Information provided to Outdoors New Zealand by the Department of Labour Download this document now 20-3-09
The sentencing of the Sir Edmund Hillary Outdoor Pursuits Centre (OPC) over the death of six students and one teacher in a canyon trekking accident may have prompted some adventure tourism providers to review their own safety management systems and legal obligations.
The Health and Safety in Employment (HSE) Act should not prevent people from providing outdoors education and adventure tourism activities. The aim of the Act is to encourage and promote the safe and prudent management of activities – not to stop them.
This tragic case is, however, a reminder to providers to review their health and safety policies and procedures, especially when arranging adventure tourism activities involving young people. Organisations should also regularly review their health and safety processes and practices to ensure they are up-to-date for any changes in circumstances.
They should also seek out best-practice information from relevant industry organisations.
The HSE Act clearly puts the primary responsibility for managing health and safety on employers and other people in control of the “workplace” – which in the case of the adventure tourism industry can be the location where the outdoor activity is taking place.
Employers and people in charge of a workplace are required to take reasonable steps to prevent employees and others in the workplace from being harmed.
The Act emphasises that they should do this by taking a systematic approach to managing health and safety at work. Relying solely on the expertise of your instructors is not a systematic approach to safety.
A good health and safety management plan should cover:
Hazard management – identify hazards then take action to (in order of preference) eliminate the hazards, isolate them, or minimise employees’ exposure. Regularly check your controls are working.
Informing employees – before people start work tell them about hazards in the workplace, safety procedures, and the location of safety equipment. Update them on any changes.
Training and supervision – train staff in safe work practices and ensure these are followed.
Employee participation – involve employees and their representatives. They have a good idea of the hazards in the workplace and possible solutions.
Incident investigations – ask staff to report injuries and incidents. Investigate, and take action to prevent them happening again. Serious injuries must be reported to the Department of Labour. Set up a system to make sure this happens.
Emergency readiness – when an emergency happens it is too late to decide what you should do. Now is the time to prepare your emergency procedures and equipment.
Contractor management – keep contractors safe from hazards and find out what hazards they bring into your workplace.
It’s important that your health and safety management plan includes systems for ensuring that safety procedures are actually followed. Safety systems are no good if people don’t follow them.
Help creating your own health and safety system
Some industry organisations offer guidelines or best practice information about safety practices. Also make sure you obtain and follow any safety and maintenance information provided by equipment manufacturers.
The following links have easy to use and practical information to help you develop a health and safety system suitable for your workplace.
www.acc.co.nz/injury-prevention/work-safety/acc-worksafe-cycle/index.htm
www.acc.co.nz/injury-prevention/work-safety/small-business-sme/index.htm
www.dol.govt.nz/onlinetools/index.asp
The Department of Labour’s Hazard Handler is a free online tool that can help you identify and manage common hazards www.dol.govt.nz/onlinetools/index.asp. The site also has other useful tools – like a free do-it-yourself employment agreement that fulfils the legal obligation for every employee (full, casual or part-time) to have a written employment agreement.
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