Understanding ACC's needs for Effective Safety Training Courses

New Zealand adopted the Health and Safety in Employment legislation in 1992. This was 25 years behind Britain and 10 years behind Australia, but ahead of Malaysia and some other countries. The legislation consolidates about 100 former Acts that are listed as second schedule to the Act.

This means that it is important to have some understanding of the previous legislation. The legislation is descriptive and states goals, principles, and duties. Nearly all other acts are prescriptive or specific and exact in detail. This means that most lawyers (as well as normal people in industry) are not familiar with the outputs and outcomes required for compliance.

What the Government had done was to privatise and to personalise the responsibility for safety. Government officials (OSH) were no longer going to spend their time telling and showing people what is required. The Government envisioned that ACC or Workplace Insurance will ensure that companies and organisations got enormous financial benefits or penalties. It was predicted by the CEO ACC, that companies with bad records could get "loadings" of up to 100% on their ACC levies (equivalent to perhaps 15% of payroll).

The re-introduction of ACC allows employers to qualify for discounts of up to 20% depending on the level of the company / organisation's Safety Management Practice or under the Accredited Employer Partnership Programme of up to 80% (depending on an organisation meeting ACC's Standards).

The standards developed by the ACC Partnership Programme are closely allied to the requirements of the Accident Insurance Act 1998, the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (and amendments) and the New Zealand Interim Standard, Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, NZS 4801 (Int.) 1999.

It is becoming more apparent that Health and Safety Performance will be important for saving money and maintaining the viability of a company or organisation. The New Zealand Government now expects companies:

	to have their own health & safety system
	to train their own staff in requirements
	to identify and control major hazards
	to carry out regular inspections of their site
	to have on site accident reporting procedures
	to have proper standards that can be audited

This means that Employers will have to established occupational health and safety systems that function actively in the workplace, meet the specific primary requirements under ACC's Safety Management Practices that cover the following critical elements, before seeking accreditation.

Critical Elements

	Employer commitment to safety management practices
	Planning, review and evaluation
	Hazard identification, assessment and management
	Information, training and supervision
	Incident and accident reporting, recording and investigation
	Employee participation in health and safety management
	Emergency planning and readiness
	Protection of employees from on-site work undertaken by contractors and sub-contractors