I started writing about director’s health and safety duties in 2019 when the decision from the Forest View High School came out. See Waikato school board fined $100k after teacher, student seriously injured in scaffold fall. I never managed to finish it because:
- I’ve got a school-aged son and I can’t imagine him coming home with brain damage.
- I don’t volunteer a lot and I have the utmost respect for those people who give their time to be on school boards, community groups and trusts. NOTE: if you are on a School Board of Trustees or Not for Profit Board your personal liability will be limited; however, that doesn’t stop the Board as a whole having to face the courts.
Unfortunately, the issue of a corporate board member being sued has come up again this month. An Australian company director was given a hefty fine and prison sentence. See: Company director jailed for a year and fined $1m over workplace death. This was as a result of a 62-year-old roofer dying on a worksite in 2014. If you are wondering if the NZ courts will pay attention to what is going on in Australia, the answer is yes.
What Happened at Forest View High School?
- The Risk: A mobile scaffold was being used to set up stage lighting in June 2018. There was no safety plan in place for working at heights and a mobile scaffold is definitely STICKY (Sh*t that could kill you).
- Life-Changing Injuries: The student and teacher, were knocked unconscious and suffered serious lacerations, fractures and brain injuries when the scaffold collapsed.
- Information Failure: The school and Ministry of Education repeatedly failed to provide information under the Official Information Act and release documents that the court requested access too.
- Beyond the fines and reparations: The board has also been ordered to prepare and present a safety presentation at the National Conference of the School Trustees Association in 2020. This will detail what happened and what has been done to stop a similar incident reoccurring
Director’s Health and Safety Duties – What does it all mean in 2020?
There are some excellent resources out there, I always recommend that people start with the NZ Institute of Directors Health and safety governance guide.
The Ministry of Education also has a guide for Health and Safety requirements for boards and school leaders that was published in 2017. This is worth reading no matter what your business does. It’s written in simple ‘Talk to me like a two-year-old’ terms and has some excellent tables and diagrams that demystify what needs to be done at all levels of an organisation.
The key takeaways are: p.g. 7
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 works to focus effort on what matters, based on risk, control and size:
- It reinforces “proportionality” – what a board needs to do depends on its level of risk and what it can control
- It shifts from hazard “spotting” to actively managing critical risks – actions that are intended to reduce workplace harm
- It introduces the “reasonably practicable” concept – focusing attention on what’s reasonable for a board as a PCBU [Person in Charge of a business or undertaking] to do.
- It changes the focus from the physical workplace to the conduct of work – what the board as a PCBU actually does and so what it can control
- It supports more effective worker engagement and participation – promoting flexibility to suit [organisation] size and situation.
Board of Directors 2020 To-Do List
Every organisation needs to:
- Identify hazards and their associated risks
- Educate the team about their HSE duties, role and responsibilities
- Have policies that are led by management and understood by workers
- Hold regular training meetings
- Engages workers in H&S matters that affect them i.e. what type of safety gloves do we use? Do they work?
- Carry out frequent audits
- Report and review injuries and incidents
- Report and monitor HSE Goals
As always, if you have any questions or anything else to add in regards to director’s health and safety duties please email sarah@employmenow.co.nz or call 0272 007 680.
Have a safe and productive week.
Best,
SB