Worksafe Ramblings
29 September 2020
Subcontractor’s poor electrical work resulted in three workers suffering electric shock injuries at a Commercial Construction Site in Auckland.
Click here for background information to this event.
Marty’s Ramblings:
From a practical perspective we tend to rely on the professionals to do the right thing regardless of their profession. After all, that is what they are trained in, qualified in, and in a lot of cases are registered with and vetted by a professional body as being competent.
The scenario in this case is quite typical on a construction site and I can understand both Worksafe and the Court’s position on this.
The question though is how do we prevent this from happening? Can we rely on the professional standing of our subbies to do the right thing and not inadvertently place other workers at risk? As a main contractor, who has arguably the most control and influence on a construction site, what can and should they do in a situation like this?
I think we can all appreciate that there is no single simple answer, rather, there are lots of things that can be done. For instance, we still note a lot of mid size construction firms and smaller do not vet their subbies prior to using them. This is arguably the best starting point to not only understand the competency of your subbies but also to create the evidence to support you in making sure you have done what is reasonably practicable.
Vetting your subbies doesn’t need to be difficult, tricky or expensive. We do it on behalf of a lot of our clients and we take the approach that there is no need to reinvent the wheel every time. For instance, if a subbie has Sitewise at a green level or another prequalification, why ask for a lot of additional information which is just regurgitation. Our focus literally shifts to the practical way they intent to manage the up and coming job risk.
30 September 2020
Four Farm Fatalities for September all of which are going through the investigation phase. Two involved tractors in Te Kuiti and Hastings, another involved a child in a dairy shed in Opotiki, and the fourth was a quad bike rollover in Central Hawke’s Bay.
Click here for background information to these events.
Marty’s Ramblings:
Worksafe shared information relating to 4 farming fatalities, all of which are going through the investigation phase. The logic of sharing these with the wider public now is because lessons can be taken straight away and applied to all industries. These lessons include:
Having the right gear and expertise for the job: just because someone has done a job a particular way for the last 20 years doesn’t make it the best way to do it. Also, with the challenging financial times due to Covid 19, we may end up doing more ourselves as opposed to using skilled contractors. We may not have the same type of gear or expertise as our contractors which can and sadly does lead to injuries and breakages.
Understanding how a change in seasons changes the risks: rather obvious I know however, I rarely see this come in construction SSSP’s (site specific safety plans). Did you know there have been over 12 deaths in NZ from tornados in the last 20 years? If nothing else it is worth having the discussion with your team about how weather and seasons impact your business.
Ongoing risk awareness: business is all about managing risk. The better we manage it and in most cases the more money we make. Business owners asses risk nonstop, day in day out as it’s in their best interest to do so. If they don’t, they’re the ones who will be awake at 2am stressing out. As a business owner, tick that, I have the t-shirt. With hindsight, I probably didn’t need to have all that stress if only I had been smart and involved my team earlier in managing ongoing risks. Let’s face it, most employees do care about their bosses and do care about the business. Why else would someone invest 40 + hours every week into it? Your employees are quite frankly the best people to help you manage ongoing risks.