Hastings-based Turfrey named NZ's safest place to work

Turfrey managing director Brad Turfrey with staff members Alison Donovan, Rich Hutchinson, Ash Zachan and Thomas Turfrey, after the company was named NZ's Safest Place to Work. Photo / Paul Taylor

A Hastings-based construction company has been named the nation's safest place to work.

Avenue Rd-headquartered company Turfrey was announced New Zealand's Safest Place to Work for 2018 at the inaugural Safest Place to Work Awards.

Turfrey won the large enterprise award against strong contenders including TVNZ, Housing New Zealand and Genesis Energy, and then won the supreme award after a strong challenge from other supreme award finalists White Island Tours Ltd, and Co-op Money NZ.

The awards, a new initiative from leading cloud-based health and safety software provider Safe365, were backed by Trade Me Jobs, AdviceFirst, Health and Safety Association NZ and the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management.

The awards considered data from more than 1200 organisations and recognised those who demonstrate all-round high levels of risk management capability, leadership, employee engagement and a mature culture in making sure people are healthy, safe and well at work every day.

Turfrey managing director Brad Turfrey said the recognition was much appreciated after a sustained period of focus on this critical aspect of the business, which specialises in plumbing, gas-fitting, roofing and drainage.

"We worked out a long time ago that construction and roofing work can be extremely risky work at times.

"We see our workers as our family. We care about them in that way. Every day we go about our work with a focus that our people go home safely to their other family every day."

Turfrey said the company employed more than 170 fulltime employees across the North Island.

"Health and Safety is a journey, and we made a commitment to bring it right into our culture and the way we operate. We work in one New Zealand's highest risk sectors and taking our employees' safety seriously is a key Turfrey value."

The company had also taken on board recent changes to Health and Safety legislation.

"We saw the law changes as a positive way to increase safety and an opportunity to embrace it and lead the way in our industry.

"We continue to invest heavily in systems, process, training, culture and behaviours. This also ensures we can offer our clients value and keep our people safe on their sites and be a preferred contractor.

"The industry and community are finally starting to recognise health, safety and wellbeing as a key attribute when selecting partnerships."

Turfrey added you could not put a price on safety when it came to business.

"We use a commonsense approach and invest in what we see value in to keep people safe and do things right."