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summary

This Action Agenda marks a shift in New Zealand’s national strategy to reduce the work toll. It sharpens the focus on action and bridges the gap between the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy for New Zealand to 2015 and the activities of workers on the frontline.

The aim is to reduce injuries and fatalities at work and deliver healthy and productive workplaces for all New Zealanders through actions in five priority sectors.

The cost of workplace injury and disease is still too high and we need to do better.

New Zealand's work toll

Every year:

• workplace injuries are killing about 100 people
• more than 700 people die prematurely from work-related illness or disease
• more than 200,000 people are seriously harmed
• there are more than 17,000 new cases of work-related disease, with between 2,500 – 5,500 classed as severe
• construction, agriculture, forestry, manufacturing and fishing consistently have above average fatal and major injury rates – accounting for approximately 37% of all ACC claims.

What we're doing

Five priority sectors

The Action Agenda focuses on the five sectors with consistently high levels of workplace injury, disease and fatalities:

• Construction
• Agriculture
• Forestry
• Manufacturing
• Fishing

A Sector Action Plan for each sector, developed in consultation with relevant stakeholders and experts, will:

• build shared leadership and ownership of the problems and solutions
• agree on key priorities for action
• coordinate and integrate activity.

The Action Agenda and its Sector Action Plans will allow us to make a very real difference by the end of 2013 by targeting the risks and hazards that are causing injury and illness.

The success of the Action Agenda depends on each sector ‘owning’ their action plan.

Occupational disease

There are 17,000 new cases of work-related disease every year. The Action Agenda aims to improve surveillance of work-related diseases.  It will raise awareness of occupational health issues and reduce exposures facing workers. An Occupational Health Action Plan will be developed alongside the five Sector Action Plans.

Four action areas

As well as taking a sector-based approach, specific national-level actions will be delivered under four areas:

1 Growing safety leadership

• Industry health and safety leadership groups in the five priority sectors will be established.
• Five Sector Action Plans will be developed and progressively released.
• The Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum will improve and focus health and safety leadership.
• A new leadership forum and network of government agencies with lead responsibilities in health and safety will be established.

2 Developing capability

• A health and safety professional alliance will be established.
• The capability of health and safety representatives will continue to improve through training.
• Online learning modules for health and safety representatives will be developed.
• Health and safety representatives will be helped by a website providing information and peer support.
• Practical tools for small businesses in the priority sectors will be developed.

3 Building knowledge

• A pilot national surveillance system for selected occupational diseases will be developed.
• Reports on the State of Workplace Health and Safety in New Zealand will be published.
• There will be systematic analysis of the Statistics New Zealand official injury data set.

4 Supporting a robust health and safety system

• Health and safety standards and guidance for the priority sectors will be reviewed and updated.
• ACC will consult with introduce Experience Rating.
• An Occupational Health Action Plan for 2011-2013 will be developed.
• Strategic enforcement action will be directed to the five priority sectors.
• There will be an investigation of industry self-regulation models in New Zealand and other jurisdictions.
• A joint agency plan for promoting health and safety and injury prevention messages in the priority sectors will be developed.

Where we're going

In three years

We want to see:

• a statistically significant reduction in workplace injury and fatality rates
• effective programmes in place to support this reduction
• reliable health and safety data and better access to it
• partnerships with government and industry improving health and safety in the five priority sectors
• actions being completed on time and achieving their intended outcomes.

Everyone must contribute:

• Government
• The Workplace Health and Safety Council
• ACC
• Māori
• Pacific businesses, and community leaders
• Employers
• Employees/workers
• Unions
• Industry associations and peak bodies
• Business and sector leaders
• Health and safety representatives
• Occupational health professionals
• Researchers

The pledge

The Government cannot achieve the outcomes of the Action Agenda alone. Making a real difference to the work toll requires commitment from all parties.

A Pledge has been developed so that stakeholders willing to do their part to reduce New Zealand’s work toll can become Partners in Action with the Department of Labour, the lead agency of the Action Agenda.

It’s simple to sign-up – visit www.dol.govt.nz/whss to pledge your commitment. In return, you’ll be kept in the loop about workplace health and safety activities and you’ll be recognised on the Department’s website.

Monitoring & review

The Department of Labour will monitor the progress of the Action Agenda to ensure actions are completed on schedule and meet their aims.

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

The Action Agenda will be reviewed and updated in 2014.

More information 

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