Free safety seminar and workshops a must for businesses and contractors

The award-winning ‘Safety NetWorx’ programme, a series of free health and safety seminars and workshops featuring top industry experts, is being held at Taupō’s Owen Delany Park on 27 March from 9.00am. Business owners, employees and contractors are urged to take advantage of this free initiative.

The free seminars and workshops are part of a series run by local authorities in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Gisborne areas, ACC and the Department of Labour. The focus of the series is to pool resources to provide useful information to businesses, contractors and the community in relation to health, safety and well-being.

The Safety NetWorx programme was initiated by a concerned group of health and safety professionals from the organisations mentioned. It was one of three finalists for the 3M Award for Innovation in Health & Safety at the National Occupational Health and Safety Awards in October last year.

TDC Health and Safety Advisor, Ian Stretton, says the event is a must for business owners and employees dealing with health and safety or HR, and contractors, especially those who regularly, or intend to, work for Council. “We have run these courses for a few years, and they are always full of great advice and practical information. Contractors especially need to ensure their health and safety practices are up to scratch as they are themselves principals and are also accountable to principals.”

Managing Director and co-founder of the New Zealand Drug Detection Agency (NZDDA), Kirk Hardy, will present a seminar on Alcohol and Drugs in the workplace and his afternoon workshop will cover “How to Manage Drug and Alcohol Risks in the Workplace”. Kirk has been involved in the implementation and development of drug and alcohol testing policies throughout New Zealand’s workplaces covering a wide and varied selection of industry types from small companies to large corporate clients.

Independent health and safety investigator and previous national health and safety manager for a large multinational corporation, Pat Kirk, will be looking at investigating the causes of workplace incidents and how to not get side-tracked by the symptoms. His afternoon workshop will look at the basics of workplace incident investigation.

ACC’s Miranda Clark will take a seminar on understanding ACC and how businesses can reduce their ACC levies. The afternoon workshop will focus further on ACC levy discounts and is aimed at businesses with more than 10 employees that are entered in, or considering entering the Workplace Safety Management Programme (WSMP).

The morning seminars run from 9.00am to 12.00pm and are conference style 45 minute presentations including questions and answers. The afternoon series of workshops run from 1.00-4.00pm and attendees must select which one they would like to attend upon registration.

For more information to these free seminars and to register please email SafetyCulture@acc.co.nz. Anyone not able to attend the Taupō session can attend Rotorua on 28 March, Tauranga on 29 March or Gisborne on 30 March.