In this issue ...
Happy New Year!
Now that 2017 has arrived, it’s a great time to update you on what’s happening with the Safety Star Rating Initiative (SSR).
Between November 2015 and June 2016, 95 businesses took part in the SSR pilot to test the effectiveness, relevance and value of the proposed tool. Thank you to everyone who took part – we appreciate it!
The pilot provided us with plenty of information to help refine the tool design before Ministers and Boards consider the next steps. Below you’ll find a summary of what we’ve learned and what’s coming up.
What businesses said about the pilot
"SSR’s actually delving into how things are, rather than what’s written. It’s a fairer reflection and fairer test on safety systems."
Research NZ completed an independent evaluation of the SSR pilot that provided valuable insights into the relevance and effectiveness of the assessment tool.
Businesses said SSR has good potential to drive health and safety improvement. It’s a good tool for assessing behaviour and identifying areas for improvement.
For high-performing businesses, the pilot provided credible evidence that they are on track and have the right approaches in place to improve health and safety performance. This gave them greater confidence, which they valued.
For other businesses the SSR assessment was an effective way to identify improvement areas. They said it provided useful guidance, especially around risk assessment and work-related health issues.
Businesses valued the ‘deep dive’ approach of the assessment, which traces three key risks from senior management through to frontline workers and contractors.
Businesses saw the behaviour-based consultative assessment approach, with its focus on interviews and worker observation rather than documentation review, as more valuable than other health and safety standards products on the market.
Businesses valued this approach as a way to understand exactly what is going on in the workplace and assess the effectiveness of their health and safety performance.
The evaluation provided examples of businesses that have taken the SSR feedback on board and are actively implementing recommendations. For example, a work-related health risk of silica dust was identified during an assessment and the business is now putting controls in place to mitigate this risk.
Also in this issue:
- Health and safety trends from the pilot onsite assessments
- Industry involvement
- Next steps
- SSR and ACC products
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