Happy Holidays - and Thank You

Foremost a huge thanks to our 2,800+ amazing members. I’ve visited the majority of branches and have met with hundreds of NZISM members up and down Aotearoa. I’ve been struck by the care that you show for working people, the community in our branches, and the quality of the conversations we’ve had. Health and safety people are great people and I feel privileged everyday to work with and for you.

Now - before we break for some deserved R&R - is a good time for some reflection and thanks for everything that we have achieved this year.

1,146 of our members have taken the important step of becoming accredited. More than three quarters of our accredited members are at Professional or above. Thank you for your commitment to lifting professional standards.

I want to thank our 120+ volunteers who run our 14 branches, 5 sector forums, Women in Safety & Health Excellence, Accreditation, CPD, mentoring, our Board and SLT. You are the heart of our organisation and I’ve learned a huge amount from you. We are lucky to have some truly exceptional people volunteering for NZISM.

We also get a lot done. I’ve counted the events for the year on the NZISM website and we’ve delivered 306 events in 2024; almost every day, an NZISM event happened somewhere across the country. Thank you to the presenters and volunteers and attendees who made that happen.

Special thanks to those who have been pushing for better through the health and safety reform process. Your voices have been strong and loud and we have a great platform to lobby on and many allies across the system. I suspect that we will see the Ministers’ thoughts early next year (my sources suggest March or April).

I also want to thank our 36 brilliant sponsors. Thank you for sharing our mission to improve health and safety and for your great work. I’ve been lucky to visit many of our sponsors this year and see the great work that you do to improve safety and health in New Zealand.

Finally, I want to thank my small but perfectly formed National Office team. I am consistently amazed by the results that you get for our members and the mountains that you move (sometimes armed only with a teaspoon).

To everyone in the NZISM family, happy holidays and please have a safe and relaxing break. Try not to become one of the statistics that ACC quotes around Christmas injuries (ham is a particular risk as it turns out).

Ngā mihi

Jeff

Jeff Sissons, NZISM CEO