Encouraging workers to have open and honest conversations is what makes SafePlus stand out says Steve Bullock, General Manager of Rheem New Zealand.

“We chose SafePlus because we wanted to get an independent insight into our safety culture.” They liked the focus on people rather than systems and processes, and that it is endorsed by WorkSafe.

Two SafePlus assessors visited the Auckland factory for two and a half days. They interviewed more than 30 workers (out of a total of 104 employees), visited the warehouses and stores, and reviewed health and safety documents put together by health and safety representatives (HSR’s).  

Following the assessor visit, businesses are given a report with an overview of their health and safety performance with tailored guidance and advice on how to improve. “The evaluation report was very useful as it gives us a clear pathway for progression of our health and safety programme and culture. It confirmed that we are on the right track with the direction we have been taking recently to improve our safety culture, and it made a significant number of recommendations which we will be following through on.” They also received a summary report which Rheem shared with workers and posted on notice boards around the workplace.

The assessment results also helped highlight the efforts of some workers who showed strong leadership in terms of health and safety in the organisation. With SafePlus workers are encouraged to ask questions, talk about risks together and feel empowered to share responsibility for everyone’s health and safety.

To make the most of the onsite assessment, Steve says employees should be given an idea of what the assessment is about in advance.

‘‘We would encourage everyone to be open and honest; don’t hold back.”

Thank you to Safeguard Magazine(external link) for allowing us to reproduce this case study. For more information, go to SafePlus.