Search

The paper is about practice, rather than research, and shows how a complex systems engineering project was done. The project was unique, involving a problem never before investigated, namely, to find the difference in occupational safety of a train driver between being alone in a locomotive cab and having an accompanying assistant. The project used a systems methodology discussed elsewhere. It required understanding the overall New Zealand Rail system and ensuring the objective was clear. A strategy was developed based on a set of system principles. Fault trees gave accident probabilities, from which relative values of Fatal Accident Frequency Rates were computed. As a practical simplification, detailed analysis was confined to a limited part of the overall rail system which could be taken as representative of the whole. Care was taken to treat input information as a whole rather than as separate unconnected items, emphasising information quality, which varied depending on type and source. Major points were the importance of (a) a clear and coherent strategy including careful system decomposition, (b) having a body of information of high and consistent quality, (c) fostering clarity and transparency in communication, and (d) having – and learning – good communication skills. This work is part of a Special Issue on Systems Perspectives: Clarity through Examples (see Dias 2023). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a book review of "An Australian and New Zealand human resource management guide to work health and safety" by Lynnaire Sheridan. The book aims to challenge complacency in work health and safety and promote a systems-based approach. It is divided into three sections, each supported by interactive videos and quizzes. The first section explores the historical development of safety and its influence on human resource management. The second section introduces the Swiss cheese model as a practical tool for evaluating organizational systems. The third section encourages readers to adopt a people-centric approach to work health and safety. Overall, the book is insightful and relevant for organizations and industries seeking to enhance their work health and safety systems. [Extracted from the article]

Although workplace bullying has been long recognised as an organisational level phenomenon, few studies have explored how different organisational factors come together to influence bullying risk. In this study, we integrate theories on organisational psychosocial safety climate (PSC) and social information processing to understand how PSC is related to bullying exposure, mediated through leadership. We conceptualise and find support for how both organisational and supervisory factors align to shape the likelihood of bullying. Both constructive and laissez-faire leadership are incorporated into the model to explore the positive and negative pathways from PSC to bullying in a high-risk sample: 1,231 employees from 47 New Zealand public sector agencies who face high levels of emotional labour demands in their work. Findings from multilevel modelling corroborate the direct negative effect of PSC on bullying and confirm the predicted mediated pathways through both types of leadership to bullying, which is negatively associated with job satisfaction. Our findings shed light on how organisational factors at different levels combine to influence bullying, highlighting the potential (and need) for a multi-faceted approach to the prevention of bullying and mitigation of its negative effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate whether a firm's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives could affect its financial performance. We specifically investigate the firm's capital allocation efficiency as a moderating channel affecting their performance. We employ a comprehensive sample of Australian and New Zealand stock exchange-listed firms consisting of 3324 firm-year observations for the period 2004–2017. We do not find that the firm's capital allocation efficiency is negatively affected by the overall CSR scores or its two main components, namely the environmental or social dimensions. However, our empirical analysis exposes a challenging result for the firms in that we find strong evidence that extremely costly environmental CSR initiatives or policies (e.g., emission reduction, employee health and safety improvements, clean energy products) could reduce the firm's investment efficiency. Hence, firms need to follow a balancing act when contemplating CSR plans and investing in them. While investors appreciate moderate levels of investment in CSRs, they penalize those firms that invest excessively in such initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pandemics pose significant challenges to healthcare systems worldwide and emergency departments are a crucial component in any pandemic response. This study was designed to explore what New Zealand emergency nurses perceive as the major challenges to nursing care and staff safety during a pandemic, and to identify strategies nurses feel are important in mitigating these challenges. A descriptive exploratory qualitative design using semi-structured interviews was conducted in March 2019. Participants were 16 triage nurses from two New Zealand emergency departments. Qualitative content and thematic data analysis techniques were used. Emergency nurses highlighted existing safety issues in their practice, and their concerns about how a pandemic might exacerbate these issues. These themes were identified as: safety of self and family, safety of patients, and safety of organisational systems. Nurses also shared their perspectives on how to mitigate these safety issues. This study provides a detailed understanding of the concerns emergency nurses hold about working during pandemics. Similar fears for staff and patient safety have been voiced globally during the current COVID-19 pandemic, and it is crucial that emergency departments worldwide develop pandemic plans that address the safety concerns to which fear was attributed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: To explore the experiences of strategic leads for nurse education as they sought to respond to the COVID‐19 pandemic. Design: We utilised a qualitative interpretative approach to explore education leaders' experiences of leading during the early months of the pandemic. Methods: Nineteen leaders with significant strategic responsibility for nurse education in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom were identified via purposive sampling and agreed to participate. Interviews were held between May and July 2020. Results: Four overarching themes arose from the analysis: (1) Crisis driven adaptability & flexibility; (2) Responsive, complex and changing communication; (3) Making decisions for student and staff safety; (4) Looking to the future; stronger partnerships. Conclusion: Internationally, while nursing education leaders faced different problems, they shared a common goal amidst the crisis to remain student‐centred. They demonstrated they were able to face major challenges, respond to large scale logistical problems and make decisions under significant and ongoing pressure. Impact: In responding to the pandemic, nurse leaders shared knowledge and offered mutual support. This bodes well for future collaboration. The move to online learning accelerated an existing trend and it seems likely that this will continue. Given the pressures they experienced over an extended period, the sector may wish to consider how it prepares and supports existing and future leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One aspect of a successful dairy business is attracting and retaining skilled staff. The ability to do this is influenced by workplace attractiveness, one aspect of which is worker comfort and safety. Working with heavy machinery and animals makes dairy farming a dangerous occupation relative to many other sectors. Milking is the most time-consuming task on pasture-based dairy farms, and the parlor is the logical site of a number of injuries, although little is known about their causes or their relationship to parlor design and management. To investigate worker safety further, we conducted an on-farm survey on New Zealand dairy farms between December 2018 and March 2019. The survey had 3 objectives: to identify common causes of injuries relating to milking; to describe variations in milking parlor design and management practices on dairy farms; and to identify management and parlor factors that contribute to milking injuries. Analysis of accident compensation data from the state-run accident insurer for a 5-yr period from July 2013 to June 2018 was a fourth objective. Accident claims identified as related to milking through a key word search averaged NZ$252 (NZ$1 was equivalent to US$0.60 on May 19, 2020) per claim for non-severe injuries and NZ$9,334 per claim for severe injuries, for a total of NZ$1.95 million per year. A total of 136 injuries were reported on 99 of the 560 farms surveyed, and accident insurance claims were made for 53 of these injuries. The survey found that 48% of injuries occurred while workers were attaching clusters: typically soft-tissue and fracture injuries to fingers, hands, wrists, and arms. Injuries to these body parts represented the greatest cost (51% of the annual insurance cost) and identified safe cluster attachment as an area of focus for reducing milking injuries. Potential low-cost solutions include improved cluster design and a hand–arm guard. We identified a clear seasonal trend that coincided with busy periods in a seasonal block calving system, suggesting that options to reduce fatigue in spring may be beneficial; however, the number of hours worked or number of consecutive days worked were not associated with the number of milking injuries. Those aged 20–29 yr had more injuries relative to their proportion of the workforce, indicating that more training may be beneficial (e.g., setting ergonomic milking routines). Female workers were at greater risk of injury than males; this finding may have been related to the height of the animal relative to the height of the milker. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Safety systems are socio-cultural in nature, characterized by people, their relationships to one another and to the whole. This study aimed to (i) map the social networks of New Zealand's quality improvement and safety leaders, (ii) illuminate influential characteristics and behaviours of key network players and (iii) make recommendations regarding how networks might be optimized.Methods: Instrumental case study was done using mixed methods. Purposeful sampling was applied to collect survey data from delegates at two national safety and quality forums (n = 85). Social network questions asked respondents who influenced their safety work. Key network players were identified and invited to participate in a semi-structured interview (n = 7).Results: Key players described safety systems in humanistic terms. Safety influence was determined to be a responsive relational process. Adaptive leaders broker relationships between multiple perspectives and contexts, which is essential for safe healthcare.Conclusion: Influential safety approaches appreciate the human contribution to safety. Designing the health system to adapt and respond to the needs of people, teams and communities, rather than the unilateral needs of the system, is essential. Adaptive leadership will assist in achieving these aims and will likely be embraced by New Zealand health professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Cyclone Gabrielle hit New Zealand's east coast on Valentine's Day 2023 and devastated coastal regions. Hawke's Bay was severely affected by a category 3 cyclone and unprecedented rainfall. Four main districts in the region were cut off from one another and from the outside world. There was substantial damage to transportation and communication infrastructure throughout all districts, as well as to human lives and livelihoods. Several of our dialysis patients and their families were stranded and heavily impacted by the cyclone. The disaster also affected our staffing, putting extra pressure on our already thin roster. As a team, we had to come up with creative solutions to provide dialysis treatment to all the stranded patients and ensure their welfare. Aim: To describe the difficulty in maintain our renal service in a crisis with limited communication and ensuring safety and wellbeing of our staff and patients. Methods: I will describe the impact of the cyclone, and the challenges we faced. Results: We learned the importance of establishing a renal specific emergency disaster management plan Conclusion: Despite the many challenges we faced, we were able to provide dialysis treatment for all our patients and ensure their welfare and safety. We learnt from the cyclone experience that a future-proof infrastructure is essential to maintain business as usual for specialty services like renal. Additionally, an emergency disaster management plan specific to the renal service must be established to ensure smooth operation during an acute emergency situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to provide some clarity on the due diligence duties of officers in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HASWA). Officers, such as company directors, are seen as most able to take action to improve workplace health and safety, thus Parliament imposed criminal liability on these duty-holders to improve workplace health and safety (WHS). Indeed, there is empirical evidence to suggest that organisations in which officers are committed to WHS are more likely to have better WHS outcomes. To date, there have been no prosecutions against officers in New Zealand. Since the HASWA is based on the Australian Model Work Health and Safety Act 2011, this article draws on Australian jurisprudence and on some of the available empirical evidence on improving WHS to suggest how the due diligence duties might be interpreted in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives Previous studies have reported high concentrations of airborne fumigants and other chemicals inside unopened shipping containers, but it is unclear whether this is reflective of worker exposures. Methods We collected personal 8-h air samples using a whole-air sampling method. Samples were analysed for 1,2-dibromoethane, chloropicrin, ethylene oxide, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen phosphide, methyl bromide, 1,2-dichloroethane, C2-alkylbenzenes, acetaldehyde, ammonia, benzene, formaldehyde, methanol, styrene, and toluene. Additive Mixture Values (AMVs) were calculated using the New Zealand Workplace Exposure standard (WES) and American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Values (TLVs) of the 8-h, time-weighted average exposure limit. Linear regression was conducted to assess associations with work characteristics. Results We included 133 workers handling shipping containers, 15 retail workers unpacking container goods, 40 workers loading fumigated and non-fumigated export logs, and 5 fumigators. A total of 193 personal 8-h air measurements were collected. Exposures were generally low, with >50% below the limit of detection for most chemicals, and none exceeding the NZ WES, although formaldehyde exceeded the TLV in 26.2% of all measurements. The AMV-TLV threshold of 1 was exceeded in 29.0% of the measurements. Levels and detection frequencies of most chemicals varied little between occupational groups, although exposure to methyl bromide was highest in the fumigators (median 43 ppb) without exceeding the TLV of 1000 ppb. Duration spent inside the container was associated with significantly higher levels of ethylene oxide, C2-alkylbenzenes, and acetaldehyde, but levels were well below the TLV/WES. Exposure levels did not differ between workers handling fumigated and non-fumigated containers. Conclusions Personal exposures of workers handling container cargo in New Zealand were mainly below current exposure standards, with formaldehyde the main contributor to overall exposure. However, as it is not clear whether working conditions of participants included in this study were representative of this industry as a whole, and not all relevant exposures were measured, we cannot exclude the possibility that high exposures may occur in some workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workplace wellness programmes have increased over the past years, but as yet has not been investigated in food and grocery organizations in New Zealand (NZ). The study aim was to explore the commitment of NZ Food and Grocery Council (FGC) companies in altering the workplace environment for employee health and the efficacy of the current wellness policies. Using a mixed-methods approach, FGC companies (n = 22) completed a workplace environment audit (WEA) survey. Three focus groups were held, consisting of employees (n = 20) from four of the FGC companies that completed the WEA survey. Two sets of data were then compared via methodological triangulation. The mean WEA score was 46% (p = 0.00), indicating an 'average' commitment by the FGC to health-promotion in their own workplaces. Significantly more initiatives related to improving nutrition were offered (p = 0.00) and larger food companies scored higher than smaller companies (p = 0.063). During the focus groups, employees revealed they felt workplace wellness programmes increased productivity, improved their physical health, allowed work–life balance, promoted social interaction and provided health-related education. Barriers to participating in wellness activities were identified as lack of time, working in a blue-collar position and working externally to the main office. The results of this study have large implications for companies and employers in NZ for future planning, implementation and monitoring of health initiatives in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore the ability of nurses to be adequately ready for and to respond to a disaster caused by a natural hazard. Background: During a disaster involving a healthcare facility, nurses are commonly the largest group of healthcare workers impacted. The range of problems facing nurses working in healthcare facilities in Australia and New Zealand at the time of disasters triggered by earthquakes and bushfires have been underexamined. Methods: A qualitative enquiry was used to explore matters facing nurses working in residential healthcare facilities during a natural disaster. Inductive thematic analysis was used to identify the key themes from fifteen in‐depth interviews with nurses. Findings: Participants preserved a robust sense of professional duty, personal obligation and responsibility to their family, patients and the facility, demonstrating the ability to adapt, cope and respond despite experiencing diverse personal, structural and organizational barriers. Discussion: Support was provided for using interactive systems and socio‐ecological frameworks to better understand the contributions that individuals, teams and organizations make to facilitate the development and maintenance of adaptive capacity and resilience in a nursing workforce. An ecological model of adaptive capacity can be operationalized to guide education, training for nurses and the development of organizational systems and strategies. Conclusion: This study identified factors that help and hinder a nursing workforce's ability to prepared for, adapt to and learn from natural hazard disasters. Implications for Nursing Policy: This understanding of disaster preparedness and how this may be applied to enable the growth of adaptive nurses provides an insight for a global audience which also adds to nurse education, service delivery, organizational and policy development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODUCTION: In August 2016 contamination of the local water supply resulted in a significant gastroenteritis outbreak in Hawke's Bay. The significance of the initial test result was recognised early, partly as a result of information provided by a Havelock North pharmacist to health authorities about an unusual number of requests for anti-diarrhoeal medication. AIM: To describe the breadth of activities undertaken by pharmacists working in Hawke's Bay in August 2016, following Campylobacter jejuni contamination of the public water supply in Havelock North, New Zealand. METHODS: All pharmacists and hospital pharmacy management staff working in Hawke's Bay in 2017 were eligible to complete the qualitative online questionnaire. Additionally, information was requested from stakeholders with known relevant experiences. Free-text responses were thematically analysed using a general inductive approach. RESULTS: Thirteen pharmacists and two ancillary staff from community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, general practice, management, emergency response and dispensary management responded to the survey. Analysis of responses revealed three overarching themes and six sub-themes. The first was public wellbeing, with sub-themes of community information, local emergency response and pharmacy operational management. The second was pharmaceutical distribution, with a sub-theme of stock management. The third theme was clinical medicine management, with sub-themes of acute symptom management and medicine management. DISCUSSION: The pharmacy profession appears to have played an important role in public wellbeing, pharmaceutical distribution and medicine therapy management during the outbreak. It is likely that through their actions, responding pharmacists reduced demand on other primary care services and prevented hospitalisations. Further research directions include exploring the effectiveness of community pharmacists in public health surveillance and the use of endorsed public health information to ensure consistent delivery of health messages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loading and unloading of container goods is carried out using cranes and truck containers as a means of transportation besides facilitating activities, which can also lead to the risk of workplace accidents. In 2014 there was a work accident in Kuningan Jakarta, workers were crushed by a container during the loading and unloading process. Container loading and unloading is a routine activity carried out at PT. Pelabuhan Indonesia II (Persero) Palembang Branch. This activity involves tools that can cause accidents such as being hit by a container and hit by a truck head, therefore a risk assessment is carried out on container loading and unloading work. The purpose of this study was to analyze occupational safety risk assessments on container loading and unloading work. This study uses a qualitative research design, using Job Safety Analysis (JSA) for the risk identification process, the US / NZ 4360: 1999 semi-quantitative risk assessment table for risk analysis and semi-quantitative risk level Cross (1988) for risk evaluation. The results of the study indicate that container loading and unloading work consists of the preparation stage, the operation phase of the QCC and the stage of moving containers. The risks identified based on the stage of work are overtaken by containers, falling from heights, collisions between head trucks, falling lifts, hit by a lock lock, getting hit by a truck head, falling into the river, collisions between QCCs and electric shock. The hazards included in the acceptable risk category include being crushed by repair equipment, hands pinched, tripping, slipping lubricants and head banging. The suggestion of this research is that all activities in the field should be carried out in accordance with the applicable regulations and supervision should be carried out more specifically in the use of PPE and conduct periodic health checks on workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Based on the research findings the authors derive propositions for further research to explore the role of safety and ethical leadership in enhancing health and safety performance within New Zealand companies. The paper aims to discuss this issue. Design/methodology/approach: Based on quantitative and qualitative health and safety data collected by Börner in New Zealand and analysed in the (unpublished) Master Thesis of Lassowski "Supporting Aspects of Organisational culture on Occupational Health and Safety" (2014) the authors will examine in this paper the responses of company governance and senior leadership to reports made from front-line staff about their perception of the safety culture and (potential) threats to health and safety. Findings: The data indicate that company governance and senior leadership are sometimes reluctant to give adequate responses to employee reporting and fail to take effective measures to protect people and the business. Research limitations/implications: Directors and senior leaders need to be vigilant that the company systems remain compliant with Health and Safety legislation and are aligned with best practices in the sector/organisation. Reports from employees using company systems on a daily basis are vital to assure that those systems work as they should, and that action can be taken when (potential) threats to health and safety are reported. Originality/value: The workplace has a significant influence on injury, illness, fatalities and threats to environmental, community and individual wellbeing and this influence can be positive or negative. The research explores the link between the ethics of organisational leadership and its influence on workplace health and safety climate and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]