Build a Strong Safety System with SafetyPack

I’m Simon Lawrence, Director of SafetyPro Limited.

With a little help and guidance, SafetyPack will take you along the road map to your safety objectives.

How does SafetyPack work? This is the process: An experienced safety expert interviews you and acquires knowledge about your current system and how you manage your risks. Gaps and remedies will be reported against an agreed model or standard that represents your aims. Our service ranges from providing a simple gap report, to detailed recommendations and usable tools. You can choose any of the four packages below or you can mix and match. Just say which combination you think is best for you. Discuss options at 0800 000 267 or  E-mail

To reach your safety system objective, SafetyPack has a sensible sequence of steps, tailored thoughtfully for your business, without discarding the things that may already be working for you.

Why individually tailored systems? Because all organisations are different. Our experience with a range of business activities and our understanding of health and safety means we understand why relevance is important.

Designing safety systems, guiding implementation teams, auditing safety systems, getting businesses out of tight spots is our core business. This ensures you will get tangible results.

Name of SafetyPack version	Included services	Indicative price for 1 – 50 employees	Indicative price for 50-100 employees	Comment
No frills version	Gaps identified on checklist Unlimited phone/email support four months	$600 – $960	$960 – $1540	Choose this if you just need a tune-up and access to expert help.
Compact version	Gaps identified on checklist Unlimited phone/email support four months, plus Detailed recommendations to reach your chosen standard Tailored Implementation Plan	$1080 – $1730	$1080 – $2770	As above, plus detailed recommendations and prioritised action plan
Team version	Gaps identified on checklist Unlimited phone/email support four months Detailed recommendations to reach your chosen standard Tailored Implementation Plan, plus Four x Monthly Implementation Mentoring Meetings (by video)	$1800 – $2880	$2880 – $4610	As above plus mentoring, problem solving and guidance at monthly video meetings.
Platform version	Gaps identified on checklist Detailed recommendations to reach your chosen standard Tailored Implementation Plan Unlimited phone/email support, plus Customisable version of SafetyBase safety management system Four hours complimentary software customisation of your choice Straightforward document-based systems are an option if preferred	No gap assessment fee!   $2250 flat fee SafetyBase Set Up Monthly SafetyBase subscription, $750 flat fee	No gap assessment fee!   $2250 – $4500 SafetyBase Set Up  Monthly Safetybase subscription, $750 – $1500	As above plus package fee with SafetyBase Enterprise Edition. Have data collected and processed just the way you want!

Request a Quote

Simon Lawrence, Director, SafetyPro Limited

0800 000 267

E-mail me

SafetyBase Home Page

 

 

In at the Deep End

It’s not much fun finding yourself under pressure with your safety, due to some new initiative or negative event. For example, you’ve been cruising along, doing alright with safety for years because you know the basics. But suddenly, a nasty accident happens or you have to demonstrate compliance and the pressure is on. Or maybe there was something that was already foreshadowed, like getting audited one day. And now, the chickens have come home to roost.

You don’t have the time to spend on it, and even if you did, it’s going to take you 10 times longer than it should, because you’ll need to acquire a whole new layer of knowledge. But a bit of safety advice could be very helpful.

The four most frequent “crisis” issues people ask for are listed below. These are scenarios regularly encountered by health and safety consultants. And they are all problems that can be resolved simply and efficiently.

There’s no magic wand, because the process always requires smart actions and a bit of work. But it’s far less scary if you have someone who has been there before and also has a plan that works.

Here are the most frequent types of issue:

1. Worksafe has inspected you or investigated an incident. They may have: required improvements by a specified date; threatened or actually issued an Infringement Notice; worst of all, they may be considering or in the process of, prosecuting you or your business. What you do next is critically important.
2. A big client has once more requested you to send them your “Safety Plan”. Before contract renewal. That’s code for “This time we really mean it”. It’s the way things are done these days. But you need to know what game is being played. And you need to play it too. But you can do it with integrity.
3. Head Office wants a safety audit and your “system” is full of holes. In fact, that big dusty manual has gone missing too. Not the end of the world. First of all, the thicker a manual is, the less practical use it is. Secondly, we will get you going with simple, meaningful stuff. In fact, you are probably already doing some useful things. Before you know it, you are ready for audit.
4. Your safety person moved on and nobody really knew what they used to do. Then, someone found out that unfortunately, the safety person didn’t know what they were doing either. So they had been winging it for a few years. Time to get back to basics. Together, we straighten out the big things first, then the rest falls back into place.
5. There’s a new manager who says you need to implement a Safety Management System. And you agree. Of course. Now what? Big dark tunnel. But we have headlights and a vehicle to get you to the other end. And the experience to remove obstacles.

The good news is, all of these situations are far simpler than they appear. And you are perfectly capable of doing the things you need to do. But you just need to know what those things are, in which order to do them, and to be able to navigate past the inevitable obstacles. For example, you have no idea how to assess (say) a chemical hazard and how to decide what control measures are needed; or safety meetings spend a whole hour talking about why things can’t be done. Because analysing is more fun than actually doing something.

It’s at times like these an experienced outsider can make a big difference.

So here’s a typical list of the sort of steps involved:

1. We find out what YOU want as the end result. (This sounds obvious, but some consultants like to use stock solutions).
2. We identify the obstacles and time-frames you have. Also, what you are currently doing/have not been doing.
3. We identify a broad approach and timing that everybody can live with.
4. Once that’s done, you will get a simple documented Implementation Plan that’s prioritised, with basic building blocks first and details last. Like building a house.
5. You assemble a small internal Implementation Team that will meet at an agreed frequency to work through the Plan in bite-sized pieces. The Team will include our help to keep the Team focused and solve problems as they arise. Although we don’t chair meetings, we can use a reset button if things bog down.
6. We provide “hands-on” horsepower if appropriate. For example, if you are implementing a safety management system, it’s often useful for us to assist in getting the Hazard/Risk Register developed. And if that means walking around and looking at stuff, we do that, to get it started.
7. Unlimited email and telephone support for the duration of the project.
8. It’s a good idea to finish off with a quick confirmation check, just to make sure it’s all hanging together.

If you would like a chat, call 0800 000 267

E-mail me

SafetyBase Home Page

Safety Advice – Planning and Review

This is the stuff you do AFTER you have put your safety management system in place. Because it’s what avoids the manual getting dusty or the safety person wandering off-grid. Accounting systems are audited. And safety systems are no different.

So systems need to be kept fresh by a process of continuous review and improvement. Often, this means some form of audit will be undertaken periodically. And internal audits play a part. Because the internal auditor(s) already know their own organisation in depth. On the other hand, they may also be more likely to make exceptions or turn a blind eye.

External experts may lack local knowledge but are perhaps more likely to apply a fresh approach and provide creative safety advice. There is, however, a role for both internal and external audits.

Either way, the system itself needs life breathed into it. Because it has to be seen as a useful and reliable tool that has wide consent and support.

Having arrangements to access a reliable safety expert is therefore something to consider.

If you would like a chat, call 0800 000 267

E-mail me

SafetyBase Home Page

Supervisors and Managers OHS Skills Courses

I strongly believe health and safety should be a result of “doing things right” – and therefore part of the general drive for quality – getting things right first time. However, like any system, health and safety has some unique processes to follow. So specific knowledge of these processes makes “doing it right” a lot easier.

For example:

• A supervisor ought to know what a Notifiable Event is because those events must be reported to Worksafe.
• At the general level, managers are more able to make safe decisions if they understand the meaning of risk and its relationship with what is “reasonably practicable” under the law.
• And knowing how to conduct an accident investigation that is insightful and effective is a skill that does not come naturally to many people.

Senior leaders want a safety system to work. So line managers and supervisors must understand how to support that. And senior leaders themselves must receive safety advice or they will get it wrong too.

My training courses are always a process of “opening windows of understanding”. And you don’t experience those sorts of  “I get it” moments just from a PowerPoint show. There has to be something else as well. While I do use visual displays, we also have discussions and together we answer a lot of questions. Because key facts are understood better when there is active participation.

And you get answers to all your questions.

Here are my most popular training topics. All of them are half a day or less.

Understanding the Health and Safety at Work Act. 

On the face of it, this has to be a dry subject, doesn’t it? But unless managers and key workers have a grasp of what the Act actually does require, the world will remain full of speculation, misunderstanding and myths. And there certainly are plenty of myths about health and safety. But how do we make this topic genuinely interesting? Believe it or not, we pluck up the courage and work our way through a copy of the actual Act using a pre-prepared set of key questions. Yes, I know. But it works, because together, we find the answers to all those questions. So here are just four examples:

• “A fork lift stops suddenly and a pallet, being carried 2 metres above floor level slides off. No one is hurt. Is this a Notifiable Incident?”
• “What is a valid reason for a worker to refuse to do a job for health and safety concerns?”
• “Can anyone agree a contract to exclude, limit or modify the operation of the Act?”
• “If I’m an employee health and safety rep, will I be prosecuted if there’s something unsafe?”

This is a half-day course for 2 to 20 people. Cost is either a flat fee of $750 plus GST or $200 plus GST per person, whichever is the lesser cost.

Hazard Management (And Taking a Risk).

This topic is central to an employer’s duties under the Act. Because work has hazards. Just day-to-day living has hazards. It’s not bad  to live and work with hazards. For example, when you drive home after work, you are busy managing hazards by constantly assessing risks, taking preventive actions and hopefully following rules like stopping at red lights.

Workers do not have to be “wrapped in cotton wool”. In fact, an employer’s duty is to do what is reasonable for the risk. So understanding what is a reasonable risk is the core purpose of this training, and it’s what gives rise to my cheeky sub-heading “(And Taking a Risk).” In other words, we have to talk about risk and work with it.

This is a half-day course for 2 to 20 people. Cost is either a flat fee of $750 plus GST or $200 plus GST per person, whichever is the lesser cost.

Accident Reporting and Investigation

Strangely enough, the current Act says nothing directly about internal recording of accidents, nor the need to investigate them. The previous Act was very clear about it. Never mind, we have to work with what we’ve been given.

This training course clarifies statutory requirements for reporting Notifiable Events and makes out the case for internal recording of other incidents. So having clarified accident reporting and recording, we examine accident investigation in detail. Because it’s an opportunity for improvement. However, for many people, it’s not a skill that comes naturally.

We kick off by finding out how good the group already is at investigating. Then we look at the three main reasons why we should investigate incidents, learn a simple investigative technique and finally, return to the first investigation to see if we improved. Which we always do.

This is a half-day course for 2 to 20 people. Cost is either a flat fee of $750 plus GST or $200 plus GST per person, whichever is the lesser cost.

Examples of other available training

• Contractor Management.
• Machine Guarding
• Conducting Safety Inspections
• Isolation of Machinery
• Preventing Manual Handling Injuries
• Preventing Gradual Process Disease
• Effective Safety Committees
• Understanding and Managing Stress

If you would like a chat, call 0800 000 267

E-mail me

SafetyBase Home Page