NATIONAL OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH &
SAFETY ADVISORY COMMITTEE (NOHSAC)
WEDNESDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 2004, 9.30AM TO 3.00PM,
LOCAL GOVERNMENT BUILDING, LEVEL 9, 114-118 LAMBTON QUAY, WELLINGTON.
ATTENDEES: |
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MINUTES:
1. Meeting with the Minister of Labour
The Secretariat provided a briefing paper to Hon Margaret Wilson prior to the meeting. The Minister was unable to attend due to other commitments.
Action 1: Secretariat to meet with Mark Booth to discuss how the National Health Committee Secretariat briefs the Minister. (Responsible: Secretariat, by Mar 04)
A discussion was held in regards to the newly appointed Minister of Labour, Hon Paul Swain and whether there would be any impact on the Committee. It was agreed that the Chair arrange to meet with the Minister soon and that the Minister be invited to the next NOHSAC meeting.
Action 2: NOHSAC Secretariat to invite Hon Paul Swain, newly appointed Minister of Labour to the next NOHSAC meeting, Wednesday, 28 April 2004. (Responsible: Secretariat, by April 04)
2. Previous Minutes and Action Points
NOHSAC Minutes of 15 December 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 C8 – The Committee members are to provide more names of potential research providers to the Secretariat for addition to the provider database. (Responsible: Secretariat to follow up with Committee)
Selwyn McCracken advised that Colin Cryer has registered his interest. Colin will be back in New Zealand around September 2004.
Action 1 (15/12) – The Committee Secretariat tabled the draft performance indicators in NOHSAC’s work programme for the Burden of Occupational Disease and Injury review. The Committee accepted the work programme and indicators. When a new project is commenced, this work programme will be updated. - Completed
Action 2 (15/12) –Completed. The Committee asked the Secretariat to continue circulating media articles of relevance.
Action 3 (15/12) – Completed.
Action 4 (15/12) – The NOHSAC Chair, Neil Pearce is to provide the list of relevant research organisations in NZ to Tim Driscoll to enable him to obtain relevant published and unpublished documents. (Responsible: Neil Pearce by April 04)
Action 5 (15/12) – Completed.
Action 6 (15/12) – 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. (Responsible: Anne-Marie Feyer by April 04)
Action 7 (15/12) – Completed.
Action 8 (15/12) – Tim has provided the draft proposed outline of the report - Completed.
Action 9 (15/12) – Anne-Marie Feyer is to forward the OECD and MVT papers to Andrea ‘t Mannetje for reference and consideration in the construction of the technical appendix. An email has been sent to Rebecca Lilley.
Anne-Marie Feyer will follow up on this and also forward a copy to the Secretariat. (Responsible: Anne-Marie Feyer by March 04)
Action 10 (15/12) – “Burden of Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand” - The Committee Secretariat is to consider consultation methods for discussion at the February NOHSAC meeting.
The Committee discussed the need to consult on the second and third report and give people the chance to give their feedback. The suggestion was made that the Committee could use the contacts of the Ministerial Panel on Gradual Process, Disease and Infection. The question was also asked whether peer reviews should be completed or the possibility of running a one-day workshop.
NOHSAC Secretariat to contact David Collins to ascertain what consultation channels will be used by the Gradual Process Panel and whether these are appropriate to NOHSAC’s needs. (Responsible: Secretariat by March 04)
Action 11 (15/12) – Discussed in meeting - Completed.
Action 12 (15/12) – Completed
Action 13 (15/12) – This was discussed and it was decided that the meeting date stands as 9 June 2004.
3. NOHSAC’s Operation
The Committee welcomed the new Secretariat staff, Mark Wagstaffe and Stephanie Kerruish.
Mark gave an overview of what he has been doing since he commenced his role as Project Manager. These included:
Action 3: NOHSAC Secretariat to prepare a draft communications strategy and a website development plan and circulate to the Committee before April’s meeting. (Responsible: Secretariat by April 04)
Neil Pearce presented a report produced by the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Complementary and Alternative Health as a reference for preparing NOHSAC’s first annual report.
Action 4: NOHSAC Secretariat to prepare a draft annual report for presentation at April’s meeting. (Responsible: Secretariat by April 04)
Action 5: NOHSAC Secretariat to review the interim Logo. (Responsible: Secretariat byApril 04)
There was some discussion around the Website and communications. It was decided that the Website will contain reports by NOHSAC, a method for consultation with stakeholders and general information about NOHSAC, the Committee and its operations.
Budget
The Secretariat advised that before Christmas a new initiatives bid was prepared for consideration by the Minister. (This included a request for extra funding for the NOHSAC work programme ($250,000), which is on top of the $144,000 p/a currently received.
Funding was also requested to enable research to be purchased through a joint venture between the Department of Labour (DoL) and the Health Research Council.
Action 6: Carol Slappendel to check the sensitivity in sharing this information with the Committee. Depending on this outcome, Carol will forward a copy (or an abstract) of the bid to the Chair. (Responsible: Carol Slappendel by April 04)
4. Work Programme
NOHSAC Secretariat provided some information on surveillance systems. The two surveillance systems outlined were: Voluntary Reporting – The Health and Occupation Reporting Network and Compulsory Reporting – Register on Employees Exposed to Carcinogens. Mark Wagstaffe advised that there is a large range of reviews of systems available on the internet. Also distributed to the Committee was a document called OSH Monitoring System, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work for the Committee to review.
Action 7: NOHSAC Secretariat to continue investigations through the internet on overseas occupational health surveillance systems and to report to the Committee at the next meeting. (Responsible: Secretariat by April 04)
The committee reviewed the structure for the report.
Goals – The Committee confirmed the goals set out in the 15 December minutes.
Current situation in New Zealand
The Committee agreed that the following organisations/systems would need to be approached to retrieve relevant information on surveillance methods used in NZ to monitor occupational disease and injury.
These will be developed by the Committee and should address:
The Committee agreed to produce a RFP for ‘Current Situation in New Zealand’ and send it to prospective contractors as soon as possible with a view to a report being completed by September/October 2004. This RFP should stipulate that specialist expertise will be needed and that collaboration would be a possibility.
The Committee discussed producing a draft RFP for a report on the ‘Overseas Situation’ by September. The Committee is to discuss how NOHSAC is to proceed at the next meeting. It was decided that the report on Options would be discussed after the EPICOH Conference in October.
Action 8: NOHSAC Secretariat to draft the RFP for the report on ‘Current Situation in New Zealand’ and forward this to Committee members. (Responsible: Secretariat by March 04)
Action 9: NOHSAC Secretariat to contact HRC regarding their provider database.(Responsible: Secretariat by March 04)
Action 10: The Committee Secretariat is to include discussions on drafting the RFP for ‘Overseas Situation’ as an agenda item for the April NOHSAC meeting. (Responsible: Secretariat by April 04)
Action 11: The Committee Secretariat is to include discussions on drafting the RFP for ‘Options’ as an agenda item for the October NOHSAC meeting. (Responsible: Secretariat by October 04)
The Committee agreed that the review should cover “where we are now” to “where are we going to be in two to three years time”.
The Secretariat recommended inviting Mike Cosman in addition to Jenny West or Frank Darby from Occupational Safety and Health as guest speakers to discuss the NODS/HASARD system with the Committee.
Action 12: Secretariat to invite OSH personnel to meet with NOHSAC to discuss NODS. (Responsible: Secretariat by April 04)
The Committee suggested inviting a representative from ERMA to the June meeting to discuss what hazardous substances are being used in NZ.
A Business New Zealand representative should also be invited to attend a future meeting.
Surveillance of Hazards (Report 3)
The Committee considered that the following structure might be appropriate for the report on hazard surveillance.
Anne-Marie Feyer advised that Rebecca Lilley has done a literature review on hazard surveillance systems that may be helpful.
Action 13: Anne-Marie Feyer to contact Rebecca Lilley for the literature review and forward to Secretariat (Responsible: Anne-Marie Feyer by April 04)
The Committee suggested the timeframe for Report 3 would be due in the first half of next year. This is to be discussed at the next meeting.
Action 14: The Committee Secretariat is to include this topic as an agenda item for the April NOHSAC meeting. (Responsible: Secretariat by April 04)
5. Contracts
The Burden of Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand
Tim Driscoll’s draft proposed outline of the report was tabled and discussed by the committee.
The Committee also felt that comments could also include the availability of limited data. We need to ensure that the outcome is considered in NZ context.
Results could be separated in Part 1 as:
Action 15: NOHSAC Secretariat to ask Tim Driscoll when the draft of a typical section is to arrive and distribute to the Committee. Secretariat also to ask Tim Driscoll to provide a list (breakdown) of the injuries/diseases that he intends to cover (main and sub categories) for consideration by the Committee. (Responsible: Secretariat by March 04)
6. Other Matters / Action Points
Action 16: NOHSAC Secretariat to include as a topic in the agenda for the April meeting – Collecting case studies on benefits of Health and Safety. (Responsible: Secretariat by April 04)
Ross Wilson, President of NZ Council of Trade Unions met with the Committee to discuss the work of NOHSAC and issues of concern to the CTU.