CEO's Update 3/3/20

Kia ora koutou katoa members and supporters, I was lucky enough to attend the first summit in Wellington for Association and Not For Profit Leaders last week. It was 2 days focused on delivering value, enriching benefits and driving profile for our members. It was time well spent listening to CEOs/Directors/ Presidents of some of New Zealand’s leading associations.

Graeme Muller, CEO of NZTech, was a real highlight. He brought together many organisations operating in the tech industry in New Zealand to form a super agency focused on supporting those working within the tech sector in NZ. His story resonated because of their ability to engage, support and build the strength of a community of professionals with a shared interest, reiterating the power of being inside the tent.

Our mission at NZISM is to lead the way for the health and safety profession in New Zealand. We are working on this in a variety of ways for our members but also by supporting key networks within the profession, such as the Emerging Safety Leaders, Women in Safety Excellence and most recently the Community of Safety Innovation, which you will hear more about over the coming months.

NZISM is increasingly acknowledged and sought out as the credible, trusted authority on the health and safety profession. As a signatory to the Singapore Accord and Board member of INSHPO – the International Network of Safety and Health Professional Organisations - we have been instrumental in developing and aligning our membership with a global framework for practice. This means that our accredited members are measured against a global competency framework. New Zealand Universities are now understanding the value of this alignment, with Victoria University being the first New Zealand University to use the INSHPO framework to develop their health and safety curriculum.

We cannot understate the value that our leadership position within this international network has. With our President, Greg Dearsly, now the Vice President of INSHPO, our role within the international community will continue to grow. This is evident in the latest project released by INSHPO, in which Greg was involved; the OHS Position Description Builder. If you are looking at developing JDs and want to use the INSHPO framework to do this, have a look here and work your way through the process, which is free and open for all to use.

We will soon be releasing a self-assessment tool, with which you can identify and measure your capability using the NZISM accreditation framework. This tool will be useful for those members who wish to understand how they fit within a global framework, what their gaps are to reach the next stage in the NZISM accreditation programme, or what knowledge they need to start their journey as an OHS practitioner/professional.

This week renewal emails will be sent, reminding you to renew your membership for the 2020 year. I hope you will continue to see the value that membership to NZISM provides. We have more projects, more events and more opportunities for our members to engage, network and develop throughout the upcoming year and I look forward to sharing this journey with you.

Ngā mihi,

Selena Armstrong