scholarly journals Communicating Environmental, Safety and Health Law to Small Businesses in New Zealand: The Fundamental Missing Link

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Michael Louisson

<p>The majority of small New Zealand businesses do not understand their environmental, safety and health protection responsibilities. This is the finding of recent research, including that of the New Zealand Occupational Safety and Health Service (Bateman, 1999:19). The same problem was identified some 30 years ago by Lord Robens in the United Kingdom (Robens, 1972). Without a sound understanding, businesses can not properly meet their obligations to comply with environmental, safety and health statutes, such as the Dangerous Goods Regulations 1958, Resource Management Act 1991, Building Act 1991 and the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. There are 63 environmental and safety statutes, which have a total of 3,993 pages. It is estimated that this total is growing at about 300 pages per year. The same level of understanding is required irrespective of organisation size. Larger companies are normally able to establish policies, sections, committees, club memberships, training programmes and effective systems to meet their needs. Somehow small businesses must understand the same law, but without the majority of the tools and resources available to larger companies. Small businesses therefore need a particularly effective communications process, which appears to be beyond their scope to develop; and therefore provides a worthy research topic. The research identifies the fundamental missing link in the compliance chain, as hypothesised by Mayhew (Mayhew, 1997:44), to be communication of law, and develops a customised compliance handbook to ease understanding of the law. The handbook concept was tested with seven small businesses involving land survey, hardware retail, car repair, petrol dispensing, electroplating, fast food supply and shipping. These case studies show the handbook is an effective way to inform small New Zealand businesses of their responsibilities under environmental and safety law. The research also identifies the need for industry based 'champions' to coach small businesses to achieve the required standard.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Michael Louisson

<p>The majority of small New Zealand businesses do not understand their environmental, safety and health protection responsibilities. This is the finding of recent research, including that of the New Zealand Occupational Safety and Health Service (Bateman, 1999:19). The same problem was identified some 30 years ago by Lord Robens in the United Kingdom (Robens, 1972). Without a sound understanding, businesses can not properly meet their obligations to comply with environmental, safety and health statutes, such as the Dangerous Goods Regulations 1958, Resource Management Act 1991, Building Act 1991 and the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. There are 63 environmental and safety statutes, which have a total of 3,993 pages. It is estimated that this total is growing at about 300 pages per year. The same level of understanding is required irrespective of organisation size. Larger companies are normally able to establish policies, sections, committees, club memberships, training programmes and effective systems to meet their needs. Somehow small businesses must understand the same law, but without the majority of the tools and resources available to larger companies. Small businesses therefore need a particularly effective communications process, which appears to be beyond their scope to develop; and therefore provides a worthy research topic. The research identifies the fundamental missing link in the compliance chain, as hypothesised by Mayhew (Mayhew, 1997:44), to be communication of law, and develops a customised compliance handbook to ease understanding of the law. The handbook concept was tested with seven small businesses involving land survey, hardware retail, car repair, petrol dispensing, electroplating, fast food supply and shipping. These case studies show the handbook is an effective way to inform small New Zealand businesses of their responsibilities under environmental and safety law. The research also identifies the need for industry based 'champions' to coach small businesses to achieve the required standard.</p>


1970 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth A. Mullen

There has been considerable debate as to whether attempting to improve health and safety practices at work by legislation is more effective than voluntarism and the play of market forces. A survey was conducted in mid 1988 to ascertain the response of New Zealand enterprises to a Voluntary Code of Practice (1987) issued by the Advisory Council for Occupational Safety and Health. An attempt was also made to identify internal and external factors which might have influenced the decision to comply. It would appear that a voluntary approach has some part to play, but the absence of effective health and safety legislation in New Zealand may particularly disadvantage those working in small firms in high risk industries.


1970 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian B. Campbell

Recent issues of this journal have contained articles dealing with safety and health issues in industrial relations (Benson, 1981; Hamilton and Penney, 1982; Beaumont and Leopold, 1982). These articles reflect an awareness of occupational safety and health issues which has been developing over the last decade; both in New Zealand and overseas. This development prompted the journal to advertise for papers for a symposium on occupational safety and health. The response was very great indeed. Of the papers offered, 6 were selected for publication. These papers provide an interesting mix of case studies, national surveys and international cotnparisons.


Author(s):  
Bruce P. Bernard

This chapter focuses on conducting worksite investigations, including walkthrough surveys, and provides occupational health and safety personnel, employees, and employers the opportunity to identify and assess current workplace conditions and employee health concerns and make recommendations on how to reduce or eliminate any identified workplace hazards. The methods described cover ways to implement corrective actions necessary for preventing future adverse incidents and to identify shortcomings in safety and health management programs. Various specific examples are provided. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Hazard Evaluation Program, which has experience with all types of workplace hazards, is described. Preparing for and conducting workplace investigations is described in detail.


2014 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla Wanjiku Ndegwa ◽  
Wario Guyo ◽  
George Orwa ◽  
Robert Ng’ang’a ◽  
Elishba Muthoni Murigi

Recent trends in the organization of work have increased the risk of occupational safety and health (OSH) in Kenyan industries through exposure to hazardous substances, work related accidents and increased stress-related illnesses. According to International lab our organization (ILO) everyone is entitled to the right to safe and healthy working conditions and therefore the corpus of law in Kenya dealing with occupational safety and health should be embedded in the international OSH legal instruments. Specifically the occupational health and safety Act (2007) is expected to provide for safety, health and welfare of workers and all persons lawfully present at workplaces. The purpose of this study therefore was to investigate legal framework as a determinant of implementation of occupational health and safety programmes in the manufacturing sector in Kenya. It focused on six legal areas predicted as affecting implementation of OSH. These factors were national OSH policy, OSHA (occupational safety and health Act) familiarity with OSHA, government OSH inspections and audits, ease of implementation of OSHA, Government support in the implementation of OSH and OSHA implement ability. The study adopted descriptive cross-sectional survey design but however intended to gather both qualitative and quantitative data. A self administered questionnaire was used to collect data from 257 OSH officers drawn randomly from 735 manufacturing industries registered by Kenya manufacturers association. 252 questionnaires were received back and analyzed with the help of SSPS window version 21. Both correlation and regression analysis were conducted and the results showed that there was a positive significant relationship between legal framework and implementation of OSH programmes. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 07011
Author(s):  
Supriyadi ◽  
Hadiyanto

Occupational Safety and Health Experts in Indonesia have an important role in integrating environmental health and safety factors, including in this regard as human resources assigned to undertake hazardous waste management. Comprehensive knowledge and competence skills need to be carried out responsibly, as an inherent professional occupational safety and health profession. Management leaders should continue to provide training in external agencies responsible for science in the management of toxic waste to enable occupational safety and health experts to improve their performance in the hierarchy of control over the presence of hazardous materials. This paper provides an overview of what strategies and competencies the Occupational Safety and Health expert needs to have in embracing hazardous waste management practices.


ON A WINTRY DAY LAST DECEMBER, nearly 20 years to the day after the nation's lawmakers approved the Occupational Safety and Health Act that aimed to substantially curb the injury, illness and death that are an everyday fact of life in America's workplaces, New Solutions convened a panel of invited guests at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, D.C., to gauge just how far we have come. Earlier, in the premiere issue of New Solutions, we had run Charles Noble's analysis of “OSHA at 20.” It gave us starting points for a searching discussion of workplace health and safety in this country from the many perspectives that were represented by our panelists (see box, page 65). All of the opinions and comments made during the discussion represent the participants' own viewpoints and are in no way a reflection of the opinions or views of the agencies or organizations with which they are associated. We asked panelists Charles Noble and Richard Pfeffer to begin the discussion with their analyses of the problems. The talk went on for hours, all of it captured on tape. Insights were plentiful; frustrations were obvious; the suggestions, many. Here is Part 1 of a two-part edited transcript of the Roundtable on OSHA, the agency that is 20 years old this April, and the OSH Act which established it. Part 2 will run in an upcoming issue of this journal. We invite you to join the controversy with your letters and longer comments.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
James William Cornish

<p>The development of industrial safety law in Britain and New Zealand and the origins of construction, safety law are outlined in Part I. The administration and interpretation of the Construction Act 1959 are described in Part II, and Part III highlights the comparable statute law in three Commonwealth countries. The thesis will assist persons engaged in industry, lawyers and departmental officers in the understanding of the law and its application to construction work. The information presented on overseas law will assist those involved in the task of reviewing and consolidating the New Zealand industrial safety, health and welfare legislation. The history of the British Factories Acts leading on to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, described in Chapter 1, highlights the importance of a self-regulating, integrated statutory system and a professional inspectorate with an advisory role and residual enforcement powers. New Zealand safety law has developed as the country's industrial needs have determined, as will be seen from Chapter 2. Generally, British statutes have been adopted, but construction safety law is the exception and Chapter 3 shows that, from the earliest Bill introduced by Richard John Seddon in 1892 up to the present, the legislation covering the construction industry has been initiated and drafted with industry representation. The more empirical subjects such as current policy and practice, sanctions, codes, education, other legislation and reform, as well as the purpose, effect, extent and application of the Construction Act 1959 are discussed in Chapter 4. The results of the author's legal research and analysis are contained in Chapters 5 and 6 under the headings of 'Liabilities' and 'Technical Law'. The responsibilities of employers, workmen, safety supervisors, inspectors and the Crown are set out and explained in terms of the statute and the interpretation from the case law. The technical subjects include scaffolding, guardrails, brittle roofing, fall of objects, access, excavations, mechanical plant, demolition, eye protection, asbestos, work in compressed air, health and welfare. Chapters 7, 8 and 9 examine the present legislation, in Britain, Australia and Canada and indicate a trend towards a unified approach to occupational safety, health and welfare and one enactment for all places of work, and with separate regulations and codes of practice for each industry. This study has been carried out by the present Chief Safety Engineer of the Department of Labour who has been responsible for the administration of the Construction Act 1959 since 1968. A separately bound appendix includes a copy of the Construction Act 1959 and the Amendments (Appendix A), the Inspection of Building Appliances Bill 1892 (Appendix B), the Scaffolding Inspection Act 1906 (Appendix C), the Tasmanian Industrial Safety, Health and Welfare Act 1977 (Appendix D), the Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act 1978 (Appendix E), and copies of the unreported judgments and decisions referred to in the thesis (Appendix F).</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 255
Author(s):  
Agus Bandiyono, Renzo Ilham Ryandhi Yuni Betti Mariani

This research aims to see the effect of work experience and occupational health and safety (OHS) on the staff’s performance at the Tax Service Office (KPP). In this study, the research took place at KPP Madya Palembang and KPP Minyak dan Gas Bumi. The research method used is quantitative research. The population in this study were all staff at KPP Madya Palembang and KPP Minyak dan Gas Bumi totaling 70 people. Sampling using Slovin with a standard error of 10%. The data collection techniques used were interview and questionnaire techniques. The data were processed using multiple linear regression analysis models with the help of the SPSS program. From the research results, it is known that work experience and occupational safety and health have a positive and significant effect on the staff’s performance of the tax service office.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document