How do you handle health and safety?

Q:What are you doing to change the health and safety culture in your business, following MBIE’s recent call to action?

Firm: Clarke Construction
Principal: Ant Clarke
Location: Blenheim
Staff: 8 carpenters, 2 apprentices

We’ve put a few new practices in place since MBIE’s focus on construction site safety began. It’s been especially important recently, since we’re doing quite a bit of commercial building lately, which requires a lot of work at height.

We’ve reduced the spacing between the roofing purlins to 400 mm apart – which provides reasonably secure foothold and fall protection – and also have platforms underneath the truss.

We’re discussing the safest way to carry out different jobs on a much more regular basis, and my guys seem to be responding well. Ensuring everyone is aware that health and safety is a priority, not an afterthought, is key.

We were actually audited by the Labour Group last week. They were very happy with what we were doing, and the changes we’ve made, and talking to them was very helpful.

I believe the most important aspect of health and safety is educating our staff as well as ourselves. There are a lot of courses available at the moment and having the guys attend these is worthwhile for both the knowledge and the confidence it builds.

Firm: Max McKenzie Ltd
Principal: Frazer MacKenzie
Location: Taumaranui
Staff: 3 carpenters, 2 apprentices

Our family business has been running for more than 20 years and we’ve always done our best to be health and safety conscious, by keeping up to date with regulations and maintaining contact with the Labour Group. Because we’re so far from the nearest large centre, it’s difficult to attend seminars, so I keep up to date through online and printed publications.

We also always try to meet and greet Labour group inspectors when they visit Taumaranui, although that is not very often.

Overall, I’ve always believed it’s better to be proactive rather than trying to catch up or getting caught out. It really helps that I’m a certified scaffolder; we always use scaffolding on our projects and I’m able to use pipe scaffolding for more awkward corners. We always use proper edge protection.

We have daily toolbox talks, which are becoming increasingly health and safety focused and I find the guys’ attitudes towards it are really improving. Each of our sites has a specific health and safety policy that we order from Site Safe, which also reminds everyone that it needs to be a going concern on site.

Firm: Dempsey Rick & Sue Ltd
Principal: Rick Dempsey
Location: Te Kuiti
Staff: 2 carpenters

We’re slowly getting educated and always trying to keep up with the game. I think it’s a good idea to put more focus on health and safety – sometimes it might seem a bit over the top but, then again, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of external safety training in Te Kuiti, so most of my learning about new regulations is done through internet research or by reading publications like Under Construction, which is great at keeping me up to date.

We’ve made a few changes on site; we’re definitely using scaffolding on a more regular basis and talking about the health and safety risks associated with different parts of the builds we’re doing.

I believe the biggest hazard onsite is often an individual’s lack of attention, so I only hire guys I think have a good head on their shoulders. I’m a firm believer in self-awareness – taking a moment to gauge the situation and determine the best way to carry out work only takes five minutes, but it could save your life.