Agenda of Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee

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Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee - Terms of Reference Ngā Ārahina Mahinga

Chair	Councillor Scandrett
Deputy Chair	Councillor Barber
Membership	Councillor Coker Councillor Peters Mr Chris Jones Ms Helen Sadgrove
Quorum	Half of the members if the number of members (including vacancies) is even, or a majority of members if the number of members (including vacancies) is odd.
Meeting Cycle	Quarterly
Reports To	Council

Purpose:

Maintain and continually improve Health, Safety & Wellbeing by promoting consultation, co-operation and coordination between Management and Council. Ensuring active engagement in the ongoing development of a health, safety and wellbeing programmes.

Objective:

The role of the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee of Council (Committee) is to assist Council to provide leadership in discharging its health and safety management responsibilities within the organisation.

Secretarial and Meetings:

· The committee may have in attendance such members of management, including the Chief Executive and such other persons as it considers necessary to provide appropriate information and explanations.

· Meetings shall be held at least quarterly. Further meetings will be arranged on an as-needed basis.

· The Chair of the Committee will report all recommendations, key issues and findings to the Council.

Responsibilities:

· To assist the Council in discharging its due diligence responsibilities as a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU), by taking reasonably practicable steps to understand the health and safety risks, and ensure that they are managed so that the organisation meets its legal obligations. Review and monitor the robustness of the organisation’s health, safety and wellbeing risk management framework.

· Review and monitor the robustness of the organisation’s health, safety and wellbeing risk management framework.

· Seek assurance that the organisation is effectively structured to manage health and safety risks.

· Review progress with completion of organisational Health and Safety Plan objectives.

· Monitor compliance with policies and relevant legislation.

· Seek assurance that systems used to identify and manage health and safety hazards and risk are fit for purpose, effectively implemented, regularly reviewed and continuously improved.

· Ensure that the Council is properly and regularly informed and updated on matters relating to health and safety risks.

· Enquire as to the steps management have taken to embed a proactive culture through engagement with workers and provide reasonable opportunities for workers to participate in health, safety & wellbeing.

· Seek assurance that Council are working in partnership so far as reasonably practical with other PCBU’s as a primary duty of care to ensure the health and safety of workers.

· Seek advice periodically from internal and external auditors regarding the effectiveness and completeness of the health and safety systems.

· Ensure management are keeping the Committee fully appraised of all independent sources of assurance, via the health and safety framework including any internal or external audits undertaken.

· Consider whether appropriate actions are being taken by management to mitigate Council’s significant health and safety risks.

· Ensure that management is kept appraised of the Council’s governance body’s views on health and safety issues.

· Any other duties and responsibilities that have been assigned to it from time to time by the Council.

Appointment Process for External Members:

Principles:

The following principles guide the appointment process for External Members of the Committee:

· The Head of Human Resources will provide candidates to the Chief Executive and GM Strategy & Transformation Office for consideration.

· The Chair of the Committee and Chief Executive will endorse the nominations, if appropriate.

Candidates will be contacted at the appropriate time to confirm their willingness to serve for the term for which External Members are appointed as set out below. If they are willing to serve, independence and confidentiality requirements and a background check will be conducted. They will also be informed of Council policies.

The Chair of the Committee and the Health and Safety Manager or Head of Human Resources will review the candidates to develop a shortlist by assessing the following:

o Professional credentials and relevant experience

o Their understanding of current Health and Safety legislative requirements

o Experience with prevention, and response to compliance risks; education, auditing and monitoring concepts

o Experience overseeing or assessing the performance of organisations with respect to their health and safety compliance or risk function

o Understanding implications for compliance and culture in a changing regulatory environment

o Potential conflicts for the candidate

o Affiliations or connections with the Council and its related entities

o Reference and background check reports

The results of the review of the candidates will be reported to the Committee’s External Members Appointments Panel, who will select from the shortlist which External Members are appointed to the Committee.

Term:

· External Members of the Committee will be appointed for a term of three years (subject to the terms their contract and the Council failing to resolve anything that would by implication necessarily shorten that term). The term for External Members shall, unless the Chief Executive specifies otherwise, begin on 1 April following the Triennial elections and end on 31 March three years later to provide continuity for the Committee over the initial months of a new Council.

· External Members are eligible for re-appointment by the Committee’s External Members Appointments Panel for one further term. However, the Council may approve the re-appointment of External Members for any number of subsequent terms to ensure continuity of knowledge.

Delegations

External Members Appointments Panel:

· The Committee delegates to its External Members Appointments Panel (Panel) the authority to consider shortlisted candidates for appointment as the External Members of the Committee and to appoint 2 External Members.

· The Chair of the Panel shall be the Chair of the Committee, and the further members of the Panel shall be the elected members of the Committee.

· The quorum of the Panel shall be half of the members if the number of members (including vacancies) is even, or a majority of members if the number of members (including vacancies) is odd.

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Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee

Open Minutes

Date: Thursday 7 March 2024

Time: 9.30 am

Venue: Committee Room 1, Level 2, Civic Offices,
53 Hereford Street, Christchurch

Present

Chairperson

Deputy Chairperson

Members

Councillor Tim Scandrett

Councillor Kelly Barber

Councillor Melanie Coker

Councillor Mark Peters – via audio/visual link

Mr Chris Jones – via audio/visual link

Ms Helen Sadgrove – via audio/visual link

Acting Principal Advisor

Jane Parfitt

General Manager City Infrastructure

Tel: 941 7640

Simone Gordon

Democratic Services Advisor

941 6527

simone.gordon@ccc.govt.nz

www.ccc.govt.nz

Part A Matters Requiring a Council Decision

Part B Reports for Information

Part C Decisions Under Delegation

The agenda was dealt with in the following order.

1. Apologies Ngā Whakapāha

Part C

Committee Decision

There were no apologies received.

2. Declarations of Interest Ngā Whakapuaki Aronga

Part B

There were no declarations of interest recorded.

3. Confirmation of Previous Minutes Te Whakaāe o te hui o mua

Part C

Committee Resolved HSCM/2024/00001

That the minutes of the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee meeting held on Friday, 8 December 2023 be confirmed.

AND

That the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee minutes of the Public Excluded Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee meeting held on 8 December 2023 be confirmed.

Councillor Barber/Mr Jones Carried

4. Public Forum Te Huinga Whānui

Part B

There were no public forum presentations.

5. Deputations by Appointment Ngā Huinga Whakaritenga

Part B

There were no deputations by appointment.

6. Presentation of Petitions Ngā Pākikitanga

Part B

There was no presentation of petitions.

8. Tree Hazard Management at Hagley Park

The Chairperson gave notice of a matter relating to the general business of the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee. The item was discussed, but no resolution, decision or recommendation was made in respect of the item.

At the Christchurch City Council meeting of 6 March 2024, a public forum presentation requested for the Council to undertake an immediate and comprehensive audit of all trees in Hagley Park. This was initiated following the presenter having a near-miss with a falling tree branch at Hagley Park. The Chair requested that the Committee be sent a copy of the material given to Council by the submitter.

The Chair invited the Council’s Manager Urban Forest, Toby Chapman, to speak with the Committee to address the matters raised in the public forum.

Mr Chapman advised the committee that tree inspections are routinely undertaken within Hagley Park and the Botanic Gardens. Visual inspections are conducted by an arborist at least 2-3 times per year. As far as he is aware, the highest standard for best practice is every 2 years. However, 5 years is a more generally observed best practice. The tree in question had previously been inspected in February 2024 and no issues were identified with the branch. An assessment of the branch after it had fallen also did not show any signs that it was prone to failure. It’s highly unlikely that it would have been noticed if more frequent assessments were undertaken. When a tree branch is identified that needs attention, it is dealt with immediately by our tree contractor. Mr Chapman has said they are reviewing their processes following the branch fall to see what further measures may be taken. Mr Chapman also noted that many of the trees in Hagley Park are around 100 years old and he will be reviewing the existing tree renewal programme in place for managing the mature tree population.

Council staff are confident that the Council is meeting its duty of care when it comes to tree maintenance and safety.

At the request of Council, staff are preparing a detailed report on the issues raised. This report will go on the public Council agenda for discussion.

7. Health, Safety and Wellbeing Update

Committee Resolved HSCM/2024/00003

Officer Recommendation accepted without change

Part C

That the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee:

1. Receive the information in the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Report.

Councillor Scandrett/Councillor Barber Carried

Secretarial note

The meeting requested:

1. The findings of an investigative report into an event in the previous quarter where a contractor struck a 11kVa cable with a reciprocating saw.

2. A focus on how Council staff are trained and determined to be competent for undertaking hazardous work.

3. A consistent approach to the time allowed for Council’s Health and Safety Representatives to step away from their regular work to focus on relevant health and safety matters.

Meeting concluded at 10.31am.

CONFIRMED THIS 7^TH DAY OF JUNE 2024.

Councillor Tim Scandrett

Chairperson

7. Health, Safety and Wellbeing - Committee Update
Reference Te Tohutoro:	24/472578
Responsible Officer(s) Te Pou Matua:	Kurt Scoringe, Senior Health and Safety Advisor
Accountable ELT Member Pouwhakarae:	Bede Carran, General Manager Finance, Risk & Performance / Chief Financial Officer

1. Purpose and Origin of the Report Te Pūtake Pūrongo

1.1 Provide an operational update to the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee for the February - April 2024 period.

1.2 Provide an update of outstanding actions that require a report back to the Committee.

2. Officer Recommendations Ngā Tūtohu

That the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee:

1. Receives the information in the Health, Safety and Wellbeing - Committee Update Report.

3. Outstanding Actions from Previous Meetings

3.1 The below provides an update on outstanding actions from the previous two Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee meetings:

3.2 Draft Health, Safety and Wellbeing Plan 2023 - 2025

3.2.1 At the 8 December 2023 Committee meeting, members requested that the Health, Safety and Wellbeing draft plan 2023 – 2025 included a column of “what does success look like” as an indicator.

3.2.2 The updated Health, Safety and Wellbeing draft plan 2023 – 2025 is attached. (Attachment A).

3.3 Training for hazardous work:

3.3.1 At the 7 March 2024 Committee meeting, members requested for a focus on how Council staff are trained and determined to be competent for undertaking hazardous work.

3.3.2 The Health, Safety and Wellbeing team, along with the Organisational Development team have undertaken a review of how staff are trained and determined competent with the following outcomes:

· Hazardous works are determined through risk assessments.

· Staff hired into positions that require hazardous works to be undertaken have specific training requirements incorporated into position descriptions.

· Training for hazardous works is conducted by a third-party training provider and meets the requirements of the New Zealand Qualification Authority Unit Standards.

· Previously, records of completion have been held locally by each team.

· The Council is now working through a transition of holding these records centrally in the Councils learning management system (SuccessFactors).

· SuccessFactors will notify staff members and team leaders when refreshers are due in line with good practice set out by industry or WorkSafe New Zealand.

· Once a team member has completed formal training for hazardous works, they are then paired with another worker as part of a buddy system.

3.4 Health, Safety and Wellbeing – Contractor Management and Engagement

3.4.1 At the 24 October 2023 Committee meeting, members requested an update around the contractor space including the risk register.

3.4.2 The Council does not hold a specific risk register for contractors, however, receives a Site-Specific Safety Plan (SSSP), Job Safety Analysis (JSA) or similar for each project.

3.4.3 The Council has processes and procedures in place to ensure that contractors engaged by the Council have a demonstrable history of Health, Safety and Wellbeing practices. This includes but is not limited to:

· Rules within our Procurement Framework specific to Health, Safety and Wellbeing.

· A centralised database of contractor who hold a health and safety pre-qualification through SiteWise or Totika per the requirements of the Procurement Rule 12.

· A document for those engaging contractors that lays out the responsibilities of those throughout the lifecycle of the project.

· A guidance document for the management of contractors.

· Ongoing verification through site inspections/audits throughout the lifecycle of the project to ensure risk controls remain effective.

· Completion of post-contract reviews.

3.4.4 A copy of the Process Map, Project Manager Responsibilities and Guidance document for the management of contractors is available (Attachment B).

3.5 Health, Safety and Wellbeing Representatives

3.5.1 At the 7 March 2024 Committee meeting, members requested “a consistent approach to the time allowed for Council’s Health and Safety Representative to step away from their regular work to focus on relevant health and safety matters.”

3.5.2 To provide for this approach, key activities such as Committee Meetings, Forums and training days have been scheduled until 30 June 2025 to allow for Representatives and People Leaders to ensure time can be provided for representatives to attend.

4. Accredited Employer Programme

4.1 The Accredited Employer Scheme (AEP) provides the Council with several benefits including:

4.1.1 The ability to directly support any injured employees, and greater opportunity to create robust Return-to-Work outcomes.

4.1.2 Savings of up to 90% off levy costs, used to manage Council claims.

4.1.3 Ability to limit financial liability.

4.1.4 Potential savings for the FY23/24 period could total approximately $235k
Note: this considers the Levy savings as well as all claim and administration costs.

4.2 ACC have finalised the changes to the AEP, which come into effect in April 2025 with the key change involving a new audit requirement aligned to ISO45001 - Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems.

4.3 The revised ACC approach will ensure employers focus on Injury Prevention and Claim Management, with a focus on positive outcomes for any injured employee.

5. Accredited Employer Programme Provider

5.1 Council utilises WellNZ as our third-party administrator to ensure compliance with the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) Act.

5.2 WellNZ was recently audited by ACC to ensure that it is meeting the requirements of the Act and can continue to provide services to the Council. The results of this audit, with recommendations for WellNZ, are attached (Attachment C).

5.3 The Council's contract with WellNZ expired on 01 April 2024. WellNZ has agreed to continue providing services to the Council while negotiations are underway to renew the contract.

5.4 A renewed contract with WellNZ is anticipated to be in place by the end of May 2024.

5.5 The Council will have a full audit in November 2024, with the next full audit completed in 2026 using the new audit standard.

6. Health, Safety & Wellbeing Dashboard

6.1 The Health, Safety and Wellbeing dashboard up to April 2024 is attached (Attachment D).

6.2 For February - April 2024, there were no confirmed high-severity events relating to staff or contractors.

6.3 Abuse and harassment events in the dashboard have all now been reclassified as Unacceptable Behaviours to reflect changes in the reporting system.

7. Unacceptable Customer Behaviours

7.1 Over the past four years, there have been increasing accounts of unacceptable behaviours being experienced by Council front-line staff. These behaviours are a combination of threats, abuse, assaults, harassment, and non-compliance.

7.2 A high-level review has been completed for reported events relating to unacceptable customer behaviours for the period of 1 April 2023 - 31 March 2024.

7.2.1 During this period, 2,197 events have been reported relating to Health, Safety and Wellbeing (HSW), 603 of these events have been attributed to unacceptable behaviours making up 27.44% of all events reported.

7.3 It is anticipated that there are events not reported as staff tolerance to unacceptable behaviours has risen, or staff have not felt comfortable reporting the event.

7.4 Further reviews of the events have been carried out to put into context the extent of the issue, with consideration of customer interactions as set in the table below.

Level of service	Customer Contacts	Reported Events	Percentage
Animal Management	11,267	7	0.062%
Libraries	3,686,360	206	0.006%
Citizen & Customer Service	662,334	105	0.016%
Rec, Sports & Events	3,470,901	208	0.006%
Parking Compliance	74,894	39	0.052%
Miscellaneous*	0	38	Invalid
Total	7,905,756	603	0.008%

7.5 There are 38 events listed under miscellaneous, these include events reported from Parks, Building Consents, Technical Services and Design and Office of the Mayor and Chief Executive where it has not been possible to quantify the number of customer interactions. This has led to an invalid percentage of occurrences that resulted in unacceptable behaviour.

7.6 To mitigate this risk further, a working group is being established to develop stronger controls. This group is sponsored by the Acting General Manager – Citizens and Community and Chaired by Head of Service of Citizen and Customer Services with a term of reference being developed.

8. Psychosocial Risks

8.1 As part of the HSW management system, the Council committed to achieving ISO45001 and ISO45003 accreditations. The Psychosocial risk review is part of ISO45003—Managing psychosocial risk in the workplace.

8.2 An internal audit finalised in September 2023 on the progress towards meeting the requirements of ISO45003 identified that a suitably qualified external provider completes a council-wide assessment of psychosocial risks.

8.2.1 The previous Chief Executive and General Manager—Resources Group received a briefing on the internal audit's agreed actions, and a report was sent to the Audit and Risk Committee and the Health, Safety, and Wellbeing Committee.

8.3 The Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee resolved (HSCM/2023/00016) that staff provide the Committee with a summary of the ISO45003 Management of Psychosocial Risks Internal Audit management actions tracking and work programme.

8.4 A summary of the ISO45003 Management of Psychosocial Risk - Action Tracker is attached (Attachment E).

Attachments Ngā Tāpirihanga

No.	Title	Reference	Page
a ⇩	Health, Safety and Wellbeing - work programme 2023 - 2025 - Update	24/864482	18
b ⇩	HSW Contractor Management	24/860925	19
c ⇩	Health, Safety and Wellbeing Dashboard April 2024	24/858954	40
d ⇩	ACC Audit Report - WellNZ	24/860926	53
e ⇩	Psychosocial Risk - Action tracker and work programme	24/861041	55

In addition to the attached documents, the following background information is available:

Document Name – Location / File Link

Not applicable

Signatories Ngā Kaiwaitohu

Authors

Kurt Scoringe - Senior Health & Safety Advisor

Mike Marr - Manager Internal Audit

Approved By

Nicholas Hill - Head of Risk & Assurance

Bede Carran - General Manager Finance, Risk & Performance / Chief Financial Officer

ITEM NO.	GENERAL SUBJECT OF EACH MATTER TO BE CONSIDERED	SECTION	SUBCLAUSE AND REASON UNDER THE ACT	PLAIN ENGLISH REASON	WHEN REPORTS CAN BE REVIEWED FOR POTENTIAL RELEASE
9.	Health and Safety Regulator Update	s7(2)(a), s7(2)(d), s7(2)(g)	Protection of Privacy of Natural Persons, Protection of Health or Safety of Individuals, Maintain Legal Professional Privilege	This report contains sensitive information relating to events notified to WorkSafe New Zealand and contains information of a sensitive or personal nature relating on Investigations or on-going matters	30 June 2025