In this Issue

From Our Desk

Health and Safety Kidnapped by Political Correctness

Health and Safety Stories From Around the World

What's new at ACC

What's new at the Department of Labour

Event Calendar

From Our Desk

Our children's primary school recently held the annual Cross Country and what a fantastic time they had! One of the obstacles was a 10m slope that had been covered with water and the children had the choice of sliding down, or taking it a bit more seriously and running down to one side where they would not slip. Needless to say, most children chose the slide and our daughter got the prize for the most mud (she takes after her mother).

It was great to see the staff at the school effectively manage some fairly significant hazards (e.g. too many children at once, the concrete drain at the bottomof the slope, the steepness of the slope etc). With some lateral thinking and simple solutions there was not one injury and everyone had some fun. It is amazing what a bit of supervision top and bottom, and some protective padding (forgive the unintentional advertising) from the school's rugby posts can do.

Now to the serious stuff. This month we have another new section featuring Health and Safety stories from around the world. More than once we have had it pointed out to us that NZ has the most workable Health and Safety legislation in the world, its just not being accepted as part of what we do in our business. Part of the reason for this is that as a country we still have that "she'll be right attitude" that accepts that injuries and death will happen, instead of working from the perspective that all accidents are preventable. When you think about it, if you believe that all accidents are preventable, and an accident happens in your workplace, you will put great effort into ensuring that this does not happen again. This 'belief' then drives your behaviour, and behaviours drive results. If you are the manager or owner of your business, you then have the opportunity to transfer that belief to your team and working safely then becomes 'the way we do things around here'

There has been a lot of information in the media recently about the high number of 'accidental' deaths in the home. In fact there is more than the total number of road deaths and workplace deaths combined! ACC is starting to put a lot of effort into publicising this fact, and the steps you and your family can take to help reduce the risk of injury by taking safety steps in your home. For more...

The Ask a Question tool on the Employment Relations and Health and Safety sections of the Department's website has been successfully migrated to the new FAQ Knowledge Base. This has replaced the Ask a Question facility that you may have used previously. All existing links from the Employment Relations and Health and Safety sections of the website are now being redirected to the new tool.

September is turning blue to raise awareness of prostate cancer

Why blue? It's simple - blue is for boys!
Every year about 600 men in New Zealand die of Prostate Cancer. Fathers, sons, brothers, grandfathers. Gone! This happens because men don't know how dangerous the disease is, they don't talk to their doctor about it, they simply don't do anything about it. This has to stop.

That's why Blue September is about getting the word out about prostate cancer. If you paint your face blue, donate money to the Prostate Cancer Foundation or even tell people, you will be directly helping to lower the death rate and reduce the suffering from this disease.The death rate can be halved by:
? Men taking responsibility for their health
? Having regular health and prostate checks at least from age 40
? Early detection!
? Early treatment!
For more information or to donate......

Did you know that...

• Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable of all cancers.
• A woman's best protection against developing cervical cancer is having regular cervical smear tests.
• Cervical cancer is caused by human papilloma virus (HPV), a common, sexually transmitted infection.
• There are many types of HPV and only a few "high risk" types can lead to abnormal precancerous cells.
• Only women with a persistent infection (one which does not clear on its own) with a "high risk" HPV type are at risk of cervical cancer, if the abnormal cells are not detected by screening.
• A cervical smear test is a screening test to find abnormal changes in the cells of the cervix.
• Regular cervical smear tests every three years are recommended for women from the age of 20 until they turn 70 if they have ever been sexually active.
• Having regular cervical smears can reduce a woman's risk of developing cervical cancer by 90 percent.

For more information.......