HASANZ is successfully launched and now the work starts.Since my appointment as Chair of HASANZ in October I have taken the opportunityto visit every member organisation to find out their priorities for HASANZ inits first year. Pleasingly, there was broad agreement right across all ten ofour founding member organisations. This is what they told me:
·get a register established
·excellent and impactful input to legislation
·establish HASANZ as a respected organisation –put all the basics in place
·produce insightful communications which buildconfidence
·promulgate a minimum standard
·seek input to education and trainingdevelopment.
These priorities were endorsed by the Leadership Team at HASANZ’sfirst official meeting on 6 November. They provide a clear steer for our focusin HASANZ’s first year of operation.
We have agreed to do some big pieces of work:
·setting up HASANZ as a sustainable organisation,including forward resourcing
·developing a business plan for HASANZ and a workplan with tangible deliverables
·reaching outwards through effective stakeholderengagement and communications management, industry advocacy, promoting thehealth and safety professions, improving H&S education and training, andexploring how we can lift competence – this includes whether and how to set upa register of workplace H&S professionals
·thinking about future membership of HASANZincluding criteria for joining us.
I am impressed by the collaborative spirit of HASANZ intenton improving the workplace health and safety sector in New Zealand. Buildingbusiness confidence in the quality of advice and service that occupational healthand safety professionals deliver is most important to us. We will achieve thisin partnership with our key stakeholders, especially business leaders, todevelop sustainable, practical solutions.
Everything we do will serve our purpose of promotingexcellence in workplace health and safety practice.
Shenagh Gleisner