Workplace Health and Safety
We understand here at Knowhow the intricacies of HR and recognising the challenges that business owners face, particularly in areas like Health and safety liability. Now with the rise of psychosocial hazards, we acknowledge the added difficulty in navigating these issues.
As business owners or managers you are responsible for your people’s Health and Safety at work.
In a recent prosecution a Director and a Health & Safety Manager, through hiding evidence of a prior Health and Safety incident, were sentenced to jail.
While this may seem extreme as an employer, the reality is that serious consequences can arise from not adhering to the correct process and manipulating investigations by falsifying records.
In 2019, Aimex, a marine engineering company had a significant incident where an apprentice sustained a brain injury while being exposed to toxic fumes while cleaning an engine room at work. A similar incident occurred a week prior, and a report was made citing inadequate ventilation for the toxic fumes.
During the WorkSafe investigation, Aimex refuted the prior incidents’ claim. However, a whistleblower revealed that documents were destroyed/covered up, leading to the case being referred to the police. Subsequently the police prosecuted the Director and the Health & Safety Manager from Aimex, both of which refuted the claims.
In July 2023, Health & Safety Manager William Sullivan was sentenced to nine months imprisonment for making a false statement, while Director Steven Sullivan received a 20 month sentence under the Crimes Act 1961 for perverting the course of justice. William Sullivan successfully appealed the court’s decision and received home detention, however Steven Sullivan was unsuccessful in his appeal. The Health and safety Act allows for prosecution with a potential imprisonment of up to five years.
This case really does showcase not only how important it is to ensure your processes are airtight, but also the seriousness around Health and Safety at work.
Within Health and Safety and WorkSafe there is a hazard that is increasingly being raised to the forefront of employers and employee’s attention - Psychosocial Hazards
What are Psychosocial Hazards?
WorkSafe defines Psychosocial Hazards as:
When referring to work, the term ‘psychosocial hazard’ refers to ‘the aspects of the design and management of work, and its social and organisational contexts that may have the potential for causing psychological or physical harm’.
Over the past three years, there has been a notable transformation in New Zealand and workplaces, influenced by the current market dynamics, the economy, and the repercussions of COVID, including lockdowns and remote work. Consequently, there is an emerging trend of mental health challenges, burnout, ill health and other issues such as anger, bullying, harassment and traumatic events within workplaces.
These all factor into psychosocial hazards.
When these issues arise, businesses often adopt a reactive management approach.
For employers the risks are substantial, and it is no longer solely the responsibility of the employee to manage their own well-being, rather it becomes the employers responsibility within the context of the workplace.
How to manage these concerns?
Addressing these concerns requires a clear plan of action. In your upcoming business planning session, consider the following:
Assess the investment needed to minimise psychosocial risks to an acceptable level.
Devise strategies that address both the prevention and management of mental ill-health.
By establishing a clear strategy through consultation with relevant stakeholders, navigating the path toward a mentally healthy workplace becomes more straightforward with improved risk management.
So, how do you manage these cases earlier?
Your Health and Safety framework provides the tools to start to manage risk by identifying, assessing, and controlling risks. It also emphasises consultation and communication with employees, along with assurance activities to confirm the effectiveness and implementation of assigned controls.
Expanding this out to encompasses psychosocial hazards can be the simplest and most targeted approach to manage these risks.
An example could look like:
Identification
Control
Christmas Period - busy Period potential for employees to burn out increase stress and long hours will create fatigue
Strategy for busy periods, i.e. more resource allocation for these periods to control the risk of burnout, stress and/or fatigue.
Hiring short term resources to cover busy period (Christmas)
All employees have 2 consecutive days off.
No shifts allocated for more than 8 hours.
Leave is not being taken due to high workload; Employees are experiencing high stress, burnout, and fatigue
Leave Management Process is implemented; employees are required to take leave in the year that it falls due; employees with high leave balances are required to take leave to ensure that they are getting the rest and recovery they require.
Implement the following activities into your business planning:
Develop a mental health strategy
Conduct a psychosocial risk assessment
Implement tailored controls
Establish an assurance program, targeted to assess psychosocial risk control effectiveness.
Develop a corrective action and improvement plan.
Only by incorporating these activities can you effectively manage psychosocial risks on an ongoing basis.
This approach will enhance overall organisational performance by fostering a healthier, more productive and innovative workforce.
Adopting a combined proactive and reactive approach will boost morale, better leverage resources, and improve organisational productivity.
If you require assistance with Health and Safety Policy or guidance around what you need to do, please contact us here at Knowhow.
Referrals
We are very grateful to our clients who provide us with referrals. If you know of an employer who needs support in managing employment matters, including those difficult issues that arise with employees please pass on our contact details or let us know and we will contact them to outline what we do.
Kind regards.
Rebecca Dobby
Partner - Employer Advisory
Knowhow Limited
Information contained herein does not constitute a definitive or complete statement of law. "What's New" is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information on employment matters. "What's New" is not rendering legal, accounting or other expert advice. Because employment related matters must be dealt with on a case by case basis the information provided herein is not intended to supplant professional legal and other expert advice being sought in regard to a specific problem.