a force to be reckoned with

By Irene Volschenk

ACT Safety Ltd is a private Health and Safety training provider, accredited by NZQA as

a Category 1 PTE providing Health and Safety Industry training to the New

Zealander workforce for the past 13 years. With our all-around approach to services,

from providing H&S audits, consultancy and developing and implementing

Health and Safety processes and systems, we work with our clients to

determine their training needs, helping them to meet their compliance

requirements and focusing on Staff development.

With our custom-built facility in East Tamaki, Auckland and soon-to-open

facility at Twigger Street in Christchurch, we provide high quality industry

training. Anyone who has trained with ACT Safety will testify to the warm and

friendly customer services team, very experienced industry trainers and of

course the excellent morning teas and lunches provided. This has

become part and parcel of who we are.

Focusing on safety is not just the right

thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) is New Zealand's key work

health and safety law. It introduced responsibilities for managing

work-related risks that can cause serious injury, illness or even death. Having

good health and safety practices in place is now more important than ever

before.

Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) from within an organisation

help make the workplace safe. Health and Safety Representative training

teaches the right skills needed to be an effective and proactive asset to the

organisation. Any unit standards completed by HSRs at Stage 2 or Stage 3 courses

can count as NZQA credits towards tertiary education, and continuous

development.

Stage one - introduction to the role of a HSR (mandatory)

  • NZQA US 29315– describes the roles and functions of the Health and

Safety Representative

  • NZQA US 30264 – Health and Safety Champion describes the duties, rights, representation, and

regulator in terms of NZ health and safety legislation

Under these HSWA all HSRs must complete initial training (stage one (1) to

be considered a trained HSR and meet the recognised (NZQA) Unit Standard

(US) 29315 for Stage 1 course. This stage will cover the importance of worker

engagement, participation, and representation, basic risk management,

purpose, and correct use of the Provisional Improvement Notice (PIN).

Stage two - investigation and managing risk

NZQA Unit Standards (US) which are generally used in stage 2 for HSR

professional development are:

  • US 30265 - Apply health and safety risk assessment to a job role
  • US 17601 - Produce an occupational health and safety incident

investigation

Interested in learning more about the Health and Safety at Work Act?

Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 No 70 (as at 13 June 2023), Public Act Contents –

New Zealand Legislation

Why not check out our Health and Safety Representative Courses which have

been specially designed for H&S graduates, co-ordinators, administrators,

new advisers or H&S Reps who want to develop their H&S knowledge further.

For all other courses available visit our website www.actsafety.co.nz or

contact our friendly team on 0800 270 959 for training nation-wide or on your

own site.