Copy
The latest Health, Safety & Wellness Newsletter from TriEx (viewed best in your browser)
View this email in your browser

Your December Update

The end of the year is approaching and Christmas is just days away. We hope that everyone has had a great 2018.

2018 saw plenty of changes for the TriEx team, beginning with our acquisition by Gallagher Bassett on January 1. We have since expanded our service offering and our Christchurch team have relocated to new offices. This move meant the Christchurch team were able to join our Gallagher Bassett colleagues. We also bid farewell to some and welcomed others into the team. We were really able to take TriEx further with expansion to our Flu offering in 2018 including a nationwide voucher provision. Our Psychological First Aid course has taken off across the country and we have begun delivering First Aid courses into the Auckland market. 

The TriEx team will be taking a well deserved break and we will be closed from 12:30pm on Friday December 21st. Our team will be back available for clinic bookings and enquiries from Wednesday January 9th, with the full team returning on Thursday January 10th.

We have put together some informative content to finish the year. This includes some important tips to keep you and your loved ones safe this summer. We have news from our environmental and first aid teams including some new product launches, plus some information on how we can help with the wellness of your team. Read all of this and more below. 
 
Have a safe festive season and we hope you enjoy the read!

Ngā mihi nui, from the TriEx Team.

In This Issue

Summer Safety

Read More

Health & Wellness

Read More

Environmental Update

Read More

 Mental Health & Addiction

Read More

First Aid Update

Read More

Flu Vaccinations 2019

Read More

Summer Safety


Many of you will be taking some time off over the summer. You might be all over your workplace safety however it is just as import to be safe on your break. We have some great pointers below on Road, Boat and Water Safety.


Be road safe

- Keep Your Distance - Remember the 2 second rule 
- Buckle Up - make sure yourself and all passengers have their seatbelts on
- Stick to the Speed Limit - it is better to...
- Don't Drink and Drive - remember the limit is zero for under 20 year olds and 250mcg for drivers 20 years and over.
- Take Breaks - If you are feeling tired pull over and have a rest. Stop for coffee of lunch.
- and Be Patient - it will be a busy time on the roads, it might be a slow trip, but it's better to arrive safe so you can enjoy your break!
 

Be boat safe 

Too many people die out boating in NZ each year, and not wearing life jackets is the leading cause of deaths. Some important things to consider this summer:
- Wear Life Jackets and make sure they are checked regularly and that they meet the new NZ Standard (NZS 5823:2005) - and if more than 10 years old - replace them!
- Communicate - ensure you have a VHF marine radio. Many people will be able to hear you and the distress signal, channel 16, is monitored 24/7.
- Keep up to date with the weather - our weather is unpredictable in NZ.
- Avoid Alcohol - You need to stay alert and aware as things can change fast. A recent survey showed alarming amounts of people who still drink while in charge of a boat!
- Be responsible - as skipper you are responsible for everyone on board and for the safe operation of your boat. Know your vessels limits - and stay within them! 


Be water safe

Drowning is the third highest cause of accidental death in NZ with far too many people losing their lives in the water each year. Our drowning rate per 100,000 people is twice that of Australia and four times that of the UK!
Some important tips: 
Learn to swim 
- Always supervise children
- Understand the beach and tides. If the beach is patrolled, swim between the flags - this is the part monitored by lifeguards. If a beach is unpatrolled - it is best to avoid swimming there, and if you do choose to swim there, be sure it is safe first. 
- Rivers have many hazards including floating debris, fast moving waters, hidden objects (i.e. rocks). Always be sure of what is in the water and understand the power. 
- Swimming pools - be mindful of slippery surfaces, obey lifeguards at public pools and know the pool depth.

Enjoy your holiday period and stay safe out there!

Your Health & Wellness

Christmas can be a time of excess, which naturally can have a negative effect on your health. It is very easy to over indulge in food and drink leading up to and over the Christmas period. All those Christmas parties and morning teas soon add up!

While enjoying the festive time it is important to try and stay healthy. You can enjoy the treats and alcohol - but do so in moderation. Make sure you keep active. A daily walk after dinner once the weather has cooled off will help work off those extra calories!

A bad diet can also have a negative effect on your blood pressure. Some of our Christchurch nurses were out and about last week in our TriEx mobile units offering free blood pressure checks for businesses. Blood pressure checks form part of our health and wellness assessments. These assessments help determine the health risk factors for your employees. As part of this assessment lifestyle factors such as sleep, nutrition and exercise are discussed and advice given.

The health and wellness assessments are a benefit for everyone involved. A healthy lifestyle translates into the individuals having more energy, concentration and less absenteeism from work. 

To learn more about Health and Wellness Assessments for your business you can contact our health team on 0800 487 439 or email enquiries@triex.co.nz

Environmental Update


BOHS IP402 Training
Our revised 4 day BOHS IP402 training course is running in Christchurch from January 28-31. The British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) IP402 – Surveying and Sampling Strategies for Asbestos in Buildings course provides a range of theory and practical knowledge for those wishing to qualify as an asbestos building surveyor, and undertake asbestos surveys. To learn more or to book follow the link here.

Do You Own A Property?
If you have not surveyed your buildings and put a management plan in place — it’s not too late. Under the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016, all persons controlling a place of work must do the following:
  • Identify any asbestos or asbestos containing material present in the building
  • Assess the risks from asbestos and identify ways to manage them
  • Develop an asbestos management plan
  • Regularly review the management plan’s effectiveness
It is hard to know if a building contain asbestos, which is why it is important to have a trained professional survey your premises to identify any asbestos containing materials to reduce the risk of exposure to anyone undertaking working in, or working on your building. Not having a comprehensive asbestos management plan in place can open you up to prosecution.

To learn more about our training courses or asbestos surveying and management plans you can contact our Environmental Team on  0800 487 439.  

Mental Health & Addiction

The Government has just released the report on the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction report — He Ara Oranga. The purpose of the Inquiry was to:

  • Hear the voices of the community, people with lived experience of mental health and addiction problems, people affected by suicide, and people involved in preventing and responding to mental health and addiction problems, on New Zealand’s current approach to mental health and addiction and what needs to change
  • Report on how New Zealand is preventing mental health and addiction problems and responding to the needs of people with those problems
  • Recommend specific changes to improve New Zealand’s approach to mental health, with a particular focus on equity of access, community confidence in the mental health system and better outcomes, particularly for Māori and other groups with disproportionately poorer outcomes

While this does not make specific work-related mental health recommendations, it has identified several issues relevant to psychosocial risks in the workplace. These include:

  • The critical role of workplaces in promoting mental health and wellbeing
  • The need for a whole-of-government approach to wellbeing and prevention
  • The positive and negative impact work can have on a person’s mental health
  • The placement of people at the centre of design and service development decisions
  • The value of a voluntary code of practice to support businesses to develop workplace prevention programmes to reduce bullying or stress.

The full report is available to download here.

TriEx offer programmes in mental health awareness for your work place. To learn more about these contact our team on 0800 487 439.

First Aid Update


The end of 2018 is approaching which means 2019 is just around the corner. The start of the new year is a great opportunity for you to train or refresh your team in First Aid. For the last week of December and from January 14 through until February 8 we are running all of our Workplace and Refresher First Aid courses at $99. These are our standard Workplace and Refresher First Aid courses, just discounted to the "Summer Lifesaver Special". To take advantage of this deal click here

With the success of our pilot group First Aid courses in Auckland we can now confirm that we are able to deliver group onsite first aid courses at your workplace. These are available for groups of 8 to 15 and currently we can delivery our 8 hour workplace or our 6 hour refresher training. The 8 hour course can also include NZQA credits 26551/26552 or 6401/6402. 

In addition to the updated 6400 Series First Aid courses coming in the new year we will also be running two new courses, Electrical Workers First Aid (2 Hour) and our Level 4 CPR course (6 Hour).

To learn more about any of our first aid courses contact our first aid team on firstaid@triex.co.nz or call 0800 487 439.

Book Now For 2019


Our Join The Fight Against Influenza campaign was a great success for 2018, and TriEx saw a bigger uptake in workplace flu vaccinations compared to last year. Our 2019 campaign will launch early next year, however many businesses have made it clear to us that they want to begin booking for the 2019 flu season early. Because of this demand we are taking pre-bookings for the 2019 season which will begin mid March. 

This year the government funded flu vaccination was the Quadrivalent which included 4 strains of flu, giving broader protection against the circulating strains of flu. The 2019 vaccinations will again be the Quadrivalent 4 strain vaccine again, covering 2 flu strains from 2018 and 2 new flu strains. These strains are:
  • A/Michigan/45/2015-like virus
  • A/Switzerland/8060/2017-like virus (New)
  • B/Colorado/06/2017-like virus (New)
  • B/Phuket/3073/2013-like virus
To learn more about our flu vaccination programme, or to register your interest for 2019 visit our flu website here.

TriEx News Bites

Spending at Christmas

Christmas is one of the most expensive times of the year and may be a struggle for some families. Here are some great tips to help keep your spending in check:

- Avoid putting Christmas presents on credit cards – try to spend what you have.
- Create an affordable budget and stick to it.
- Plan your shopping ahead of time, this will help with sticking to your budget.
- Budget on having a larger food bill over the Christmas period.
- There are plenty of low cost activities to do with your family over the break, such as a day at the beach or heading out on your bikes.
- Don't forget the back to school costs are just around the corner.  

It might be too late for this year, but perhaps setting a budget for 2019 will help with next Christmas.

You can learn more about budgeting on the Sorted website.

Canterbury Wellbeing Survey

Over 3,000 residents from greater Christchurch took park in the Canterbury Wellbeing Survey early in 2018. This was the 11th survey and shows a continued upward trend since the 2011 earthquakes. The overall quality of life is stable and emotional wellbeing has improved with stress reducing. 81% of people rated their quality of life as good or extremely good. 

Unfortunately there are still hurdles to overcome with some groups in the community experiencing lower wellbeing including Māori, people on low incomes and people with disabilities or chronic health conditions. It is also alarming to learn that 15% of 18-24 year olds feel lonely or isolated, which is significantly more than in older age groups. 


You can download the full report from the Community and Public Health website here.

Workplace Training Calendar


Our latest training calendar came out last week. There is still time to take advantage of our $99 Summer Special on our First Aid training. Download our full training calendar here.
Learn more about our
First Aid
 courses here  
Book Now
Learn more about our
Asbestos
courses here
Book Now

WorkSafe Prosecutions

Importance of Forklift Safety

Last week PBT Transport Ltd was fined $250,000 and ordered to pay reparation of $20,000 after an incident in September 2016. The incident left a worker with back injuries after the freight cage he was working in fell 3 metres from a forklifts tines. 2 similar accidents had occurred at other sites and PBT Transport should have used these incidents to improve their processes.

The freight cage had not been attached correctly and did not comply with industry standards. PBT Transport had documented safety systems, however these were not being implemented in the day to day business operations and there was a lack of appropriate communication. 


Read the full article here

Enforceable Undertaking

WorkSafe accepted an enforceable undertaking for Trojan Holdings Ltd following an incident at the Cromwell Transfer Station in June 2017. A worker fell 3 metres into the waste hopper while assisting a driver empty a skip bin. They sustained a traumatic brain injury and a leg fracture. 

Following an investigation by WorkSafe it was found that they failed under the HSWA Act to ensure the health and safety of their worker. An enforceable undertaking deemed appropriate as Trojan Holdings clearly accepted their failures and committed to bringing health and safety to the forefront.

Read the full article hereincluding what initiatives they have committed to.

Industry News

 

Safety Liaison Groups

 

The minutes for the Northern Liaison Group are located here. The next Civil and Commercial meetings will be held in 2019.

The minutes for the Wellington Liaison Group are located here. The next meetings will be held in 2019.

The minutes for the Southern Liaison Group are located here. The next meeting will be held on 14 February 2019.
 

For venues and contacts, please click here

 

 

New Zealand Institute of Safety Management


The Canterbury branch events are available here including the next Canterbury breakfast meeting on January 25. 

The Wellington branch events are available here. There will be new events published in 2019.

The Auckland branch events are available here. There will be new events published in 2019.
Visit our website  |  Find us on Facebook  |  Update preferences

No longer interested in our newsletter? That's ok, we'll be sad to see you go but you can unsubscribe here.



© 2018 TriEx
All rights reserved.

Our mailing address is:
TriEx - A Gallagher Bassett Company
PO Box 9225
Tower Junction
Christchurch, Canterbury 8149
New Zealand

Add us to your address book