Creating a Safety Climate in New Zealand – Moving
beyond Pike River and the Taskforce Report
Date and Time: Tuesday 3 September, 9am-4.20pm (registration from 8.30am)
Venue: Victoria University of Wellington, Pipitea Campus
Government Buildings Lecture Theatre 1 (GBLT1)
Cost: $135
Overview
The tragedy at the Pike River Coal Mine and the ongoing loss of lives in workplace
accidents has brought into sharp focus the issues that New Zealand faces in terms of
workplace health and safety. The Report of the Independent Taskforce on Workplace
Health and Safety in New Zealand, with its comprehensive and far-reaching
recommendations, proposes a revolution in the way in which we deal with the issue.
This seminar aims to flesh out the recommendations through expert comment from
researchers and policy people, workplace managers, unions and practitioners in the
field.
The seminar is organised by the Industrial Relations Centre and the Victoria University
School of Law as part of our programme to foster discussion, research and education in
the area of employment and work.
For further information:
Sue Ryall, Centre Manager, Industrial Relations Centre, VUW
Phone: 04 463 5143
Email: sue.ryall@vuw.ac.nz
Programme
9am
Opening address: Stephen Blumenfeld, Director, Industrial Relations Centre
9.15- 10am
The Role of regulation in
Workplace Health and Safety
Professor Gordon Anderson, School of
Law, Victoria University of Wellington
Chairperson: Stephen Blumenfeld
10.00-10.30 Morning tea in Lecture Theatre foyer
10.3011.30
Leading the Change –The
Independent Taskforce Report
and the Role of the New Agency
Paula Rose – Deputy Chair of the
Independent Taskforce and member of
the Establishment Board of WorkSafe
New Zealand
Chairperson: Stephen Blumenfeld
11.30 —
12.00
The Importance of Worker
Participation
Helen Kelly, President of NZ Council of
Trade Unions
To 12.15
Questions/Discussion on
morning sessions
Chairperson: Stephen Blumenfeld
12.15 -1.00pm LUNCH in Student Common Room, Government Buildings
1.00-2.20
‘The Motivating levers’
Chairperson: Ross Wilson
1. An Industry perspective
Bruce Cullen, Executive GM Strategy and
Risk, Downer
2. Economic Incentives –
Creating an new workplace
safety climate
Dr John Wren, Principal Research
Advisor, ACC
3. Changing the Culture –
Different Dimensions
Associate Professor Felicity Lamm, AUT
University
Panel discussion/Questions
2.20-2.40pm
2.40-4.00
Afternoon Tea in Lecture Theatre foyer
The Knowledge Levers
Chairperson: Ross Wilson
1. Increasing the Information
Michelle Poland, Senior Research and
Evaluation Advisor, MBIE
2. Increasing understanding in
OHS – The generalist
practitioner
Helen Parkes, Director, Purple Consulting
limited
3. ‘From Knowledge to
understanding’ - A Workplace
perspective
Ruma Karaitiana, CEO, BCITO
Panel Discussion/Questions
4.00-4.20
Concluding remarks
Ross Wilson, Member of the
Establishment Board of WorkSafe NZ
Presenters
Morning Session
1. Gordon Anderson (bio taken from our associates notes 2012) - Gordon teaches and
researches employment law and international trade law. He has written extensively
on employment law, especially the law of personal grievances and the development
of New Zealand labour law over the period from 1970 to the present focussing in
particular on the period after 1990, the latter the subject of his recent book
Reconstructing New Zealand’s Labour Law (Victoria University Press, 2011).
Gordon’s current research focuses on good faith and employee voice in employment
law. He is a member of several research consortia including the Legal Origins project
(based at Cambridge and Monash Universities) and Voices at Work (based at Oxford
and Bristol Universities).
2. Paula Rose QSO is a director of the WorkSafe New Zealand Establishment Board,
and was the Deputy Chair of the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and
Safety. Paula was previously the NZ Police National Manager responsible for Road
Policing. Her leadership of road safety involved the development of a systems
approach that has contributed to a reduction in the road toll. This included
initiatives to bring about cultural and behavioural change, together with a more
strategic approach to regulatory enforcement. In addition to her WorkSafe NZ
duties, Paula is an independent consultant specialising in leadership, performance,
safety and transport issues.
3. Helen Kelly is the President of the NZCTU and is a member of the Workplace Health
and Safety Council. She has a teaching diploma and a law degree from Victoria and
has been the President for 6 years.
Session - ‘The Motivating levers’
1. Bruce Cullen is the Executive General Manager for Strategy and Risk for Downer NZ
and has sat on the Downer Executive for the past seven years. His current role
includes the Health and Safety responsibilities for the New Zealand business. Bruce
is a Chartered Professional Engineer and a Fellow of the Institute of Professional
Engineers. He has over 25 years Contracting, Consultancy and Client experience
across New Zealand, Australia, the Pacific Islands and the UK. Bruce has extensive
experience in building and maintaining infrastructure across a wide range of Sectors
including Transportation, Water, Energy, Facilities Management and
Telecommunications.
2. Dr John Wren is a Principal Research Advisor in the New Zealand Accident
Compensation Corporation (ACC) Research Group, and Adjunct Research Fellow at
AUT. He brings substantive knowledge and experience in research in government
agency environments, public health policy, and the implementation of injury
prevention programs at the community level. John’s specialist knowledge areas are
injury prevention, occupational health and safety management systems, and public
health / health promotion design, implementation and monitoring. John’s doctoral
thesis examined the politics, policy issues and processes informing the New Zealand
Health and Safety Employment Act. Following his doctoral degree, he received a
New Zealand Health Research Council Post-Doctoral Fellowship hosted by the Injury
Prevention Research Unit at the University of Otago. He also holds Post-Graduate
Diploma in Safety Management, which was enabled by receipt of a New Zealand
Public Service Scholarship.
3. Associate Professor Felicity Lamm is the Inaugural Co-Director of the Centre for
Occupational Health and Safety Research at AUT. She has been teaching and
researching in the area of occupational health and safety (OHS) for the past 25
years. Her PhD thesis Occupational Health & Safety in Queensland and New Zealand
Small Businesses, from the University of New South Wales, was completed in 2000.
She has written extensively on health and safety, including compiling research
reports for New Zealand and overseas public and private sector organisations in
areas such as regulating and complying with employment and OHS law and OHS
issues in the agricultural, construction, forestry, mining, fishing, and service sectors.
She has also been involved in a number of governmental inquiries into OHS and has
been invited to present keynote addresses on her research at national and
international conferences.
Session: The Knowledge Levers
1. Michelle Poland is a Senior Analyst in Research, Evaluation and Analysis at the
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). She has a background in
economics and econometrics and has been working in the area of workplace health
and safety, accident compensation and employment relations for the last two years.
She has worked closely with MBIE’s policy team on the review of the workplace
health and safety system and collaborated with Statistics New Zealand and ACC on
the review of the work-related serious injury outcome indicators.
2. Helen Parkes is the Director of Purple Consulting. She is a Chartered Safety and
Health Practitioner with the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and is
the international representative on the IOSH Networks and International Committee
advising IOSH on its member networks and international development program.
Helen is a certified member of the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management
(NZISM) and the National Operations Manager. As part of this voluntary role she is
developing an accreditation programme for health and safety practitioners to raise
standards of competence in the sector.
Helen is tertiary qualified in Marine Geography, Environmental Health, Public Health
and Occupational Health and Safety. She is internationally experienced as an
inspector, consultant, auditor and manager in health and safety and environmental
health. She has been involved in a number of interesting health and safety projects
including:

Undertaking an evaluation of the safety management system on the Rena and
other Costamare vessels following the Rena grounding - as part of the NZ
criminal investigation and civil negotiations.

Advisory work on occupational health for the Independent Health and Safety
Taskforce
 Undertaking a review of Maritime New Zealand’s performance in the external
administration of the HSE and HNSO Acts.
 And her favourite – being asked to develop risk assessments for Elton John.
Helen believes that while competent H&S practitioners aren’t a panacea for all
health and safety woes, they are a key part of the performance puzzle.
3. Ruma Karaitiana is the Chief Executive of the Building and Construction ITO. Ruma
originally trained as a specialist Art teacher in the early 1970s and has maintained an
active involvement in education ever since although most of his working life has
been in commercial management. This includes CEO roles in FMCG, economic
development and the health sector. He has also had a lifetime involvement with
community and Iwi groups as well as several governance positions.
He has also had a lifetime involvement with building trades so joining the ITO at the
beginning of 2006 represented the convergence of three significant strands of his
life.