Hawke's Bay DHB awarded $1.5m injury prevention grant

Major projects at the hospital included the construction of the new gastroenterology building last year. Photo / Supplied

The Hawke's Bay District Health Board (HBDHB) has been awarded a workplace injury prevention grant of $1.5 million which will fund an online programme assisting 200 of the contractors it works with to improve their health and safety structures.

With an average 1000 people on its sites at any one time delivering a whole range of activities, from health care to car-parking to construction, keeping everyone safe is a strong focus of HBDHB.

That prioritising of health and safety paid off.

After taking out a top spot in the Safest Place to Work Awards in November [2018], the HBDHB board received advice in July that the ACC grant application had been successful.

The application to ACC's workplace injury prevention incentive programme was submitted on behalf of three health boards: Hawke's Bay, Auckland and Hutt Valley.

The application was one of five to be accepted, alongside other industry organisations including forestry and construction.

Safe365 was the three boards' preferred on-line health and safety programme, designed to enable businesses to assess and improve their health and safety capability, culture and performance on an ongoing basis.

The boards use the tool for their internal health and safety processes and small trials with contractors had already been carried out in Hawke's Bay.

The new funding will enable the project to be extended to around 200 contractors in each health board area.

In Hawke's Bay that equated to a significant number of small-to-medium-sized businesses, providing services ranging from health care, building, electrical and plumbing, to maintenance, engineering and cleaning.

HBDHB Executive Director of People and Quality Kate Coley said across suppliers, health and safety activities were carried out differently, depending on how long they'd been in business, staff size, the work they undertook and the level of risk.

"By being part of this initiative, they will have help to understand their health and safety system, their capabilities, culture and performance, and at the same time be supported to identify any gaps and make improvement.

"The project is about understanding and supporting our local businesses to build their knowledge and capability around health and safety, which in turn keeps both their staff and our staff safe", Coley said.