Consultation Draft

• 1 Background and context
  • 1.1 Giving occupational health issues more priority
  • 1.2 What is occupational health?
  • 1.3 The incidence and cost of occupational disease in New Zealand
• 2 Priority areas of focus
  • 2.1 Reducing exposure to hazards
    • 2.1.1 Occupational carcinogens
    • 2.1.2 Respiratory hazards
    • 2.1.3 Noise
    • 2.1.4 Skin irritants
    • 2.1.5 Psycho-social hazards
  • 2.2 Developing Capability
  • 2.3 Working in Partnership
• 3 Occupational Health Initiatives for 2011-2013
  • 3.1 Building effective occupational health leadership
  • 3.2 Promoting the Partners in Action Pledge
  • 3.3 Working in Partnership
  • 3.4 Making Occupational Health information more accessible
  • 3.5 Professionalising the Occupational Hygiene sector
  • 3.6 Developing a National Occupational Disease Surveillance Framework
  • 3.7 Building the knowledge base about specific hazards
  • 3.8 Harm reduction project on exposure to occupational health hazards
  • 3.9 Expanding the Healthline service to include Occupational Health issues
  • 3.10 Developing a HSNO enforcement statement
• 4 The next ten years
  • 4.1 Building awareness of occupational health issues
  • 4.2 Prevention by design
  • 4.3 Work, health and productivity
• 5 Monitoring

1. Background and context

Occupational diseases can and should be prevented. In many cases, knowledge exists to prevent occupational disease (or its recurrence). However, long latency periods following exposure, and difficulties attributing the contribution of occupational causes of disease means that it is often more complex to understand than occupational injury. It is likely that this is part of the reason why compensation from ACC for occupational illness and disease is much less common than for occupational injury. As a result, workplace exposure to identified health hazards often ends up as a ‘poor cousin’ to injury prevention and management of safety hazards. This needs to change.

Under the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (HSE Act), employers have the primary responsibility for taking all practicable steps to ensure the health and safety of employees and others at the workplace. This is done by managing workplace hazards to reduce the likelihood of harm. For action to be effective, employers, managers and employees and their representatives must:

• have easily accessible information on the nature of a hazard and how it can be controlled and monitored. This information must be up-to-date as knowledge of new hazards becomes known and new techniques for managing hazards are developed
• have the necessary capability – both through access to equipment and technology, and the managerial skills to ensure that good systems are in place, and
• be motivated to take action to control exposures to hazards and reduce risk.

Employers and industry groups, together with trade unions and occupational health experts, must work together to ensure that information, capability and motivation are kept current. Innovation and leadership in health and safety management is a process that can only be led by industry and experts themselves to be effective. Exposures in workplaces are often complex, and may reflect production processes that differ between industries and require specialist technical knowledge. In addition, industry leaders are more likely to be aware of new technologies and processes that may either decrease the risk of exposure or result in newly identified hazards.

The Department of Labour works closely with both clinical and industry specialists through the Notifiable Occupational Disease System (NODS). Notifications are made through NODS when harm (or suspected harm) has resulted from exposure to workplace health hazards. Through this system an average of 270 notifications are received each year^[1], and investigated by multi-disciplinary teams involving both Department of Labour staff and medical personnel. Specialist panels comprising medical and non-medical specialists from the private and public sectors review national patterns in notifications and make recommendations^[2].

The seriousness of some harms, and the impact on individuals and their families and communities means that legislated intervention is justified in the public good. These are made under either the HSE Act, or the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (HSNO), and include:

• General regulations issued under the HSE Act that prescribe limits on noise exposure, and place controls on the hazards presented by particular substances or processes; and
• Approved Codes of Practice that relate to a range of hazards associated with occupational illness, including isocyanates, noise, hazardous substances and the manufacture of paint, printing and resins.

Best Practice guidelines are also published by the Department of Labour for a range of hazards, including chemicals (e.g. benzene, glutaraldehyde, lead, organophosphates and solvents), asbestos, shiftwork, violence and bullying, hazardous goods and substances, and biological hazards (such as leptospirosis). Although these publications are not made under an Act, they are a valuable source of industry knowledge about appropriate means of control, and have evidential value in the event of a prosecution.

In addition, the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) ^[3] places controls on some hazardous substances under the HSNO Act to manage the adverse effects of these on people and communities. The Department of Labour ensures that the HSNO Act is complied with in workplaces, and works in collaboration with the EPA to establish Workplace Exposure Standards. These standards are used by occupational health practitioners to monitor exposure to hazards in the workplace. Under the HSE Act, employers are required to monitor and assess exposures (and their impact on the health of employees) where identified workplace hazards cannot be eliminated or isolated.

1.1 Giving occupational health issues more priority

This Action Plan has been prepared in response to the 2009 review of the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy for New Zealand to 2015 (WHSS). The review identified the need for a stronger focus on occupational health as a priority issue.

The WHSS National Action Agenda 2010-2013, released in March 2011, has set a new direction for action over the next three years and further highlights the need to:

• improve surveillance of occupational disease^[4]

• raise awareness of occupational health issues, and
• reduce workers’ exposures to health hazards.

This Occupational Health Action Plan covers the time period from now until December 2013. However, it is also intended to make a longer-term contribution by:

• giving effect to the Government’s goal of ‘healthy people in safe and productive workplaces’^[5], and
• contributing to the goal of a more effective labour market by ensuring that workplaces become healthier and safer^[6].

The Action Plan is based on three priority areas for attention:

• reducing exposure to five occupational health hazards
• developing New Zealand’s capability to address occupational health issues, and
• building relationships between government, industry, and occupational health researchers and practitioners to work in partnership to improve occupational health.

This Action Plan complements the Action Plans developed for the five priority sectors (Agriculture, Construction, Fishing, Forestry, and Manufacturing), some of which also include sector-specific occupational health focus areas. For example, the Agriculture sector action plan focuses on animal handling (which encompasses zoonoses such as leptospirosis) and the physical and mental health/wellbeing of workers, among other ‘safety-oriented’ areas^[7].

1.2 What is occupational health?

The World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organisation have jointly agreed on a definition of occupational health. They say that occupational health should aim at:

“the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to their physiological and psychological capabilities; and, to summarise, the adaptation of work to a person and of each person to their job.”

1.3 The incidence and cost of occupational disease in New Zealand

Work has been completed in recent years to identify the incidence, prevalence and social and economic costs of occupational ill-health in New Zealand. According to Health Outcomes International (2005)^[8], occupational disease in New Zealand accounts for greater mortality and morbidity than occupational injuries. It has been estimated that:

• about 700-1,000 deaths occur every year in New Zealand from occupational disease, particularly cancer, respiratory disease and ischaemic heart disease (such as coronary artery disease)^[9]
• 2-4% of deaths of all people over the age of 20 are due to occupational disease, and 3-6% of all cancer deaths in people aged 30 or older are due to occupational cancer
• there are about 17,000-20,000 new cases of work-related disease every year.

Based on available data, common occupational diseases arising from workplace exposures include:

• infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, pneumococcal disease, and leptospirosis
• cancers as a result of workplace exposure to carcinogens
• anxiety, depression and psychological disorders
• diseases of the nervous system as a result of exposure to neurotoxins, such as toxic encephalopathy from chronic exposure to solvents
• vascular disorders
• respiratory disease, particularly occupationally-induced asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumoconioses as a result of exposure to wood, coal and other dusts, minerals such as silica, fertilisers, chemicals and solvents
• skin conditions such as dermatitis as a result of exposure to chemicals (especially cutting fluids and solvents), and wet work such as in food handling and preparation; and
• noise-induced hearing loss as a result of persistent exposure to excessive noise.

Reducing workplace exposure to the hazards that lead to these conditions is critical for improving occupational health.

Occupational illness has social and economic costs for individuals and for the country as a whole through lost productivity. Direct financial costs include the value of lost production, lower incomes for the workers concerned, health and rehabilitation costs, and administrative and transfer costs^[10]. The costs for cancer, in particular, are exceptionally high. In addition, there are further costs due to pain and suffering for individuals and their families and communities.

2. Priority areas of focus

2.1 Reducing exposure to hazards

The main focus of this Action Plan is preventing occupational disease by reducing exposure to known occupational health hazards.

There are a wide range of workplace exposures and resultant conditions in need of attention, and many of the hazards that have an impact on occupational health are multi-causal in nature. It is important to identify and rank current and emerging risks and/or hazards for immediate action.

Five specific hazards have been prioritised for attention over the course of this Action Plan. The Department of Labour asked a panel of expert occupational health and safety researchers and practitioners to identify the issues which contribute most to the burden of injury and disease in New Zealand.  Health hazards identified as a result of this process were considered alongside other relevant research and information (such as NOHSAC reports), and the following hazards were selected:

• occupational carcinogens
• respiratory hazards
• noise
• skin irritants, and
• psycho-social hazards.

There are aggregated benefits for improving health and safety as a result of the fact that the hazards identified above are common problems across the five priority sectors. A profile of each of the five hazards in New Zealand is set out below.

2.1.1 Occupational carcinogens

International research has found that a wide range of workplace hazards are associated with an increased risk of cancer for specific occupational groups or industries. Within the European Union, it has been estimated that 13.8% of cancers in men and 2.1% of cancers in women can be attributed to work.

New Zealand studies have shown an increased risk of cancer for workers in a diverse range of occupations and industries, including foundries and heavy engineering, athletes, cooks, waiters and bartenders, hairdressers and beauticians, fishermen, hunters and general labourers. Risk factors include exposure to a wide range of chemicals and dusts, in industries as diverse as pulp and paper, forestry, health care, textiles and agriculture.

It has been estimated that there are 237–425 work-related deaths in New Zealand from occupational cancer each year^[11]. These are caused by:

• lung cancer due to exposure to asbestos, arsenic, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, diesel fumes, nickel, silica and environmental tobacco smoke
• mesothelioma due to asbestos exposure
• leukaemia from benzene exposure, and
• bladder cancer from exposure to textile dyes, paints, pigments, leather, rubber, solvents and poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

The most effective strategy to reduce occupational cancer is reducing the use of carcinogenic substances and processes at the workplace, by replacing them as much as possible with less dangerous ones. If replacement of carcinogens is not possible, then it is necessary to take measures to avoid or reduce the exposure of workers to carcinogenic hazards. This is usually achieved by isolation, particularly the use of closed processes in which carcinogens are not released into the working environment.

To effectively decrease occupational exposure to carcinogens in the workplace, detailed information on current exposure and the effectiveness of control measures is essential.

2.1.2 Respiratory hazards

An estimated 200-205 deaths each year in New Zealand are thought to have been caused by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, (due to exposure to organic dust, microbial dust, endotoxins, welding fumes and environmental tobacco smoke), occupational asthma and asbestosis.

Occupational asthma is probably the most common work-related respiratory disorder in industrialised countries. It is associated with a wide range of agents, including some inorganic and organic dusts, biological hazards (such as grains, flour, insects and animal parts) and chemicals (including chlorofluorocarbons, isocyanates, metals and welding fumes). Occupational groups where studies have found an increased risk of asthma include sawmill and plywood mill workers, food processors, welders and farm workers.

To effectively decrease occupational exposure to allergens, detailed information on exposure determinants and effectiveness of control measures is essential. Research is currently underway in New Zealand to obtain real-time measurements for peak exposure to asthmagens in relation to work processes. This will provide important information on tasks and activities related to peak exposure, identify control measures and other exposure determinants, and assess the potential impact of controls on reducing exposure.

2.1.3 Noise

The fact that noise (unwelcome and excess sound) leads to hearing loss has long been recognised.

Noise-induced hearing loss is common in work environments in which excessive noise is prevalent, such as manufacturing and construction. Excessive noise is also associated with other health conditions such as hypertension, sleep disturbance, anxiety, headaches and nausea. Noise-induced hearing loss is a degenerative condition that has a long latency, with symptoms worsening as a result of cumulative exposure. It is a well-established occupational issue, and remains a major cause of disability and compensation in New Zealand.

The HSE Regulations 1995 require that no employee is exposed to noise greater than:

• 85 decibels averaged over an 8 hour period, or
• a peak level of 140 decibels.

Employers are required by the HSE Act to monitor noise exposure and ensure that they comply with exposure standards.

In addition to noise levels, little is known about the interaction between noise and other workplace exposures, particularly chemicals that have the ability to damage hearing (known as ototoxic). A wide variety of pharmaceuticals, solvents, asphyxiants, nitriles and metals and compounds have been found to be ototoxic.

The most common way of managing noise exposure in New Zealand workplaces is the use of protective hearing equipment. More work is needed to eliminate the sources of noise through design processes.

2.1.4 Skin irritants

Skin irritants are common in many occupations, and may result in dermatitis. Contact dermatitis occurs when an irritant is applied in a high enough concentration, or over time and frequently. Allergic dermatitis may occur when an allergic response develops to the irritant.

Dermatitis is commonly a result of “wet work”, particularly where that work involves exposure to chemicals such as cutting fluids and solvents. Occupations at high risk of dermatitis include professional cleaning, hairdressing, food handling and preparation (bakers, caterers, cooks and confectioners), health workers (especially nurses), construction industry workers, leather and shoe manufacturers, florists, gardeners and metal workers.

Control of skin irritation that may lead to dermatitis can be achieved through preventing contact, using non-rubber gloves, and using less irritating chemicals.

2.1.5 Psycho-social hazards

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has recognised since 2010 that there are work-related psycho-social risk factors that can be medically determined to result in mental and behavioural disorders.

Psycho-social harm is an often hidden problem in the workplace but undoubtedly affects a significant number of workers. The recent review of the WHSS recommended more awareness and understanding of the mental health issues affecting workers. These can be exhibited as chronic fatigue, stress-related disorders (such as anxiety and depression), alcohol and drug abuse, heart disease, musculoskeletal disorders and suicide.

A range of workplace factors may contribute to psycho-social health outcomes. Excessive workloads, low job control, poor support plus aggression and violence at work are also factors that contribute to psycho-social problems for workers. The 2002 amendment to the HSE Act recognised that harm may be caused by work-related stress, and that workplace hazards can include being in a situation where a person’s behaviour may be a source of harm.

International estimates suggest that work-related stress, depression and anxiety account for an estimated 13.8 million reported lost working days per year in Britain, and that 50–60% of all lost workdays in the European Union are due to stress-related disorders.

Until recently, very little data has been available in New Zealand on the incidence of psycho-social hazards and their impact on individual workers. A survey of more than 2,000 New Zealand workers was conducted for the first time in 2010, commissioned by the Department of Labour. The survey gathered information on a range of dimensions such as work demands, job satisfaction, burnout and stress, and further information can be found under action 3.7 in the following section. The findings can be used alongside those from research conducted in 2009 on the prevalence of bullying in the health, education, travel and hospitality sectors to identify target populations and interventions.

Developing a framework for surveillance

Reducing exposure to health hazards in the working population requires better surveillance of occupational disease or risks. This information gap has already been identified as a priority, and work has started on the development of a national surveillance system for New Zealand. The Centre for Public Health Research at Massey University is leading this work, initially focusing on identifying information that can be gathered from existing data bases to establish estimates of the occupational prevalence of cancers, respiratory disease and dermatitis. The information will be developed further in order to be able to measure trends in the prevalence of occupational disease and to assess the effectiveness of interventions.

2.2 Developing Capability

Managing occupational health issues can be difficult for workplaces. Knowledge about exposure to health hazards at work often requires specialist scientific knowledge, and workplace managers and health and safety representatives do not always have easy access to this information (particularly in smaller businesses). The situation is made worse by the fact that:

• primary health care providers may not always consider occupational causes as a factor when dealing with the patient’s presenting symptoms
• there are no legislated entry requirements for working as a Health and Safety consultant or practitioner^[12] at the present time. This means it can be difficult for businesses to be assured that the people advising them on workplace health and safety have sufficient occupational health expertise
• there is no robust data on the number of people working in the occupational health field (such as occupational health physicians, occupational health nurses and occupational hygienists), what their qualifications are, or the locations in which they work.

Developing our capability for dealing with occupational health issues is a long-term project. It involves three separate components:

• developing the knowledge and capability of workplace managers and health and safety representatives on the occupational health hazards present in their own workplaces
• workforce development to continuously improve the expertise of the occupational health workforce, particularly as new toxicological or industrial hygiene information comes to hand, and new technologies for eliminating or reducing exposures are developed
• improving the knowledge and skills of primary health practitioners as the point of first contact for many people experiencing symptoms of occupational disease - specifically, their ability to recognise and investigate the possibility of symptoms resulting from workplace exposures.

2.3 Working in Partnership

Improving occupational health requires concerted action from all parties:

• occupational health practitioners, whether working directly in workplaces or providing external advice
• occupational health professions and professional groups (such as occupational nurses and physicians, Medical Officers of Health, Departmental Medical Practitioners)
• occupational and public health researchers
• medical professionals
• employers and industry groups
• trade unions, and
• government agencies (particularly the Department of Labour, ACC, and the Environmental Protection Authority).

Success in reducing the toll of occupational illness and disease will only happen if all these groups work together. It involves information sharing between experts with scientific and technical knowledge, and those with a practical operational focus. Research about the effectiveness of interventions to reduce exposure also needs to inform policy and decision-making processes.

The development and implementation of this Action Plan aims to foster common platforms for discussion, debate and consensus about occupational health, including the most effective use of resources.

Some partnerships for occupational health already exist. At a national level, the tripartite Workplace Health and Safety Council has oversight of the implementation of the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy, and provides advice and leadership on the strategic priorities.

The Occupational Health and Safety Industry Group (OHSIG) also acts as an industry forum, and includes eleven professional associations all working in the occupational health and safety area from different disciplinary perspectives.

3. Occupational Health Initiatives for 2011-2013

3.1 Building effective occupational health leadership

Consideration will be given to ensuring that the Workplace Health and Safety Council membership includes occupational health expertise. In addition, the Department of Labour will work with the Council to develop an implementation plan, including how to encourage occupational health “champions” in New Zealand workplaces.

3.2 Promoting the Partners in Action Pledge

The Department of Labour will encourage Occupational Health stakeholders to become Partners in Action with them in achieving the aims of this action plan over the next two years.

3.3 Working in Partnership

The Department of Labour will actively foster its relationships with professional groups and networks working in occupational health, in particular through OHSIG. In turn, OHSIG will engage with the Institute of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ), particularly with their technical group the Maintenance Engineering Society, to work on progressing issues such as prevention by design.

3.4 Making Occupational Health information more accessible

The Department of Labour will work with stakeholders to develop its existing Occupational Health Tools resource into a form that will meet the needs of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and health and safety representatives.

The purpose of this initiative is to provide easily understandable information to workers and managers to empower them to comprehend the risks associated with exposure, the mechanisms available to manage the risks, and the remedies available to them in the event of potential harm. Resources will focus on the five priority health hazards in the first instance.  

3.5 Professionalising the Occupational Hygiene sector

Occupational hygienists play an important role in providing advice on preventing exposure to biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic and psycho-social hazards, based on known science. The NZ Occupational Hygiene Society (NZOHS) is working on a strategy for increasing the capability of the profession, assisted by the Department of Labour. Potential workstreams include the development of competency standards for occupational hygienists, and reviewing the content of occupational hygiene courses with relevant academic institutions. This work will be done in line with internationally recognised standards for occupational hygiene.

3.6 Developing a National Occupational Disease Surveillance Framework

The National Surveillance Framework will be developed by Massey University’s Centre for Public Health Research (CPHR) in late 2011 and monitored from then on by the Department of Labour on the basis of the research noted below. In the first year, the framework will focus on establishing the baseline prevalence of work-related cancers, asthma and dermatitis.

3.7 Building the knowledge base about specific hazards

The Health Research Council and the Department of Labour are jointly funding a number of research projects designed to increase our knowledge associated with specific hazards. Over the course of 2011 until mid 2012, these research projects will be completed and findings published. They include the following:

• Incidence and Prevalence of Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
• Preventing Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
• Exposure to Carcinogens
• Occupational Dermatitis in New Zealand Cleaners
• Asthma in Timber Workers, and
• Preventing Occupational Respiratory Disease.

In addition, a psycho-social workstream will ensure that findings from the recently completed psycho-social survey of New Zealand workers (the ‘Copenhagen study’) are published, along with a comparison against other relevant research in the field by mid-2012. The study’s dataset will also be made available to other researchers to inform their work as needed.

3.8 Harm reduction project on exposure to occupational health hazards

Workplaces have an obligation to monitor workplace hazards, including exposure to health hazards that cause occupational disease. Over the course of 2012-2013, the Department of Labour will develop and implement a harm reduction project that focuses on reducing workers’ exposure to the priority health hazards. Resource will be directed towards priority sectors.

3.9 Expanding the Healthline service to include Occupational Health issues

Healthline is an existing telephone support service funded by the Ministry of Health. It is staffed by registered nurses who assess health needs and offer support and advice to callers. The Department of Labour and the Ministry of Health will assess whether Healthline can provide support and advice on occupational health issues for workers and employers. A feasibility study will be completed by the end of 2012.

3.10 Developing a HSNO enforcement statement

The Department of Labour is developing a formal statement outlining its approach to enforcing the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (HSNO). The document will complement the Department's statement on HSE Act enforcement, Keeping Work Safe. The Department intends to finalise the HSNO enforcement statement by early 2012, following a brief period of public consultation.

4. The next ten years

Occupational illnesses frequently have a long latency period, meaning it can take many years before improvements in health outcomes emerge. For this reason, we also need to think beyond the timeframe of this Action Plan about ways of improving occupational health over the longer term.

4.1 Building awareness of occupational health issues

Occupational health issues have a much lower profile in the public view than safety ones. There is a need to raise the profile of these issues in the minds of workers and their families, managers, and health professionals. This should include being conscious of health hazards at work and the importance of taking active steps to reduce exposure because of the long latency period of many occupational diseases.

4.2 Prevention by design

The design of workplaces, jobs, plant, and equipment (including personal protective equipment ‘PPE’) are an important focus for the future. An essential element of good design is matching the workplace layout and design to the physical attributes of the worker. For example, attention at design stage to reducing machine noise will have a greater impact on reducing hearing loss than the use of PPE.

In addition, designs for plant and technology that are based on anthropomorphic data^[14] that is not relevant to the target population may lead to occupational disease, injury or death. For example, safety equipment that is based on “average” body size for men may expose women in non-traditional occupations to an increased health and safety risk. Accurate anthropomorphic data for the New Zealand population is important for ensuring that designers, architects and suppliers of plant, technology, safety clothing and equipment play their part in ensuring the highest possible standards of health and safety.

Although progress in this area is a long term proposition, the groundwork can and should start now. See action 3.3 in the previous section as an example.

4.3 Work, health and productivity

Maintaining employee health and wellbeing is also increasingly recognised as critical for reducing the lost productivity as a result of absence from work and facilitating the continued labour market participation of skilled workers. Health issues are the most common reasons for early and unplanned exit from the labour force. In the face of an ageing population, and international labour shortages, maintaining personal health is becoming increasingly recognised as an important strategy for retaining skilled staff.

Over recent years, a strong evidence base has been built that demonstrates close links between working and the physical and mental health of employees. In the UK, Dame Carole Black’s Working for a Healthier Tomorrow provided a comprehensive review of this evidence and has been influential in shaping debate and public policy. It is clear that unemployment and absence from work for long periods of time - as a result of illness or disability - cause harm to health and wellbeing. A number of studies have demonstrated that working can reverse the negative health effects of unemployment, and can also assist in the process of rehabilitation from ongoing illness and injury.

In 2011, the New Zealand Government signed up to the Consensus Statement of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine entitled Realising the Health Benefits of Work. This statement contains a number of recommendations for government, employers and health professionals. There is now a need to consider how to give effect to these recommendations in a way that contributes to the development of evidence-based policy and treatment approaches.

5. Monitoring

The Department of Labour will continue to work closely with the Workplace Health and Safety Council to monitor progress in achieving the Occupational Health Action Plan, particularly in respect of a whole sector approach to reducing exposure to workplace hazards.

The Department will work with others to ensure access to better quality information on the state of occupational health and safety in New Zealand for interested stakeholders. This will include developing a broad framework for both activity and outcome monitoring which includes:

• immediate measures of response to activity
• intermediate measures of changed awareness and/or practice in workplaces, and
• intermediate measures to record improvements in statistics.

The Department will report on progress against high-level indicators for occupational health and safety from June 2011 in an annual State of Workplace Health and Safety report.

This Occupational Health Action Plan will be reviewed and updated by December 2013.

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Endnotes

^[1] Based on combined data from 2005/6 to 2010/11

^[2] Current NODS panels are: Asbestos and Occupational Respiratory Disease; Chemical and Solvent; Musculoskeletal; Physical Hazards; and Psychosocial.

^[3] Previously known as the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA).

^[4] Occupational disease is defined as disease/illness that is either caused by, or made worse by exposure to hazards at work.

^[5] Workplace Health and Safety Strategy for New Zealand to 2015

^[6] Department of Labour Statement of Intent 2011-2014 New Zealand thriving through people and work

^[7] For further information about the Sector Action Plans

^[8] Health Outcomes International (2005) Methods and Systems Used to Measure and Monitor Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand NOHSAC Technical Report 2, Wellington

^[9] Driscoll et al (2004) The Burden of Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand NOHSAC Technical Report,Wellington

^[10] NOHSAC (2006) The Economic and Social Costs of Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand NOHSAC Technical Report 4, Wellington

^[11] NOHSAC 2004

^[12] Note, however, that health and safety practitioners can choose to meet standards through professional organisations such as the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management (NZISM), and there are also professional standards for health practitioners working in the occupational health field.

^[13] Further explanatory information about these general action areas and their contribution to improving health and safety performance can be found in the National Action Agenda 2010-2013.

^[14] Anthropomorphic data includes information on height, weight, body part dimensions, strength, flexibility, endurance and psychological skills and capacities.