Key note speakers

Hon. Michael Wood

Minister of Workplace Relations & Safety

Michael was first elected to Parliament at the 2016 Mt Roskill by-election. In opposition he was Labour’s spokesperson for Transport, Revenue, and Consumer Affairs, and after the election he had roles as Parliamentary Under-Secretary to the Minister for Ethnic Communities and Chair of the Finance & Expenditure Select Committee, before coming into the Chief Labour Whip role in mid-2019.

Following the 2020 General Election, Michael became a sworn Member of the Executive and was appointed by the Rt Hon Jacinda Ardern as the Minister of Transport and Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety. He was also given the role of Deputy Leader of the House.

Michael also continues a strong association with New Zealand’s vibrant and growing Ethnic Communities owing to his previous role and the highly diverse nature of the Mt Roskill electorate he represents.

Prior to his parliamentary role Michael was an Auckland Council member in his community and has held roles providing advice to Habitat for Humanity and as a senior negotiator for the Finance Sector union Finsec.

Michael is driven by the core belief that all people deserve the opportunity to flourish and reach their potential regardless of background, and that this is most likely to occur when we build strong, fair, and supportive communities. He believes that an economy and public institutions that are focused on people’s wellbeing will lead to a society that is both more prosperous and just.

Along with his wife Julie and their three young sons, Michael lives in Roskill South where he loves to tramp along the Waikowhai Coast, tends to a very neglected vegetable garden, and dreams of an alternative career as a roving international test cricket commentator.

Phil Parkes

CEO WorkSafe New Zealand

Phil is the Chief Executive of WorkSafe. Taking up the role in 2020, Phil has held several leadership positions at WorkSafe since 2014. Phil’s previous role was Chief Operating Officer, leading our Operations Group of over 300 employees, including High Hazards, Energy and Public Safety, Health and Safety Innovation, Operational Excellence, our General Inspectorate, Specialist Interventions, and Health and Technical Services.

Phil also brings extensive regulatory and leadership experiences from previous roles in local and central government in New Zealand and the UK. Phil joined WorkSafe from the New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority. He was General Manager Policy and Legal, leading the implementation of a new regulatory framework for environmental effects of off-shore petroleum and mineral activities in the Exclusive Economic Zone.

Phil has a BSc (Hons) in Environmental Health and an MSc in Environmental Management and has completed an executive leadership course with Mt Eliza Business School.

Frank O'Connor

Chartered Organisational Psychologist

Our emphasis is on safety-making now and for the future, rather than detection or treatment of issues or mental health. It’s how we get value out of ISO 45003, the guidelines for managing psychosocial risks in workplaces. Who better to help us develop a practical, adaptable approach than Frank O'Connor, who was on the global technical committee responsible for developing ISO 45003?

Doing something about psychosocial risks... A harm-reduction workshop

The process Frank will use will be familiar to those who use an SMS, but he will be dealing with a more variable range of risks and impacts than usual. Expect a workshop that will:

• prepare you with an approach that is both effective and sustainable
• help you choose which risks need tackling first, and to win support with “Why?”
• show you how to watch what you achieve, so you can keep going, adapt and expand.

You’ll use your own examples of concerns, risks, harms and hurdles but can choose how much you want to share with the people you are sitting with. In practice, we’ll use how you approach physical risks and impacts with causes of mental or social harms and there will be three universal aspects of trouble at work we will look at together. There are things that don’t work, and we’ll look at why. Mostly, we’ll explore the tools and pointers that are available to support you.

You’ll go away with some action priorities, points of influence to win buy-in, and practical ideas on how you can push through the fog to get something done about real harm being done to people at your work - and measure the change, so you can justify doing more.

We’ll have some fun along the way.

Bio

Frank O’Connor has been a specialist management consultant “getting the best out of people at work” around New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific for over three decades, working with many private and public sector businesses, including high-risk sectors. He works with the tension between business completion and safety of personnel in several jurisdictions.

Based in Wellington, Frank was on the global technical committee developing ISO 45003 Occupation health and safety management - Psychological health and safety at work. Guidelines for managing psychosocial risks, published in June 2021. Earlier work with members of the Canadian National Standard development team created a way of reporting change against baseline levels of harm to evaluate effects of steps to reduce harms without having to quantify the harm averted. Reporting population or workforce levels of risk and of incidence of losses of mental or social safety, for example, makes sense to Boards and senior managers.

Given recent law changes, Frank recently rewrote a book chapter on legal obligations of psychologists working in organisations, spanning safety, employment, privacy, and conflicts of interest between needs of individual employees and the organisation. He has also workshopped and written guidelines for making safer change in workplaces across Asia-Pacific. He is a Chartered Organisational Psychologist, and a Life Fellow and past-President of the New Zealand Psychological Society.

Helen Mason

Master of Ceremony

Your MC is for the conference is Helen Mason.

Helen is a health and safety consultant and trainer at Coolspring Consulting. She has worked as a consultant for over 20 years and has trained extensively in both the public and private sector.

Helen focuses on long-term partnerships with the organisations she works with and she has helped SME's, large multinational corporates, and not-for-profits to more effectively manage health and safety in the workplace.

He Ara Hauora - a contemporary approach to workplace wellbeing

Andy's case study will outline the development and implementation of an employee wellbeing framework at Ara Institute of Canterbury, taking us on a journey from wellbeing theory to practice in a medium/large organisation. The case study involves a medium/large organisation but the concepts covered are relevant to all organisations. You will learn:

• the importance of a framework that includes initiatives at Organisation, Team, and Individual levels
• the value of building wellbeing language and literacy, including the language of psycyhosocial risk management
• examples of interventions at each level
• the hidden agenda behind wellbeing surveys

Andy Hearn

Andy Hearn is an experienced Wellbeing, Safety & Performance Specialist and Professional Member of the NZISM. He has previously held senior wellbeing roles at the Canterbury DHB (leading the staff wellbeing response following the Canterbury earthquakes) and at Ara Institute of Canterbury (developing an evidence based, systemic focus on staff wellbeing). The latter role coinciding with the Christchurch Mosque attacks and the onset of COVID-19.

Andy’s approach to wellbeing draws on his own experience of major depression and significant physical injury (broken neck). His work has been recognised nationally (Winner NZ Workplace Wellbeing Award, 2013; Finalist NZ Workplace H&S Awards, 2015, 2016), and he recently presented a six-part webinar series on workplace wellbeing for New Zealand Institute of Safety Management.

Respiratory protection management

Respiratory protection is an important tool for managing exposure to hazardous substances. An effective Respiratory Protection Programme is critical - but it is also more complex than you might think. Identifying that a respirator is needed is just the start point. There are a series of steps that need to be completed before the operator can use it effectively in the field.

Who better to explain than Bridgette Jennings, Managing Director of Chemsafety? Bridgette will take us through the steps, explain the common pitfalls, and provide us with a better understanding of respiratory protection management.

Bridgette Jennings

Bridgette is Managing Director and Principal Occupational Hygienist at Chemsafety. She is a full member of the NZOHS, is on the HASANZ Register, and is the current chair of FAMANZ (Faculty of Asbestos Management, Australia and New Zealand).

As an Occupational Hygienist, Bridgette enjoys working with clients to determine their level of health risk and to implement controls to protect their workers. Respiratory protection plays a big part in managing risk to inhalation hazards - as we've realised with COVID-19 - and Bridgette has has been working with many organisations to ensure they have effective respiratory protection programmes in place.

Time to get serious about skin cancer

Chelsea will be revealing the concerning statistics relating to skin cancer in NZ and globally before taking a closer look at:

• cancer's impact on the NZ workplace
• what is Ultraviolet Radiation and how does it affect us
• Risk Factors - what is modifiable and what is not
• how UV affects outdoor workers

Chelsea Langman

Chelsea has over 16 years' experience working in the skin cancer speciality as a Registered Nurse and Dermoscopist.

She has a passion for preventative health and implementation of technology to aid in healthcare services. Chelsea’s business Skin Aware implements workplace skin cancer programmes through education, screening and the empowerment of one’s own health.

Bullying and harassment

Gwen Drewitt

Gwen is a Special Counsel in Lane Neave's Christchurch team, specialising in employment and health and safety issues. She represents both employers and employees and has appeared in the Employment Court.

She has substantial experience in a range of employment matters, including:

• guiding clients through disciplinary, grievance and performance management processes;
• advising on redundancies and restructures;
• providing assistance with settlement negotiations;
• Employment Authority proceedings.

Gwen practiced for several years in the UK before working in New Zealand.

Know Better, Do Better: Migrant worker engagement into Health & Safety in the dairy industry in mid-Canterbury

NZISM Breakout Session

The New Zealand dairy industry has witnessed a steep growth in the number of workers coming in from the Philippines to work on dairy farms. Like any dairy farm worker, there is a responsibility to keep these migrant workers safe while working. However, with a different cultural background and a different understanding of health and safety, it can be challenging to build engagement on the farm.

I will be sharing my research findings which addresses the question: “How can we better engage our Filipino dairy farm workers, in Mid-Canterbury, with Health & Safety on farm?”

Jane Fowles

Jane has lived in Ashburton for the past 8 years working in agriculturally based OHS/HR advisory. Currently she is People & Culture Officer for Dairy Holdings Ltd.

Jane has over 15 years’ experience in OHS and HR across Canterbury, Marlborough and Wellington areas in private, public, and tertiary environments. She holds a Bachelor of Commerce & Administration (1st Class Hons), in Human Resources, and a Graduate Diploma in Professional Practice with a Distinction in Occupational Health & Safety.

She is an NZISM Certified Professional, is listed on the HASANZ Register, and is also Kellogg Rural Leader 2022

Targeted Complex Interventions: WorkSafe working as a conduit

Under Karl's lead, WorkSafe has developed a proactive initiative known as a Targeted Complex Intervention (TCI). It is a collaborative approach designed to improve the health and safety performance of large scale PCBUs with a history of under performance. The first TCI, which generated significant media attention, was the intervention with Talley's Group.

Karl will explain how a TCI works, the two main lenses that WorkSafe employs to guide cultural change within the PCBU, and the difficult truths that a PCBU might have to face during the process. Whilst the TCI approach is collaborative by nature, and can nurture strong professional relationships between WorkSafe and the PCBU, enforcement options are never off the table.

Karl Maddaford

Karl Maddaford is National Manager, Critical Response at WorkSafe NZ. He heads a team responsible for managing our major incident response, victim services, coronial services, and proactive intervention functions. These focus on being supported by a lessons learnt process.

Karl brought both national and international experience to the role, with a career including service with the United Nations and the New Zealand Defence Force. He was seconded by NZDF to the Pike River Recovery Agency.

How does a Nurse Practitioner impact on an employee's performance and productivity?

Facilitating and managing injuries and illnesses in the workplace can be challenging and each workplace presents a range of different approaches.

As a NP, Katherine works alongside those who are responsible for the day-to-day health, wellness and safety of their staff. The NP’s scope of practice enables employees to have easy access to early intervention and management through the onsite clinic. This care is delivered with compassion; it ensures consistency and collaboration with multiple providers while maintaining control over case direction.

The goal is always to enable the best possible outcome for the employee in the timeliest manner.

Katherine Archer

Katherine’s experience is broad. She has worked as an RN across both primary and secondary care and developed her nursing business, Impact Health NZ, in 2004. She is contracted to provide health services to a wide variety of workplaces across the country while based in Hawkes Bay.

Katherine has a rural farming background and is well placed to work in the Primary Industry setting. Consultations occur in a variety of settings, including at packhouses and orchards, meat processing plants, engineering and power companies.

Katherine has a Post Grad Cert in Cardiac Rehabilitation, a Certificate in Nicotine Dependence from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and is a Lincoln University Kellogg’s Rural Leadership Scholar. She completed her Masters of Nursing with Honours at Massey University in 2014 and was accepted as a Nurse Practitioner in 2018.

Taku kaha Taku Whanau - My strength is my whanau

The people in our organisation are our greatest asset - we need to value them, nurture and respect them. Phyllis comes from a large whanau who were really clear about their roles and responsibilities, especially the role played in nurturing and caring for each other.

Phyllis will share her whanau stories and align this to organisational development and how we can build and maintain a thriving, vibrant, healthy, and happy organisation.

Phyllis Tangitu

Phyllis has worked in health for 33 years, mostly in mental health and addictions and recently in general Mãori Health. She has had the privilege of working locally, regionally, and nationally supporting organisations to understand Te Tiriti o Waitangi and its application, and more importantly the processes and journey that we need to take to understand and apply what is needed to improve health outcomes for Mãori and eliminate equity.

Phyllis has been supporting NZOHNA in refreshing their strategy vision and values to align with the current health environment. Phyllis and Nicky will provide an update on this development.

Lessons from a serial auditor

Auditing is a fun activity - or at least in Robyn’s opinion! In this session, Robyn will be giving delegates an overview of some practicalities when undertaking a health and safety audit. She will be covering:

• The benefits and weaknesses of audit
• The current audit tools in the market
• When to use audit
• Choosing an auditor

Robyn Bennett

Robyn is a registered ACC AEP and ISO 45001:2018 Auditor, Safe Plus assessor and was previously the manager of ACC’s Audit Programme Suite.

She brings both an academic and pragmatic approach to health and safety, and has a passion for helping people to find realistic solutions to health and safety challenges.

She is a Director at health and safety consultancy, AvidPlus, and is President of NZISM.

Local Exhaust Ventilation

LEV awareness is increasing but...

• How much do we really understand?
• Where should we start?
• How can we develop the competence to tackle LEV?

Find out from Sage Robinson who will also be directing us towards some great reference material.

Dr Sage Robinson

Sage has wealth of knowledge from multiple high-risk industries including the petrochemical and superconductor sectors, and leads the Occupational Hygiene division at Safe and Sound Solutions. He has formal qualifications in Chemistry, Hygiene and Safety; is an active member of both NZOHS and NZISM; and is listed on the HASANZ register.

New Zealand workers are 10-15 times more likely to die from exposure to agents hazardous to health, than from a workplace safety event. His passion for occupational hygiene stems from addressing this imbalance and knowing that every day we are improving workers lives through the education of workers and the assessment and control of workplace health hazards.

Supporting the success of Health and Safety Reps through a capability framework aligned to the H&S profession

NZISM breakout session

NZISM has been engaged by WorkSafe to deliver a set of capabilities for HSRs to articulate the knowledge, skills and attributes that set an HSR up for success.

In an interactive workshop, Selena will be discussing the capability framework that has been drafted and will be seeking input and feedback from the profession to refine and ensure that the elements identified align with the needs of your HSRs.

She will also be updating attendees on the overarching HSR programme of work that WorkSafe are leading

Selena Armstrong

Selena is Chief Executive of NZISM. She joined NZISM in 2017 and represents NZISM on various external committees including the HASANZ Workforce Development Governance Group; the WorkSafe Education Working Group; and the Crowded Places Business Advisory Group.

Selena is an experienced executive leader, with a demonstrated history in non-profit organisation management. She is passionate about growing leadership diversity, delivering an exceptional member experience, and supporting others to achieve success.

She has a Bachelor of Business (B.Bus) in International Business and Management