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2022 feels very much like a year of recovery. Recovery from the physical and emotional effects of Covid, recovery of personal interactions rather than virtual ones, recovery of a bit of what the world used to be like. The next stage to look forward to is re-growth. A bit like a bush fire that has been and burnt through the vegetation and all the nutrients have been returned to the soil awaiting the spring rains. A few hot spots remain, but the new shoots are now visible.
The year for the Safety Charter has followed a similar arc. As a response to the fire, we started the year with workshops dealing with covid fatigue and safety struggles, and later tackled health and safety representatives, fatigue, and impairment. Mid-year saw our first new shoots with the appointment of Julie Prutton as Business Development Lead. Julie hit the ground running and has been a great asset to the Safety Charter. She has actively engaged with both new and existing members, driven our social media presence, and started regular networking events. We have seen our membership increase dramatically and she has given some new energy to our profile and mission.
Later in the year a second shoot was the launch of our new self-assessment tool. This enables organisations and individuals to easily measure their progress against the 10 Charter commitments and identify the next steps to improving health and safety performance. This tool provides valuable information for all our members on their respective health and safety journeys.
The year finished with a flourish, with two events which saw us return to pre-pandemic numbers of attendees. The first was the BIMSafe event, where we highlighted the use of digital technology in the construction industry. We had 4 quality presentations from Beca, Building Innovation Partnership, CHASNZ, and BIMSafe. The second of these events was a presentation by new members BESIX Watpac, who are the main contractor building the new Christchurch stadium, Te Kaha. The BESIX team gave a very slick presentation on the health and safety systems which will be utilised on the site.
As always, these events did not happen by chance, and the Safety Charter owes a huge amount of thanks to our two volunteer committees, the Professional Services Working Group, and the Health and Safety Leaders Group. The members of these groups freely donate their time and expertise to improve outcomes for the wider community. A big thankyou also to the Charter Administrator Jocelyn Larsen, who does all the fine detail work behind the scenes which keeps the whole thing afloat.
Finally, on behalf of the Safety Charter, I would like to wish all our community a safe and happy holiday break, and a prosperous start to the New Year.
Paul Duggan, General Manager
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