CEO's Update 31/3/20

Kia ora koutou katoa members and supporters. As I sit to write this newsletter I am in the same seat, in the same office I usually work from. We are all remote workers at NZISM, so not much has changed from that perspective for the team. However, in the background, the normal silence of my home is broken by the scream of children as they argue with their Dad about whether or not potato stix are a healthy lunch option. Doors slam and the dog continues to snore at my feet.

My schedule, while adjusted and reduced, looks like it always has. However, the change for my kids and my husband will not be as easy to navigate. He’s an industrial electrician for a manufacturer of a non-essential business, so he is not working and while supplies last, is using this time to tackle projects around the house that he has been putting off. While all the social media advice is to let your kids have a holiday and not worry about school work for a few weeks, this won’t work for our family. My kids need some structure and routine to help them normalise the situation, and I need to keep them occupied while I work, so we have developed and agreed a work plan. It's light on effort, but heavy on activities, so they don’t find themselves stuck with nothing to do. I'm hopeful this plan will help to keep them and us marginally sane and give us all the space and routine we need. It’s a plan, which means it could move, change or blow up completely, but it’s a start.

I'm also aware that this situation has had a huge impact on the livelihood of many of our members. While some are busier than ever, others have had work completely disappear. This is a tenuous time and we have come up with a few solutions to help those of you who may be struggling with renewing your membership right now. We know we are asking you to commit to NZISM for another year when there is so much uncertainty. What I can promise is that we will work hard to further develop our resources, turn face-to-face networking opportunities into online sessions that can be shared across the national network and we will focus on getting you access to some of New Zealand’s leading health and safety professionals via webinars and zoom meetings.

Something that NZISM prides itself on is its independence. As a not-for-profit membership association our Number 1 priority is our members, so when we develop content, engage speakers and look for CPD opportunities, you can be assured it's credible advice, from trusted sources, delivered by volunteers who are passionate about the health and safety of New Zealand workplaces. We have prepared a list of valuable resources on our COVID-19 page, and have a few different CPD opportunities coming up; check out our Events page to see what is scheduled over the lockdown period.

I received some good advice this week: Do one thing every day that keeps you learning, one thing that gets you active, and one thing that brings you joy. Have you and your loved ones worked out a plan to adjust to the current situation? What helpful tips have you got for getting through and have you found resources that would benefit other members? We would love to hear your stories and solutions for navigating this new world - please feel free to share these on our social pages, which will be our main source of communication with members between our fortnightly newsletter. If you haven’t signed up to our Facebook or LinkedIn pages, now is the time to get connected. Meanwhile we will continue to bring you all the resources we can find, to help you learn throughout this time, keeping you engaged, informed and connected.

Stay safe, be kind to yourself and to others.

Kia kaha,
Selena