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Something for everyone

HASANZ CONFERENCE 2021 is shaping up to be another outstanding event. There’s something for everyone. The conference committee has just selected the presenters for our 18 concurrent sessions, choosing from more than 50 submissions. Topics range from mitigating workplace fatigue to engaging effectively with boards and executives on health and safety issues. Case studies cover how to apply prevention through design principles and assess musculoskeletal injury risk. You’ll take away loads of pr...

Showcasing the value of our professions

Why use a health and safety professional? What kind of adviser do I need? This year HASANZ is focused on answering these common questions from business owners. We’re actively showcasing the value of our professions; raising awareness among businesses of the specialist capabilities across all of the disciplines that make up HASANZ so there is better understanding of “who we are and what we do”. To assist this, HASANZ has commissioned market research in March to help measure the level of bus...

It wouldn't have happened without HASANZ

“It wouldn’t have happened without HASANZ” is the start of our annual report for 2019/20 and the conclusion reached by many of our supporters and partners. The HASANZ Year in Review 2019/20 highlights what the collective associations of HASANZ can achieve: The HASANZ New Zealand Health and Safety Workforce Pipeline Report, providing comprehensive evidence of capacity and capability gaps over the next ten yearsMore than 40 HASANZ Scholarships awarded to date – applications for Scholarship...

One sure thing

Businesswise, we know that COVID-19 has impacted on health and safety professionals in different ways. Some are extremely busy, while work has all but dried up for others. One thing is for sure – the pandemic has focused attention on the importance of managing workplace health and safety. It’s timely to remind businesses that the HASANZ Register is the place to find qualified health and safety advisers and the help they need to meet Alert Level 2 requirements, as well as point people to the ...

Announcing HASANZ CONFERENCE 2020 keynote speakers

Check out the outstanding line-up of keynote speakers for HASANZ CONFERENCE 2020!  We’re very fortunate to have brought together such a wealth of knowledge and talent – a number of speakers are presenting in New Zealand for the first time. Our keynotes have wide appeal to both health and safety professionals and businesses, covering topics as diverse as Safety II in practice, building a bicultural approach to health and safety, and psychological first aid. This conference about “shari...

Focus areas for workforce development

The HASANZ Health and Safety Workforce Pipeline Report “Building the Professions” identifies capability and capacity gaps across seven disciplines and provides recommendations for positive change. A key finding is that at least another 2,100 health and safety professionals will be required over the next 10 years in New Zealand. A priority for HASANZ is to co-design and co-ordinate a cross-sector, multi-year programme of work to address the issues highlighted by the Report. With this aim in ...

The power of more than one

HASANZ has formed a strategic partnership with law firm Duncan Cotterill in the pursuit of making New Zealand’s workplaces healthier and safer. This alliance creates opportunities for both organisations to undertake joint activities and promote thought leadership in the health and safety space. It will help extend HASANZ’s reach into the legal and insurance sectors. It works both ways. HASANZ’s independence and broad membership across health and safety disciplines provides access to a deep...

And there's more!

This year HASANZ is gearing up for another Year of Delivery (with apologies to the PM for any perceived plagiarism), following last year’s roll out of the HASANZ Register, the HASANZ Scholarship Programme and HASANZ CONFERENCE 2018. There’s more to come!  We will continue building the value of the HASANZ Register and the Scholarship Programme and we’ll also help increase the capacity and capability of New Zealand’s health and safety workforce by: growing career pathways building edu...

Falling short

Access to an adequate supply of qualified health and safety advisers is critical for the effective management of work-related health and safety risks by businesses. New Zealand requires a variety of competent and capable professional health and safety support. At the moment we’re falling short. HASANZ is acting now to help address capability and capacity gaps in New Zealand’s professional health and safety workforce. Initiatives include: HASANZ Scholarships for tertiary qualifications in wor...

Jump at the chance!

Over the years you may have been thinking of building on your skills and knowledge in workplace health and safety but never got around to it. Our new HASANZ Scholarship Programme gives you the chance to do it. Applications are open now to people already working in health and safety to study for a relevant degree or diploma with HASANZ’s help. There’s $250,000 in the scholarship fund – thanks to our generous inaugural sponsors – and we’re ready to award a number of scholarships for stud...

HASANZ's triple star

This is an exciting time for HASANZ as we see three star projects come to fruition. The HASANZ Register opens for business on 27 July.  Its launch is the culmination of a huge effort by our member associations who have worked collectively to develop robust registration standards that everyone who lists on the Register must meet. Increasingly, businesses will look for the HASANZ Registered quality mark when choosing a qualified health and safety adviser to meet their needs. Our thanks go to ...

What's holding you back?

The HASANZ Register opens for business on 27 July. This marks an important milestone in lifting professional standards across the health and safety sector. My view is that, as a business owner or chief executive, I would expect to be able to engage a workplace health and safety professional, in the same way that I would engage a lawyer, accountant or engineer for their expertise. Increasingly, people will be looking for the HASANZ Registered quality mark on credentials. The HASANZ Register will ...

Work undone

In my farewell blog as HASANZ Chair I want to look to the future and a task that is waiting to be done. The development of the HASANZ Register of health and safety professionals will have a powerful impact on growing the capability of the workplace health and safety workforce. However, increasing the capacity and capability of the workforce to meet future demand requires a whole of sector, integrated approach. This needs to be underpinned by a comprehensive workforce development strategy. B...

Be on to win!

The HASANZ Register for Health and Safety Professionals opens for listings mid-December following rigorous testing. This is a first for New Zealand and offers a unique opportunity to promote your services to a wider market. Of course, health and safety professionals have to meet the registration standards set by their HASANZ member organisation. Check these out on your association’s website! The Register is a marketing tool to help people find you. Being listed on the Register makes you more...

Raising the bar

HASANZ’s Annual Report for the year ending 31 March 2017 is out now, including a centrespread of photos from our first conference – see who you can spot!  HASANZ’s performance for the year is best summed up as raising the bar for professional standards in New Zealand. We really stepped up. Highlights of the year included: Full Membership of HASANZ gained by NZISM, OTNZ-WNA, NZOHNA, HFESNZ and NZOHS, each meeting stringent criteria. On 28 July they were joined by PNZ (Occupational He...

Let's talk about this

Safeguard's second annual State of the Nation survey unearthed a very interesting finding. Despite hitting a double digit increase in the number of people who believe health and safety is taken seriously in the workplace, the survey hit a downer when it came to rating confidence in the competence of health and safety professionals. Health and safety practitioners themselves were least confident in the competence of their peers. Out of the three groups of respondents surveyed, 55% of them ha...

"Absolutely Covello!"

The best keynote speaker was Dr Vincent Covello – I could have listened to him for two days!! Dr Vincent Covello is the director of the Centre for Risk Communication in New York City. A standout favourite speaker at our conference, HASANZ is bringing Dr Covello back to New Zealand to run two workshops in late March. I hope you have your name down for one of them and make this your CPD priority this year! We all know the importance of Continuing Professional Development to maintain our c...

Collaboration trumps competition

With the success of the first HASANZ Conference behind us, our focus is on two key goals: Growing the capability of the workplace health and safety sector. Ensuring the sustainability of HASANZ as an organisation. Achieving them requires us to work together as part of a broader, multidisciplinary professionals' network, influencing and shaping health and safety performance. Increasingly, collaboration will trump competition. Clients will be looking for health and safety professionals with...

It's our time!

HASANZ CONFERENCE 2016 is looming large and registrations are streaming in. For me, this is much more than an event – it's a milestone in building a community of practice among workplace health and safety professionals in New Zealand. The conference will be a buzzing marketplace for the exchange of ideas, knowledge and, I expect, more than a few good laughs. Discussion and debate will be at the forefront of two full days of stimulating inspiration in the coolest little capital in the world. ...

Conference programme out now

It's professional development time! The programme for HASANZ CONFERENCE 2016 is out now and promises to be an outstanding opportunity for you to upskill and increase your knowledge as our new workplace health and safety regime demands. You will leave the conference more informed and prepared to make a difference as a health and safety professional in this new order. I'm aware that there are lots of calls on the CPD dollar. And I'm confident that attendance at HASANZ CONFERENCE 2016 is a good...

A new way of thinking

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) calls for a new way of thinking about health and safety where everybody in a workplace shares responsibility for making sure people get home healthy and safe. There's been a lot of noise and a degree of scaremongering in the market, accompanying the HSWA's arrival. It's timely to take a deep breath and look at what the new law actually requires. In most cases, businesses will be able to meet their responsibilities by taking some simple steps like review...

The year of change

This is the year of change. The new Health and Safety at Work Act comes into force on 4 April and will radically alter the landscape we work in. I believe it gives us the opportunity to redefine the role of workplace health and safety professionals. I see the role of the new health and safety professional as having four key facets: Leadership on health and safety matters Responsibility for building effective health and safety systems and processes Building the capability of staff to ...

Everbody's talking about it

Everyone's talking about health and safety. It's a good conversation to have because, with the advent of the Health and Safety at Work Act, it's imperative that everyone is ready for the new regime. One of the biggest benefits of the new legislation is that is has raised awareness of the need to change New Zealanders' thinking about how to make work safe and healthy. The key message is that everyone has a part to play. That applies at every level in a business – from the Board to the boss t...

A turning point

The passing of the Health and Safety Reform Bill by Parliament on 29 August heralds a new era in New Zealand. There is a lot about this legislation that we can celebrate including stronger leadership expectations through due diligence requirements of officers, clear accountability, greater collaboration required between those in control of workplaces, worker participation and personal responsibility. In addition, there are stronger penalties to keep people focused on how important workplace heal...

New HASANZ Chair appointed

Craig Smith has been appointed Independent Chair of HASANZ, replacing Shenagh Gleisner who has completed her term as Establishment Chair. Craig is well known in the sector as he headed the secretariat for the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety.He assisted with the establishment of WorkSafe NZ and, most recently, has been working with WorkSafe on its approach to its role as regulator. "Over the past three years, I have focused on developing initiatives to reduce workplac...