CEO Update 27/7/22

Kia ora koutou members and supporters. One of my biggest takeaways from the Masterclass series with Dr John Green so far has been the reframing of the value add of the H&S professional/practitioner. He determined the role of the safety practitioner is to build resilience in organisations, to act as a catalyst and drive change. While there have been many attempts to define the profession, and the value we offer, this has most succinctly and clearly articulated that value proposition to me.

What Dr John Green has managed to do is hone in on the strategic value offered by the health and safety practitioner/professional.

INSHPO is currently funding research into the value proposition of the profession, hoping to quantify the value for organisations with and without health and safety practitioners/professionals. It will be interesting reading, depending on the outcome, of course! We’ll share the research with you as soon as its released.

I was in a meeting recently where a new technology solution was discussed, which will enable easier access to research for practitioners. The concept is going to be a wonderful addition to the practitioners/professional’s toolbox. However, we need to be clear that technology is another tool in the toolbox, it is not the solution. The application of knowledge needs to be undertaken in a bespoke manner, taking into account the many variables that different environments and organisations face. There is no perfect solution that can be implemented homogenously across organisations to achieve great health and safety outcomes. This is what makes the practitioners role so damned difficult. What will work well for one group of individuals/circumstances will not work for another.

The role of the practitioner/professional is to listen, engage and understand in order to look for solutions from a wide range of concepts, models and research, to determine which elements may apply to a specific set of circumstances, intuitively taking into account all the variables that exist. This is not something an IT solution can or should do, this is the value the experienced and educated Health and Safety practitioner/professional brings to the organisations they represent. It is why developing trusted relationships with the people you work with is so critical - it is how we will keep our people healthy and safe, and how we will build organisations that thrive.

Selena Armstrong

CEO, NZISM