Investigation of Causative Factors Associated with Summertime Workplace Fatalities
Appendix B: Briefing note and seasonal activity form
Investigation into summertime workplace fatalities
A Briefing Note
Recent workplace fatality statistics indicate an apparent increase in worker fatalities during the summer months in New Zealand. In order to identify effective preventative strategies and mitigation measures the Department of Labour is currently in the process of conducting a detailed study to investigate the reasons and associated causative factors. To support the analysis a number of workshops and meetings with industry representatives are planned to investigate the following factors:
Seasonal trends
- Key differences in work activities between seasons;
- Amount of work in remote locations;
- The numbers and types of serious injuries;
- Use of vehicles;
- Shift work systems used;
- Fatigue levels;
- Hours worked;
- Staff numbers;
- The effect of school holidays on staff numbers;
- Casual labour;
- Use of PPE;
- Non-work related activities;
- Levels of supervision whilst working;
- Extreme weather conditions;
- Numbers of visitors/non-workers attending work sites;
- The effect of tourism on the industry.
Industry working practices
- What communications systems are frequently used? (e.g. Mobile phones, dedicated radios, etc) Are they always reliable?
- Are there known incident types that occur often and may have serious/ fatal consequences in your industry?
- Are their strict policies regarding the admittance of visitors/ non-workers to work sites?
- How would you compare the safety culture in your industry with other industries?
- Is it normal practice to report all safety incidents?
- Are their strict policies regarding safety training/induction? Are they enforced?
- Do seasonal/ casual workers usually receive the same level of induction/ safety training as permanent staff?
- Is the use of personal safety equipment enforced?
- Are risk assessments carried out routinely?
- What fitness for work schemes are in place in your industry? (e.g. are you ok? - not tired, drug and alcohol free) Are they enforced?
- When working in your industry is it normal practice to always have safety supervision or 'a look out' for tasks that may involve risk?
- Is team working prevalent in your industry?
- Do you think the number of self employed people /family businesses in your industry affect incident reporting?
- Do workers frequently use potentially dangerous equipment or hazardous substances?
Workshops and meetings to discuss the issues outlined above should take no more than 2 hours and will be very important for the development of strategies to reduce the number of summer time fatalities.
Our thanks in advance to all those who agree to participate.
Indicative survey of seasonal activities in industry
This is an indicative survey for your opinions about seasonal changes of work demand or activities in your industry. The level of work activities is expressed by Low (L), Medium (M) or High (H). For example, if you think that work duration per day is relatively shorter in May through July as compared with other months of the year, you can put a letter L across these months. Please rate these work-related activities for all the months from January to December, using L, M or H.
Your opinions will help us to understand some of the characteristics of work activities in relation to seasonal changes, and how these may be related to some of work-related fatalities. This list is by no means exhaustive for all industries, so please do add more items if you think that they are important seasonal indicators for your industry. Please also add some descriptions if possible for the reasons of your ratings.
Name: Type of Industry:
| Type of work indicators | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hours worked per day |
|||||||||||||
Level of staffing |
|||||||||||||
Level of casual labour |
|||||||||||||
Need to work in remote locations |
|||||||||||||
Non-work related activities |
|||||||||||||
Level of supervision or support whilst working |
|||||||||||||
Visitors/non-workers attending work sites |
|||||||||||||
Physical or mental work demands |
|||||||||||||
Variation in work activities |
|||||||||||||
Work involving machineries |
|||||||||||||
Work involving vehicles |
|||||||||||||
Demand for work at heights |
|||||||||||||
Work under poor weather conditions |
|||||||||||||
Fatigue/ tiredness |
|||||||||||||
Tight timescales/ deadlines |
|||||||||||||
Use of hazardous substances |
