The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions knows that high quality, worker-centric health and safety representative training programmes are a key to safer work under the new Health and Safety at Work Act. The new Act comes into force today and heralds some significant improvements in the health and safety space – including new powers for Health and Safety Reps (HSRs).
The CTU’s WorksafeReps HSR programme is the largest representative training provider in the country – having trained more than 30,000 HSRs since 2003. “Under the new law it’s vital that HSRs get the right training that will give them the skills, knowledge and confidence to be effective at work,” says Sam Huggard, CTU Secretary.
“The WorksafeReps programme is proven to be high-quality and worker-centric. It gives the representatives confidence to be able to create systems that result in safer workplaces, Huggard said.
Note: In gearing up for the new Act, WorksafeReps has redesigned its programmes and will be offering face-to-face learning and on-line learning as well as assessment so that HSRs can achieve the new standard that is required for them to be empowered under the law. In order to have greater reach to HSRs, WorksafeReps is working with the Open Polytechnic of New Zealand to offer on-line learning and assessment.