NATIONAL OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (NOHSAC)
Monday 15 December 2003, 9:30am to 4:30pm
Local Government Building
Level 9, 114-118 Lambton Quay, Wellington
ATTENDEES
Present:
In attendance:
Apologies:
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Neil Pearce (NOHSAC Chair), Evan Dryson, Anne-Marie Feyer, Philippa Gander, Selwyn McCracken.
Carol Slappendel (NOHSAC Secretariat – Department of Labour), Julie David (NOHSAC Secretariat – Department of Labour), Hon Margaret Wilson (Minister of Labour – between 9:30am & 10:00am), James Buwalda (Secretary of Labour- between 2:00pm & 3:00pm), Tim Driscoll (Research Provider – Elmatom Pty Ltd - between 9:30am & 1:30pm), Andrea ‘t Mannetje – Research Provider – CPHR – between 11:30 & 1:30pm), Mark Wagstaffe (Prospective NOHSAC Project Manager – between 11:30am and 12:30pm).
None.
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Minuted by
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Carol Slappendel and Julie David, Department of Labour. |
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Next Meeting: |
Wednesday, 25 February 2004.
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NOTES & ACTIONS |
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TOPICS |
DESCRIPTION |
RESPONSI-BLE |
TARGET DATE |
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1. Meeting with the Minister of Labour |
Hon Margaret Wilson met with NOHSAC members to discuss progress made by the Committee to date.
The Chair, Neil Pearce presented NOHSAC’s work programme to the Minister with special emphasis on the Overview of the Burden of Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand.
The implications for resource distribution within DoL and OSH were discussed, especially in regard to the need for a different set of skills to address the problem of occupational disease, and the need for more occupational medicine specialists, occupational health nurses and occupational hygienists. The need for greater research funding was also discussed.
A brief discussion took place surrounding future aspects of the NOHSAC work programme including the production of technical reports relating to the surveillance of occupational disease and related hazards.
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2.Previous Minutes & Action Points |
NOHSAC Minutes of 29 October 2003 – accepted with minor changes. Proposed: Philippa Gander; Seconded: Selwyn McCracken.
All action points reviewed and additional comments were made around the following actions:
Action U15 – Neil Pearce has drafted a letter to Ministers on coding of occupational data and has received comments from a number of people. The Committee agreed that the letter should be forwarded directly by Neil with the relevant amendments.
Action U17 – ABS has produced an electronic programme that helps with coding but this is not automatic.
Outstanding Action point carried over to next year:
Action C8 - Committee members are to provide names of potential research providers to the Secretariat for addition to a provider database
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3. NOHSAC’s Operation
Action 1
Action 2
Action 3
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Additional Secretariat Staff – The process of selection is almost completed with the aim of having the Project Manager and Administrative Support Officer starting in January or February 2004. Mark Wagstaffe, the new Project Manager for NOHSAC, was introduced to the Committee.
Budget Bid – A budget bid for Occupational Health and Safety Research developed by DoL is ready for consideration by the Minister of Labour when she returns from leave in late January 2004. This bid seeks funds to:
Performance Indicators – The Committee endorsed the performance indicators proposed by Anne-Marie Feyer. It was also agreed that, at the end of the first financial year, NOHSAC performance should be reviewed against these performance indicators.
The Committee Secretariat is to add agreed performance indicators to NOHSAC’s terms of reference and circulate for the February meeting.
MoU between NOHSAC and DoL – Some further changes have been made to the MoU following advice from DoL Legal Services, and this is now ready for sign-off by both parties.
Communications Strategy – The Secretariat tabled a draft NOHSAC Communications Strategy. Carol Slappendel advised the Committee that further work on the strategy would be undertaken by Mark Wagstaffe when he commenced as Project Manager in February 2004. The strategy would also need to be supported by more detailed communication planning. It was decided that some of the questions raised in the strategy should be addressed by NOHSAC members at future meetings.
Media Statement – The Committee Secretariat presented a draft press statement on NOHSAC’s work programme with a view to releasing it to the media, the CTU and Business NZ later in the week.
The Committee Secretariat is to collate newspaper articles depicting problems around national OHS statistics and OSH investigation statistics and forward these to NOHSAC members for their information.
Conflicts of Interest - The Secretariat sought advice from the State Services Commission on managing conflicts of interest associated with purchasing research services from a committee member. The State Services Commission noted the view of their Chief Legal Adviser that, if the contract is worth $10,000 or less and matches exactly what NOHSAC and DoL are looking for, then purchasing it directly from a provider is acceptable.
For any amount above $10,000, the advice is that DoL must operate under principles of openness, fairness and transparency - what DoL should avoid is the perception that it is circumventing due process and proper contracting procedures to give preferential treatment to the company of one of the committee members. For example, if DoL would normally tender for such a contract, then it must do so.
The Committee Secretariat is to courier to the NOHSAC Chair the State Services Commission's kit entitled: “Walking the Line: Managing Conflicts of Interest”, as well as any other relevant information on conflicts of interest.
Annual Reporting – The Committee Secretariat has obtained examples of Annual Reports and Technical Reports from the NHC, which can serve as examples for NOHSAC.
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Secretariat
Secretariat
Secretariat |
Feb 04
Jan 04
Dec 03 |
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3. Contracts
Action 4
Action 5
Action 6
Action 7
Action 8
Action 9
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Both the CPHR (Andrea ‘t Mannetje) contract and Elmatom (Tim Driscoll) contract have been signed off.
The relationship between the report and technical appendix and their respective scope was discussed and everyone agreed that both should be based on solid evidence.
The Committee agreed that the focus of the review of the burden of occupational disease and injury should be more on published than unpublished information and that the scope should go beyond the Appendix to cover fatal and non-fatal occupational disease and injury as well as past, present and future exposures and health outcomes in terms of trend data. In addition strong emphasis should be placed on the situation of Maori and Pacific people.
The Committee would like Tim Driscoll to approach relevant research organizations in New Zealand (Cancer Society etc) to obtain relevant published and unpublished documents, to ensure that all possible sources have been used.
The NOHSAC Chair, Neil Pearce is to provide the list of relevant research organizations to Tim Driscoll.
The NOHSAC Chair, Neil Pearce is to provide Tim Driscoll with a copy of Selwyn McCracken’s article on Maori and Pacific issues from the 2002 Priorities in Occupational Health and Safety Symposium.
Anne-Marie Feyer is to forward the publication on the social determinants of health from the Canberra Conference to both Tim Driscoll and the Committee Secretariat.
The Committee Secretariat is to provide a copy of the “Aftermath” publication to Tim Driscoll.
The Chair requested that Tim Driscoll produce the outline of the Technical Report at least two weeks prior to the NOHSAC February meeting.
The Committee Secretariat is to forward an email to Tim Driscoll reminding him of his obligations under the contract to produce the outline of the technical report prior to the February meeting.
Andrea ‘t Mannetje presented her outline to the committee for the Appendix yet to be developed.
There was some discussion about definitions. It was agreed that the report should focus on paid employment. It was also agreed that bystanders and medical misadventure should be excluded although some reference to these issues would be required by way of explanation. The Committee also felt that the quality of the estimates should be explained. Finally extrapolations should be made for both A and B as described in Andrea’s outline.
The committee would like Andrea to refer to relevant papers supplied byAnne-Marie Feyer (OECD and MVT) where relevant.
Anne-Marie Feyer is to forward the OECD and MVT papers to Andrea for reference and consideration in the construction of the technical appendix. |
Neil Pearce
Neil Pearce
A-M Feyer
Secretariat
Secretariat
A-M Feyer
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Dec 03
Dec 03
Dec 03
Dec 03
Dec 03
Dec 03 |
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4. Work Programme
Action 10
Action 11
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Review of the Burden of Occupational Disease and Injury
The Committee considered it important that there be consultation in relation to the first Technical Report. At a minimum the report will need to be sent out for peer review. Consultation processes for the report will need to be addressed at the February meeting.
The Committee Secretariat is to consider consultation methods for discussion at the February NOHSAC meeting.
Surveillance of Occupational Diseases and Injuries
The structure and content of this report was discussed.
The Committee agreed that this report would consist of a review of surveillance methods used in New Zealand and internationally to monitor occupational disease and injury.
The Committee agreed that the following elements be covered in the report:
Research objectives The objectives would be to:
Possible structure for the report
1) Goals This would involve defining the problem to be addressed. Why do we need a surveillance system? What do we want to learn from it?
2) Current situation in New Zealand
3) Overseas situation
4) Options An analysis based on consideration of the New Zealand situation and what is being done overseas.
5) Recommendations Advice for improvement in terms of more systematic and useful surveillance practices.
The order of the sections may need to be changed.
Appropriate person to undertake the work The Committee discussed the following possibilities:
Issue for discussion at the February NOHSAC meeting Should the review of surveillance systems for occupational disease/injury as compared to occupational hazards be contracted separately?
The Committee Secretariat is to include this question topic as an agenda item for the February NOHSAC meeting.
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Secretariat
Secretariat
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Feb 04
Feb 04
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5. Meeting with James Buwalda
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The Committee met with James Buwalda, Secretary of Labour. The most important points addressed by James Buwalda included:
James Buwalda indicated that the most important support DoL can provide is in terms of the budget bid, MoU, secretariat support and DoL input whenever requested.
One of the four DoL intermediate outcomes is “Workplace Productivity” and there was discussion of the role of occupational health and safety in improving productivity. |
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6. Workplace Health and Safety Strategy
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The Secretariat provided an update on the outcome hierarchy for the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy. Intermediate outcomes are workplace quality culture, community engagement and Government modelling.
The WHSS current and planned activities were also addressed in terms of
The Committee would like to keep in touch with progress made on the development of the Strategy especially in regard to the evaluation framework and outcome measures.
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7. Other Actions
Action 12
Action 13 |
The Committee Secretariat is to invite Ross Wilson to the NOHSAC February meeting or, if he is not available, to invite the next guest speaker on the list.
The secretariat is to consult with Committee members to change the June NOHSAC meeting date from Wednesday 9 June 04 to Wednesday 16 June 04 or to any other dates considered acceptable by Committee members .
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Secretariat
Secretariat |
Jan 03
Jan 03 |