Health and safety

Health and Safety Strategy 2019-2024

Our health and safety strategy builds on our commitment to best practice health and safety management, and acts as a blueprint for refining a safety culture.

We employ about 177 people nationwide and work with more than 300 contractors to manage TB testing and pest control throughout New Zealand. Our widely dispersed workforce and the nature of our field operations present a range of risks. Staff and contractors deliver our programmes in environments from the urban fringe and farms, to forests and large, isolated and mountainous regions.

Contractor safety

We work collaboratively with contractors on health and safety:

through training days
by providing technical research and information in our factsheets
through regular communications.

Focusing on critical risks

We've identified the top 5 critical risks to staff and contractors in their operating environments. These are based on data gathered through our risk management systems, and through consultation with contractors and staff about potential harm and effective control.

1 Working alone or in remote locations: People may urgently need help, but find themselves unable to get assistance, compounding the impact of an event.
2 Operating a vehicle: Vehicle accidents are a leading cause of death in NZ. One in five serious injuries to OSPRI workers directly involve a vehicle.
3 Working outside: Exposure to environmental conditions such as cold, dust and ultraviolet light can cause short and long-term illness, or death.
4 Working with or near other people: We often work in other people’s workplaces or in public places. This can involve simultaneous operations, such as conflicting uses of the same place at the same time. Without good planning and communication, one party transfers risk to another.
5 Working at or near heights: Falls were the cause of a quarter of all traumatic deaths nationally in 2012, and account for the same proportion of our most serious injuries.