Dear Shane You’ve begun your role as the Chief Executive Officer of Auckland Transport at a moment of crisis, with hundreds of Auckland families coping with the death of their loved ones on the city’s roads every year. You have a mandate for change, a laundry list of initiatives, and a public and media ready …
Continue reading “A Letter to Shane Ellison – CEO of Auckland Transport”
Another tragic fatal injury from a work accident in New Zealand, this time on board a fertiliser ship berthed at Lyttelton, Port of Christchurch. My heart goes out to the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased man. What went wrong? Every accident is preventable, and there is never an acceptable excuse for placing any …
Continue reading “When people die at work it’s always a safety issue”
From Z Energy’s investment statement and prospectus: As part of Z’s commitment to the “Zero Harm Workplaces” programme I have pledged to take personal responsibility for health and safety as a vital part of my business. That’s Z Energy Chief Executive Mike Bennetts. This stuff really does start at the top, and from that statement …
Continue reading “The standard you walk past is the standard you accept”
People working unsafely. People denying that anthropogenic climate change exists or is even a problem. Copyright owners who refuse to sell their wares here and then complain when they are pirated. Teacher unions who refuse to consider measurement and paying for performance. We have too many firms who are content with systematically exposing workers to …
Nice picture huh. all those men in orange putting on quite the frenzied display as they erected a stage for the Laneways festival in Wynard Quarter, Auckland yesterday. You might want to click to zoom in on this next one, as the picture is large and the text small. The text in red refers to …
I often take photos of worksites in New Zealand, and they tend to carry from poor to appalling. That doesn’t mean to say that there are not better sites out there – those are usually behind purpose built walls and have strict health and safety rules. This scene, shot on Quay street in Auckland recently, …
Continue reading “Unsafe New Zealand work practices – Quay street, Auckland”
This is an unsafe act. The police officer appears to be standing in a part of a lane that is closing off while traffic is whizzing by at 80-100kmph. He is behind his bike, which will turn into a projectile if hit by a vehicle that is leaving it just a little late to merge …
It’s madness. The recent spate of bicycle deaths is no doubt partially caused by the nicer weather and people getting out there on their bikes. But the families and friends left behind and all of the rest of us have cause to be angry, as the deaths were arguably caused by known hazards that did …
I watched amazed at this lifting operation in Auckland last night. From where I was watching it appeared that the load went over the head of the workers and drivers several times, which is a fatal risk if anything goes wrong with the load. The load itself was often very cumbersome, long and skinny and …
Mathew Sanders raises an interesting point is comments to the last post. It is very difficult to report poor driving in New Zealand. It seems it is also difficult to do so in Australia. In other countries there are a few non-governmental sites that are sites in this space: betterdrivingplease (UK, 18000 reports, activists, plate based) …
Continue reading “Want to start a business to reduce the road toll?”
Laws against talking on your phone on board commercial Us domestic aircraft are being pushed by US Congress. It seems some Congress-critters are upset at very loud and sometimes personal phone calls from people on planes sitting near them when flying back and forth to Congress. The Noise Airplanes (or aeroplanes) are very very noisy …
Continue reading “It’s noisy when you fly, so should we talk on the phone?”
You may have seen this already. It looks like the plane wasn’t chocked (at least not properly), and with a gap opening up under passengers feet that was over 2 meters high (3 actually) this was a potentially fatal incident. It should be recorded as such – it’s a near miss – a zero barrier …
People can die, and you can go to jail. These guys from Black Reef Mine face sentencing tomorrow for failing to ensure the safety of workers. But meanwhile Police are pondering whether to reopen the case and lay more serous charges. It is good to see legal pursuit of the mine manager and consultant geologist, …
Lance Wiggs 