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#WorkerWednesday   As it’s Electrical Safety Week, we thought that we’d share some WHS data for those that work with electricity⚡   In the period 2012-2022, 72 Australian workers were fatally injured at work due to contact with electricity.   The frequency of serious claims for electricians that experienced electrocution and shock from electric currents is approximately 6 times greater than the average across all other occupations.   However, it’s not just electricians who are at risk from electricity. Almost all Australian workplaces include electrical hazards, and electrocution is a risk across all Australian industry sectors.   If you work with any kind of electrical appliance or around electrical installations, your PCBU has a duty to manage the risks associated with electricity.   Our Know your duties tool provides information on managing the risks of electrical hazards - https://lnkd.in/gvsempFG

Ladies and gents - your expert panel for the NZHSP Safety Summit 2025 - 27 March 2025, Christchurch. Seriously, how amazing is this?! Scott Weatherall - Surf Life Saving Jo Prigmore - Fulton Hogan Shane Strode-Penny - WorkSafe NZ Technical Specialist (retired) Melissa Dunstan - Independent Consultant DeAnne Brabant - Partner, Shieff Angland Lawyers Jen Dransfield - Naylor Love 🤯 Mind blown... More info, tickets and sponsorship opportunities: https:www.safetysummit.co.nz Secure your early bird tickets today. Just half of the early bird release remain. Don't miss out.

It hurts too much to work in NZ. Our fatality and injury rates are too high compared to Australia and UK, whom we modelled health and safety legislation on. On average, we have over one work fatality per week. Its distressing to learn that every week one New Zealander will not go home from work. We can and must do so much better. I wrote a report for the Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum on this. https://lnkd.in/g4EV-aqx New Zealand’s health and safety performance is getting gradually better, but it is not good. Fatality rate has fallen by 35% over the past decade and minor injury rate has fallen by 37%, but serious injury rate has increased by 18%. NZ’s fatality rate is 60% higher than Australia and 500% higher than UK. NZ’s serious injury rate is 35% higher than Australia and 330% higher than UK. What explains this underperformance? It is not the structure of our economy that explains the difference. NZ fatality rates are higher in every industry compared to Australia. Its not just the industries or types of work that hurt. There are big differences within industries across NZ. Why are our provinces hurting workers more? Taranaki shines among provinces, anecdotally linked to rigorous health and safety culture linked to the oil and gas sectors. It could be that we have less heat from private insurance and lower rates of unionisation. ACC has many redeeming features, so we should not look to dismantle it. But how could it be more active in shaping better behaviour? It is not the regulation. It is very similar to Australia and UK. But we practice regulation differently in how we do it and how we oversee it. Our practice is upside down. We spend too much effort on the heavy end of oversight, and not enough on-site visits, inspections and inspector numbers etc. WorkSafe’s new strategy encouragingly looks to address this. In UK and Australia, there’s someone who watches the system and tries to make the whole system work better. This is a gap in NZ and not the responsibility of MBIE, WorkSafe, ACC, or anyone else. There are no easy answers. But I hope we are working towards enabling all players – businesses, workers, industry and business groups, trainers, and other government agencies – to know and play their parts effectively, recognising the range of different types of controls and impacts across the system. We have to care and do more, because better is possible. UK and Australia are living proof.