Why is Operate Safe necessary?

Health & Safety regulations have been increasingly imposed on all NZ industries in order to improve health & safety and reduce accidents. In some industries regulatory bodies have imposed standards that in some cases cover a number of industries, often leading to difficulties in interpretation and compliance.

Under the Health and Safety in Employment Act employers are responsible and accountable for the proper training of their workers, and must have a systematic approach to managing health and safety in their business. In particular, employers must adhere to the following statements contained in the Act:

25 (h) take every precaution reasonable in the circumstances for the protection of a worker;

26 (l) carry out such training programs for workers, supervisors and committee members as may be prescribed.

In the 1990s the NZ Pavement & Bitumen Contractors' Association - forerunner of Roading New Zealand - recognised the value of industry self governance (ISG), particularly in Health and Safety, and forecast that ISG would become the way of the future for the contracting industry. The Code of Practice for the Safe Handling of Bituminous Materials and a set of Health and Safety system guidelines were produced in the mid 1990s, these initiatives reducing the lost time injuries of some contractors by around 50% to give the roading industry one of the lowest injury and fatality rates in the construction industry.

With encouragement from the Occupational Safety & Health Service of the Department of Labour, as well as the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), who require a systematic approach to Health & Safety, these guidelines evolved into the Operate Safe regime in 2003, giving the whole civil contracting industry the ability to determine and enforce its own Health & Safety standards. Operate Safe also meets the requirements of the government's Workplace Health & Safety Strategy and its Injury Prevention Strategy.

In the last few years the sector has been faced with new challenges - huge increases in the roading and other infrastructure programmes, increasing concern about the environment, and a greater focus on safety issues. Driven by these changes and by industry feedback, a number of upgrades to Operate Safe are being rolled out in 2007 that are more aligned to current needs and that will make it even more results-focused.