A New Health and Safety Management Network

New technology and social networks are opening doors for health and safety professionals to reach out.

In recent years there has been a noticeable increase in the numbers of young faces and ‘not-the-usual-suspects’, attending public seminars and conferences focused on health and safety management in New Zealand.

Within less than a decade the rise of the health and safety role in the workplace has led to many administrators and middle managers being tasked to take on their organisations health and safety ‘issue’, often with little support or know-how.

I can relate to this because I was one of those people not-so-long-ago. In a recent blog post for my company website I noted that;

“There are 1000’s of people across New Zealand that have had their regular duties expanded to being the ‘go-to’ health and safety person for their company. When I think back to those early days, it was full of frustration, uncertainty and if I’m honest, loneliness.”

This has resonated with a number of people I have worked with over the years and it got me thinking that it wouldn’t take much to help bring us together, even if it was sporadically at first.

At the same time I heard about the Young Professionals Network and Women in Safety that have both been successfully established in Australia. Each began by simply setting up as online groups without any official backing and have gone on to become significant sources of information, face-to-face networking and peer support.

Encouraged by their success the Young Health and Safety Professionals Network – New Zealand was launched on LinkedIn at the end of 2016. Within a matter of weeks the group have secured three volunteer administrators (based in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin) and a page owner. New members are joining each week and the desire to run regular meetings with guest speakers in the main centres is consistently being heard.

There are no membership fees or purpose statements, this may change, but what is more certain is that those types of decisions will be determined by the national group and/or local groups themselves as it grows and potentially takes on its own path.

The next step will be to organise the first meetings and to get a better sense of what people are looking for.

To keep up to date with events or news be sure to join the Young Health and Safety Professionals Network – New Zealand, LinkedIn, group: