Using a Software Solution for Health and Safety Management
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Using a Software Solution for Health and Safety Management

Using a Software Solution for Health and Safety Management

For all New Zealand businesses, taxation, GST, ACC payments, and employment agreements are a non-negotiable responsibility of business owners.

The introduction of the health and safety legislation in 2015 became a more robust, non-negotiable, no excuse compliance issue that has made many businesses think twice about ignoring it. This is now being evidenced with the introduction of contractor prequalification.

The future of health and safety compliance management will be an evidence-based approach, based on the availability of records for a business to quickly prove due diligence, when the business is called to account.

It’s been seven years since the introduction of the new legislation, and many businesses still use a 20th century approach of hard copy record keeping, that are usually filed in a myriad of different ways: spreadsheets, filing cabinets, and record manuals, diaries, etc.

A better way for health and safety management

There certainly is – by using a cloud-based software management program. This will allow your business to store all its H&S and other records in a central hub with the ability to retrieve them quickly, in real time.

There are a number of these types of programs available on the New Zealand market, all offering a variety of features and functionality.

If the business is planning to elevate its H&S systems into a 21st century model to keep up with their compliance responsibilities, then what attributes should you be looking for?

An effective program should be:

  1. Developed with an understanding of the H&S industry and other business standards.
  2. Preferably developed in New Zealand (easier after sales service!).
  3. Able to filter and produce alerts, reports, and profiles of your data, with photos and the ability to email and to assign actions.
  4. Able to record and produce personnel information with contact details and any other information for the engagement of the employee.
  5. Able to provide PPE information, who has got what, cost, distribution date, size, and replacement date.
  6. Be able to provide training records to show who is trained in what.
  7. Able to produce hazard and control registers with a risk rating system and prioritizing process.
  8. Able to record incidents and accident records, reports, and associated costs.
  9. Able to record and manage the contractors/suppliers’ management process for contractor prequalification applications.
  10. A document management system with capability to attach documents, and checklists, etc.
  11. A chemical management tool for recording chemicals and to meet the requirements of the 2017 Hazardous Substance Regulations.
  12. A dashboard or similar, to provide a status report of your H&S and other systems.
  13. Able to produce a concise and informative report for the PCBU or the company’s management.
  14. Most of all, the ability to quickly produce a concise 1–3-page profile of all modules and contents for auditing and due diligence checks.

Selecting a Program

When choosing a compliance management program, evaluate:

  • Is it easy to use, with minimal steps to produce reports?
  • Is the total cost or cost structure for the program easy? (No hidden surprises/charges)
  • Are there other ongoing costs for updates or other modules?
  • Do they have a robust and secure backup system?
  • Does the provider have experience or credibility in H&S and other business management systems?
  • Does the provider have supporting videos and/or other supporting information and the ability to service the program with a help desk?
  • Can it be used on a tablet or mobile device?

We now live in a changing world of health & safety and business management systems, and it is now more than ever, that we are part of that change. Compliance management programs and due diligence checks are fast becoming the future – for the security and the business owner’s peace of mind, and for the protection of their business.

Please contact us if you would like to discuss.