our guidance should be a constant companion for those wanting to ensure they are protecting the health and safety of workers and others. This is a bumper issue for a wide range of new healthy work guidance including:

• exposure and health monitoring
• managing risks around shift work
• hand-arm and whole-body vibration
• maintaining air quality in enclosed cabins
• for agrichemical retailers focusing on hazardous substances.

Monitoring worker health and exposures can be used to effectively manage health risks to workers that arise from the work they do. The type of monitoring you need depends on the type of work.

Exposure monitoring measures and evaluates what workers are being exposed to while they are at work. Health monitoring looks at whether a worker’s health is being harmed because of what they are being exposed to while they are at work.

Exposure monitoring and health monitoring – guidance for businesses  

What to know about exposure monitoring and health monitoring – for small businesses 

What to know about exposure monitoring and health monitoring – for workers

The HASANZ Register is a one stop shop for businesses to find reliable, quality health and safety advice and services, including in exposure and health monitoring.

In collaboration with the Sleep/Wake Centre at Massey University, WorkSafe has produced new good practice guidelines for businesses on managing the risks of shift work.

Additional shift work guidelines for small businesses and for workers will be published later this year.

Repeated exposure to vibration from hand and power tools and while using vehicles and mobile plant can cause permanent injury to blood vessels, nerves and joints. See our new guidance for businesses and workers on hand-arm and whole-body vibration below.

Many work activities generate harmful dust, vapours, gases and debris that contaminate the air. These can enter the cabins of plant and trucks and circulate in the air. Particles may or may not be able to be seen.

When workers breathe, these contaminants are inhaled, and tiny particles can settle deep in their lungs. Plant and trucks operating in environments where there are dusts or vapours in the air may expose workers to health risks. Our new guidance explains some factors for businesses and workers to consider when managing risks from poor quality air in mobile plant cabins, fixed plant control rooms, and enclosed truck cabins.

We have produced a series of information sheets for rural supply retailers on the essentials of managing, handling and storing agrichemicals. Topics covered include inventories, safety data sheets, certified handlers, incompatible substances, signage, location compliance certificates, PPE and safety equipment, spills and spill kits, and tracking very hazardous substances.

We have also recently updated our guidance on keeping your service station compliant with the hazardous substances regulations. 

We currently have two surveys underway by two independent research companies. WorkSafe will use the results to help promote healthy and safe workplaces for all workers.

• A survey conducted by Research New Zealand aims to explore worker exposure to carcinogens in the workplace through a range of questions on workers' everyday experiences, on the job, across a range of specific industries and occupations. The main survey will start on 1 June and go until 23 July. 
• A psychosocial survey of workers on their experiences at work conducted by Colmar Brunton aims to understand how different social and psychological factors at work impact on people's health and wellbeing. This survey is underway and runs until 28 May.

A diagnosis of hand-arm vibration syndrome led an operator/trainer to be medically discharged from his job. Determined to find ways to prevent it happening to others, he developed a user-based device to monitor vibration and capture measurable data. This is now being trailled by multiple companies within New Zealand. Click below to read more about the development of the device and WorkSafe’s involvement.

Preventing injuries from manual tasks is challenging because many factors contribute to the injury risk. Christchurch high-tech company AuCom NZ taught workers to use their bodies better as they worked on the production line as a way of reducing the injury risk.

Watch this video to see more about the programme, which is helping to prevent injuries, improve wellbeing and boost productivity.

The video is part of a series to promote an ACC subsidy to help SMEs in construction and manufacturing gain access to qualified professionals from the health and safety disciplines through the HASANZ register. Find out more on the HASANZ website.  

Silica in Construction roadshow in July

The New Zealand Occupational Hygiene Society will be undertaking Silica in Construction roadshows for workers and businesses around the country in July to promote their Breathe Freely initiative. Breathe Freely is aimed at preventing work-related lung disease in workers and raising worker awareness of safe work practices to control exposures. In the meantime, check out the Breath Freely website.

Inaugural HealthRISK 1-day conference

If you feel comfortable dealing with safety in the workplace but are less sure about how to tackle health, Safeguard’s inaugural HealthRISK Conference might be of interest. The conference aims to provide tools to manage health in the workplace and to provide a better understanding of key health risks affecting New Zealand workers. The conference is on 6 July in person or remote. More information can be found on the Safeguard website. 

Safeguard National Health and Safety Conference

This year’s conference starts on 1 June and considers the role health and safety plays in not just ensuring workers survive, but that they also thrive and flourish. International keynote speakers will present via video link and there is a livestream option for delegates who wish to attend online. Visit the Safeguard website for more details. 

HASANZ Conference 2021 - registrations open

‘Sharing know how, growing how to’ is the theme of the HASANZ Conference 2021, which starts on 2 September at Te Papa in Wellington. Registration can be done on the HASANZ website.