Health and Safety Governance: A Good Practice Guide

New Zealand directors must actively play their part to improve health and safety outcomes in Aotearoa New Zealand, say Institute of Directors (IoD) GM Governance Leadership Centre Guy Beatson and WorkSafe New Zealand Chair Jennifer Kerr.

The IoD and WorkSafe have released a new resource – Health and Safety Governance: A Good Practice Guide – to help directors and other “officers”, as they are known under legislation, find ways to improve their own organisations’ performance.

“Research by the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum shows our health and safety performance continues to flatline, when compared to Australia and the UK,” says Beatson.

“A survey by the Forum in March 2024 found 90 per cent of business leaders feel the government should prioritise improving our health and safety performance, and there was a general sentiment that guidance and regulation around health and safety should be clarified and simplified.” 

Produced in association with the Business Leaders Health and Safety Forum, the General Manager Safety Forum, and WorkSafe, the guide outlines a principles-based approach and a focus on understanding and managing risk.

“While the ultimate goal is to reduce workplace fatalities and injuries, a governance approach that focuses on statistics will not necessarily achieve that outcome,” Beatson says.

“We advocate that boards take a lead by looking beyond the statistics to understand the entire health and safety ecosystem. For example, do they get reports on risks that have not, fortunately, led to an incident yet? They should also seek to understand the perspectives of their workers and incorporate these into board thinking, alongside the advice of industry experts.

“Courageous and honest conversations around the board table have the potential to improve our health and safety record more than further tinkering with regulations at a government level,” he says.

“WorkSafe, Aotearoa New Zealand’s primary work health and safety regulator, is pleased to support this revised guide which was developed by industry for industry,” says Jennifer Kerr.

“It is great to see businesses taking a lead and supporting those in roles like mine with resources on what good governance looks like in relation to work health and safety.

“This guide offers invaluable advice and practical guidance on how those in governance roles can contribute to better work health and safety outcomes,” says Kerr.

It is supported by a quick guide to the essentials of health and safety governance, and a self-assessment tool boards can use to  measure their current approach against best-practice.

Health and Safey Governance: A Good Practice Guide is a new version of what was known as “the Blue Book.”