NOHSAC : Occupational Health and Safety in New Zealand : Tech Report 7

3.10 The health and safety workforce

The capacity of the occupational health and safety workforce is closely related to the overall performance of the enforcement, compensation and education system. This workforce encompasses a diverse range of professionals.

Section 3.10 outlines the workforce resources available across the occupational compliance/enforcement, rehabilitation and compensation, and education sectors. It is not always possible to separate out certain professional groups from discharge of individual functions, given the range of settings in which workforce members operate. As such, this section is broken down into sub-parts that provide short descriptions of the roles played by the workforce and the numbers of professionals involved in each.

Professionals discussed are:

inspectorate services, including the Department of Labour’s Professional and Specialist Services Group, and inspectorate services provided by Maritime New Zealand, the CVIU and the CAA
health and safety professionals
health and safety consultants
ACC FTE to operate the work-related injury prevention activities (including the operation of the ACC incentives programmes).

For some groups (eg, private health and safety consultants), very limited information is available on the total number of practitioners as there is no source of robust information. The exclusion of other professionals working in the occupational health and safety field is not intended to undermine the role that those professionals play in creating good health and safety outcomes.

Information on the number of trained health and safety representatives is included in section 3.7 of this report.

3.10.1 Inspectorate services

This section includes the following inspectorate services: the Department of Labour’s Professional and Specialist Services Group; Maritime New Zealand’s inspectorate; the CAA’s inspectorate; and the inspectorate services provided by the CVIU.

The inspectorate services enforce the HSE Act and the HSNO Act in workplaces. The functions are outlined in section 3.5 of this report. In addition, Departmental medical practitioners have specific statutory functions in regard to occupational health, such as examining or requiring the medical examination of employees exposed to significant occupational health hazards, and suspending employees to protect health.

3.10.1.1 Workforce capacity

Tables 8a and 8b estimate the number of professionals engaged in the Department of Labour’s Professional and Specialist Services Group at both regional and head offices, and the FTE allocation associated with this.

TABLE 8A	Inspectorate workforce: Department of Labour
		NUMBER INVOLVED
INSPECTORATE		TOTAL POSITIONS AVAILABLE	POSITIONS FILLED
Department of Labour Professional and Specialist Services Group (Regional offices)^lxiv
General warrant (GW) health and safety inspectors		39	39
Accident or injury prevention consultants		3	3
Construction inspectors		7	7
Construction/GW inspectors		8	8
Construction/HSNO inspectors		8	8
Construction/GW/HSNO inspectors		9	8
Departmental medical practitioners		13	13
Engineering officers		0	2
Forestry inspectors		7	4
Forestry/GW inspectors		2	1
Forestry/HSNO inspectors		4	2
Forestry/GW/HSNO inspectors		4	2
GW/health inspectors		7	7
GW/health/HSNO inspectors		2	2
High hazard inspectors		2	2
HSNO inspectors		35	35
HSNO, explosives and flammables inspectors		1	–
HSNO, occupational hygiene		1	1
Information support officers		28	28
Occupational health nurse/inspector		7	7
Occupational health nurse/HSNO		8	8
Occupational health scientist		2	1
Petroleum/geothermal/HSNO inspectors		1	2
Service managers		22	22
Surface mines, coal mines, quarries, tunnels		2	2
Trainee health and safety inspectors		13	12
Total		235	226
Department of Labour (head office)
Health and safety professional and specialist support staff (Department of Labour)		16	16

TABLE 8B	Occupational health and safety services FTE resource: Department of Labour
CATEGORY		BUDGETED FTE 2006/07
Regional staff
– Management		31
– Health and safety inspectors		157
– Technical specialists		15
– Support staff		29
Head office staff
– Chief advisors		2
– Business advisors		10
– Engineering safety		5
– Support staff		3
– Management		2
– Policy		11
Total		265

The difference between the FTE allocation outlined in Table 8b and the actual resource currently available can be explained by the fact that these figures cover two different financial years, spread across a time of restructuring in the delivery of occupational health and safety services.

In addition to the inspectorate workforce provided at the Department of Labour, the CAA employs two health and safety inspectors to undertake functions related to its designation under the HSE Act and to operate its health and safety unit at the CAA’s head office. Approximately 20 Maritime New Zealand inspectors undertake the inspectorate role onboard ships as part of their other inspectorate duties.

3.10.1.2 Cross-workforce collaboration

There appears to be no body to provide cross-workforce support and collaboration for the inspectorate workforce.

3.10.2 Occupational health practitioners

This section outlines the roles of a range of specialist occupational health practitioners including occupational physicians, occupational health nurses, occupational hygienists, physiotherapists and ergonomists.

3.10.2.1 Workforce capacity

Table 9 identifies the overall resource for occupational health practitioners and the roles undertaken, qualifications, and registration or certification requirements. Practitioners work in a range of settings including private practice, for government agencies and for private businesses. Double-counting between Table 8a/b and Table 9 is possible as there are occupational physicians and occupational health nurses employed in the inspectorate and registered through a professional body.

TABLE 9	Specialist occupational health practitioners
PROFESSIONAL GROUP		NUMBER	ROLE, QUALIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION/REGISTRATION
Health practitioners
Occupational physicians^lxv		38	Provide diagnosis, assessment, treatment and medico-legal services Bachelor of Medicine or equivalent degree; occupational medicine qualification optional Registration by the Medical Council mandatory; fellowship of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational Medicine optional
Occupational health nurses^lxvi		348	Advise in injury prevention, undertake health monitoring and first aid, undertake strategic hazard management planning, investigate incidents, and provide rehabilitation and return to work services Nursing qualification; qualification in occupational health optional Registration by the Nursing Council mandatory but no specific competency for practising as an occupational health nurse is required
Physiotherapists^lxvii		101	Provide treatment and rehabilitation services to injured people Registration by the New Zealand Physiotherapists Board mandatory
Other health and safety professionals
Occupational hygienists^lxviii		40	Design and implement hazard control systems, undertake hazard surveys and research, develop technical material on hazard management Science or engineering qualification Registration through the New Zealand Occupational Hygienists Society voluntary
Ergonomists^lxix		10	Focus on interactions between people and workplace systems to improve workplace health and safety No restrictions on trade Certification by the Board for Certification of New Zealand Ergonomists voluntary

3.10.2.2 Professional representation

Occupational health practitioners are represented by a range of professional bodies. The main organisations and the roles they play are:

Australasian Faculty of Occupational Medicine – a professional body for occupational physicians that seeks to establish and maintain the standard of practice of occupational medicine in Australasia through the operation and maintenance of training and continued professional development programmes
Australia and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine – a professional body that seeks to advance knowledge for registered health professionals such as general practitioners and occupational health nurses who are involved in occupational medicine
New Zealand Ergonomists Society – a society to represent the interests of New Zealanders with an interest in ergonomics that contains a professional certification system for ergonomists in association with the Board of New Zealand Certified Ergonomists
New Zealand Occupational Hygienists Society – a professional body to create a forum for discussion between occupational hygienists practising in New Zealand and others with an interest in occupational hygiene
<0x2022> New Zealand Occupational Health Nurses’ Association – a professional body for occupational health nurses that promotes professional development within the competency framework required by the Nursing Council.

3.10.2.3 Cross-workforce collaboration

There are few groups established to provide cross-sector collaboration between different groups of occupational health practitioners. During the research period, the project team only identified one such organisation: the newly-formed Occupational Health and Safety Industry Group (OHSIG). The OHSIG comprises members from the New Zealand Occupational Health Nurses’ Association, the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management and the New Zealand Occupational Hygiene Society. The OHSIG attempts to enhance the ability of occupational health practitioners to have input into the strategic development of occupational health and safety in New Zealand. Given its fledgling status, it remains to be seen how the OSHIG performs as a co-ordinating point for collaboration.

3.10.3 Health and safety consultants

New Zealand’s health and safety workforce includes a number of consultants who provide specialist advice on a range of health and safety issues, including achieving compliance with the HSE and HSNO Acts, specialised systems or products, assessment services, accidents and incident investigations, and technical advice to employers and employees on the whole range of health and safety issues. It is unclear how many organisations or individuals are operating in this capacity as the industry is unregulated and no national data is collated.

There are some registration systems available for these professionals, although fewer than 20 health and safety professionals are registered with the following bodies:

New Zealand Institute of Safety Management – an institute that runs a registration service for occupational health and safety professionals as well as providing a range of services to promote safe work systems
New Zealand Safety Council – a safety organisation that runs a registration programme for health and safety professionals.

3.10.4 ACC FTE

ACC employs a number of FTE to provide services to support the operation of the ACC incentives programmes (discussed in section 5.1 of this report). Table 10 outlines the FTE and the associated work area identified by ACC:

TABLE 10	ACC FTE
PROGRAMME/WORK AREA		FTE ALLOCATION
Injury prevention consultants		16.0
Workplace Incentives Programme		11.0
Corporate account managers		4.0
Workplace injury prevention managers		0.5
Data analysts		0.5
Total		32.0

3.10.5 Stakeholders’ comments

Occupational health and safety workforce issues attracted significant comment from stakeholders. Particular areas identified included:

sector-wide capacity in occupational health and safety
the capacity of the Department of Labour’s Professional and Specialist Services Group.

3.10.5.1 Stakeholder comments on sector-wide capacity issues with the current occupational health and safety workforce

Generally, stakeholders were concerned that New Zealand has a limited pool of technically competent people possessing the capacity to undertake the tasks required to ensure good health and safety outcomes.^lxx Specific examples of the transfer of competent staff between the Department of Labour and other organisations (including government agencies) were repeatedly used to illustrate this point.

Stakeholders identified a number of specific gaps in the workforce:

General practitioners trained in occupational medicine and with the capacity to diagnose work-related illnesses and injuries^lxxi
Specialist occupational physicians
Toxicologists and scientists working in occupational health and safety
Ergonomists
Certain research-related positions such as epidemiologists and biostatisticians.

Factors contributing to these shortages included gaps in the training structure (in terms of the limited availability of specific technical courses, limited content of available courses and limited opportunities for support during study). Market factors such as the difficulty of leaving general practice to study and the limited amount of specialist work available following qualification were also identified as problems specific to occupational physicians and general practitioners. This can be compounded by limited public funding for positions or training for such positions.

A number of stakeholders commented on the variability in the overall competence of health and safety consultants in terms of delivering cost-effective health and safety solutions to clients.^lxxii Several stakeholders^lxxiii noted that there are no formal qualifications or certification processes for such practitioners, and it is difficult for employers to know whether they are receiving sound advice. Standard qualifications or certification were also raised as issues in relation to occupational health nurses (although comments about variability in performance were not).

Two stakeholders raised concerns about New Zealand’s ageing workforce and its potential to impact negatively on the health and safety workforce in New Zealand. Many health and safety professions contain a disproportionately large number of people aged 50 years and older. The need to develop clear career pathways was indicated by six stakeholders from different sectors.

Awareness of the jurisdiction boundaries between activities undertaken by certain groups of health and safety professions was raised as a key issue. For example, the New Zealand Occupational Health Nurses’ Association, the New Zealand Ergonomists Society and the New Occupational Hygienists Society noted that no-one seemed to know what they did and therefore their services tended to be under-utilised.

3.10.5.2 Stakeholder comments on the capacity and capability of the Department of Labour’s Professional and Specialist Services Group

A number of stakeholders acknowledged that the Department of Labour has difficulty competing with the private sector remuneration packages when recruiting and retaining qualified and competent health and safety inspectors (eg, a health and safety inspector may be paid approximately $45,000 per annum at the Department but would receive considerably more than this in the private sector).^lxxiv Two stakeholders noted a positive angle to this issue: job migration helps to share health and safety expertise between organisations. Nonetheless, the project team notes that this can also be problematic, particularly if the Department becomes a technical training institute for the private sector.

Five stakeholders noted that the current Departmental medical practitioner positions within the Department of Labour are under-utilised, and that the devolved structure and limited hours worked by each practitioner can inhibit the utility of the role.^lxxv Having an occupational health specialist in a position of leadership within the Department was also identified as a potential means of improving the visibility of occupational health within the Department’s work programme.^lxxvi

There was also concern that individual inspectors are required to take on too many specialist areas, particularly given that some of the specialised areas require a significant base-knowledge and ongoing professional development if functional knowledge of the issues is to be maintained (eg, HSNO inspectors).^lxxvii These comments were not intended as criticisms of individual inspectors. Rather, they reflected the level of knowledge required to perform in this area.

3.10.6 Comments and conclusions

New Zealand’s occupational health and safety workforce is made up of a range of health and safety practitioners who:

hold a variety of qualifications and expertise in occupational health, from highly-qualified technical or specialist registered experts through to consultants with human resource backgrounds practising in unregulated markets

operate in a range of situations and settings, though with a focus more on the safety aspects of work-related injury than on occupational health.

The combined efforts of the occupational health and safety workforce are one of the key mechanisms through which to achieve good health and safety outcomes. However, the capacity of the workforce appears to be of concern to stakeholders. While these concerns may be valid, it is difficult to assess the level of resourcing required to meet New Zealand’s needs without undertaking a comprehensive analysis of workload. This limits comment to the workforce components on which the project team had sufficient information: capacity in occupational medicine, the technical capacity of the inspectorate, qualifications, awareness of the roles of certain practitioners and the ageing nature of certain sections of the workforce.

3.10.6.1 Capacity in occupational medicine

There are 13 Departmental medical practitioners employed across each of the Department of Labour’s regional offices. However, the FTE allocation means that the contact time available is limited (ie, 0.1 and 0.2 FTE per position). This resource may be spread too thinly to enable the functions of the Departmental medical practitioners to be fulfilled adequately on an ongoing basis.

3.10.6.2 Strengthening the technical capacity of the inspectorate workforce

Currently, the Department employs a limited range of technical expertise:

8 FTE in HSNO enforcement are available.
Only two scientist positions are available.
There are no epidemiologists.
Approximately 0.2 FTE in toxicology expertise is available.
A small number of sector advisors are engaged to deliver leadership in the following: health, agriculture, construction, extractives, machinery and forestry.

In particular, the Department’s occupational health capacity appears to have been diminished since 1991, as outlined in Table 11:

TABLE 11	Historical occupational health resources 1991–2005
		1992/93	2004	2005
Head office
Departmental medical practitioners		5 staff (part FTE)	2.4 FTE (15 staff)	2.5 FTE (13 staff)
Ergonomists		1	0	0
NODS registrar		0	1	0
Noise scientists		1	0	0
Nursing advisors		1	0	0
Occupational hygienists		5	3	0
Occupational physician		1	0	0
Occupational scientists		3	2	2^lxxviii
Policy advisors and support staff		2	2	2
Regional offices
Health and safety inspectors^lxxix		Not available	130	142
Occupational health nurses		37	13	15
Source: Collated from information supplied by the Department of Labour and the Ministry of Health.

The project team acknowledges that there are some issues in comparing the FTE allocations for delivering the inspectorate services across the years due to the ways in which service delivery has changed. However, the figures provided in Table 11 indicate that the occupational health resource is more limited in 2005/06 than it was when the resourcing was initially transferred from the Department of Health.

If the Department of Labour is to take a leadership role in occupational health and safety, it must engage a sufficient level of technical expertise. Such steps are underway, as evident in the recent allocation of an additional $730,000 for occupational health services and the appointment of a Chief Advisor – Occupational Health. It remains to be seen what impact this position will have in raising the profile of occupational health in particular within the Department.

Additional research to ascertain with greater certainty where gaps in technical expertise and service currently exist (eg, those services where contract expertise is limited) would also provide a basis for developing a strategic workforce development plan for the inspectorate and the Department of Labour, to ensure that leadership functions are delivered. Strengthening the technical capacity of critical organisations, such as the Department of Labour’s Professional and Specialist Services Group, is identified as an action in the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy Action Plan.^lxxx

The Department of Labour is currently undertaking a strategic baseline review to identify the range and nature of products and services that it needs to deliver and the capabilities required to deliver these services. A report assessing the delivery of existing services and identifying options for the future is due for completion in June 2006. This report may identify changes required to the FTE allocation of the occupational health and safety services and may provide for changes to the resourcing of the occupational health and safety services.

3.10.6.3 Qualifications

A number of groups of occupational health and safety professionals have no standardised qualifications or competence standards that must be achieved before practice in a subject area can be undertaken. This can create issues for consumers of health and safety services, who may not be aware of the level of competence or qualification held by a person practising under a certain title. Requiring more formalised registration or certification mechanisms may result in excessive red-tape costs for practitioners, especially in workforces with a small number of providers. Nonetheless, it may be appropriate to explore options for providing more certainty about the quality of practitioners in a range of workforce sub-groups (eg, health and safety consultants). Both the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management and the New Zealand Safety Council are currently developing such systems. Maintaining a watching brief on the reach, acceptability and scope of these systems is likely to provide information on whether such systems could be used to address concerns about the health and safety consultancy market.

Information on the training and qualifications available in New Zealand is discussed in section 3.7 of this report.

3.10.6.4 Awareness of the roles and responsibilities of members of the workforce

There is a general lack of awareness about the roles fulfilled by certain groups of health and safety professionals, including occupational health nurses, ergonomists and occupational hygienists. A lack of understanding of the work undertaken by professionals in these groups could result in an under-utilisation of the available resource. This is an issue that should be addressed by the professional bodies for each group. Some bodies are undertaking considerable work in this field, and that awareness should increase if these efforts are sustained.

3.10.6.5 Ageing workforce issues

One of the key issues facing certain parts of the health and safety workforce is the increase in the average age of practitioners in certain fields. For example, anecdotal evidence suggests that the majority of the Department of Labour’s Professional and Specialist Services Group are aged over 50 years. An analysis of medical practitioners registered with a vocation in occupational medicine indicated that 55 percent completed their Bachelor degree training in or before the 1970s and are aged 50 years and older. Accurate data for the other professions is not readily available. However, it appears reasonable to consider that these professions will follow a nation-wide trend and experience workforce shortages in the near future due to retirement of the current workforce. Investigating options for encouraging people to join a health and safety profession may be an option to consider in a workforce development strategy.