Hi all,
I remember discovering the Bird & Loftus book in the 1980s.
Wow! the triangle answered so many problems. Armed with it I could save lives and clients would love me!
More recently (five years ago) I've thought critically about the Bird triangle and accident ratios. Please read the attached and tell me if you think we can use ratios and triangles.
I've updated the note and it now forms part of my teaching at Victoria University of Wellington.

I've taught people to use bow ties and often seen how the penny drops when a team of managers and workers collaborate. Simply using post it notes on a glass wall can be very powerful. The process can break down barriers and remove the work-as-imagined/work-as-done problem.
Once done with Post-it notes the results can be drawn with a graphics package and used regularly to discuss changes.
Used as an engagement process bow ties can be powerful. Simply drawing them and making the risk register look fancy is a waste of time.
I've also integrated bow tie analysis into teaching an overall risk assessment process that now forms part of one of the Master's papers I teach at Victoria University

Glad to give an idea.
I'm hoping a special edition of New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations will be published in the next week or two. It's open access and contains an article on OHS in young workers, the safe system of work and a preliminary report on an analysis of cases under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015-now.
More on this when it's out.

In the UK directors can be disqualified for a period of years and blocked from taking part in the management of a business. This has been used for serial or reckless offences under the UK HSWA.
The NZ Companies Act section 383 is nearly the same but requires the offence to be one where a director can be imprisoned for 3 months. Only section 47 HSWA (reckless behaviour) would apply.
Sections 137 & 138 of the NZ Companies Act require directors to discharge a duty of care and use reliable advice. If you line up these two sections with section 44 HSWA you see they are quite similar.
Section 138A covers "serious breaches" of section 138.
Sorry, this is written in haste. I'd love to see an article by a lawyer that draws together the above. It would also be good for section 383 to apply to directors under the HSWA for offences other than reckless behaviour.

I think I'm right to say that ISO9001 Quality Management was the first International Standards Organization standard for a management system. It morphed into the framework for all management system standards, known "in the trade" as annex SL. That forms part of a 700+ pages document on developing and publishing management system standards. For example, ISO45001 was developed using annex SL. Thus, if PCBU has an ISO9001 quality management system it is a relatively short step to incorporate the OHS material required under ISO45001. Management system standards are generally auditable but, in ISO45001, read clause 0.5 and notice that a PCBU can make a self-declaration of conformance.
ISO31000 was first published in 2009 and was pretty good. When reissued in 2018 it had been revised to remove material that now appears in annex SL and, thus, management system standards. It includes brief guidance on integration and complements the management system standards.
As mentioned above, if a standard is cited in Regulations it is enforceable but, as far as I know, none of the management system standards are cited.
Personally, I go the integrated management system approach and that is what I teach at Victoria University of Wellington. That makes it possible to bring in the International Electrotechnical Commission standards on reliability of (in the broadest sense) equipment and human factors. Done well, an integrated system can be understood by auditors, either in its entirety or just the system they are auditing.
If anyone is looking for a continuing professional development option come and study paper HLWB507 Health and Safety Management at Victoria as a way of widening horizons. Actually, have a look at all the offerings for post graduate certificate or diploma or the Master's degree.

None of the above would avoid a charge under section 45(b) of the Health and Safety at Work Act if an occupational health and safety advisor/manager/consultant/person did not take reasonable care that their acts or omissions did not adversely affect the health and safety of other people.
An in-house advisor/manager is just a worker by another name and is caught by 45(b).
A consultant may be a sole trader (=worker) or work in a small and medium-sized business but is then a PCBU.
In a case in Ashburton (WorkSafe NZ v Precision Animal Supplements Ltd) a safety consultant got some very poor comments from the judge and I think was lucky that WorkSafe did not prosecute them.
And a recent event leads me to believe that a lawyer acting improperly for their client so causing considerable stress for other people could fall foul of section 45(b). As could an engineer whose poor design results in harm. Or a traffic controller in road works (although the case in question ended up in the Employment Court).
I count three successful prosecutions under 45(b) of workers and one under the Health and Safety in Employment Act that would now fall under 45(b)
I have several short articles on the above from NZ and the UK that my Master's students will be discussing during a block course next week.
Moral: get qualified and do your job competently.

A few bulleted comments:
Design of a matrix

• Some matrices were "found on Google" or got from a friend in a different industry
• A risk matrix cannot be designed to accommodate all the possible data points
• Some designers will design a matrix to make sure it gives the results they want
• Most matrices I have seen use a likelihood scale using words such as "quite likely"; each user will interpret such words differently.
• A better approach is to use ranges of probabilities (eg, 60-80%) but numbers scare many people and they prefer to use words to fudge the results
• Asking for a single matrix to cover all situations is like going to a clothing shop to buy the one-size-fits-all trousers ("Guaranteed to fit all women, men and children").

Use of a matrix

• Each user or group will be concerned about the views of executive management and so will skew the results to give give an acceptable result and avoid adverse comment
• Each user of a matrix will have different biases and experiences, so each result will be purely personal
• Matrices look scientific so people believe they are accurate
• Matrices are used for analysis without actually analysing the possible consequences and the probability of each consequence.
• They are only really useful for reporting that one risk is greater or smaller than another (IEC/ISO31010 Risk management - Risk assessment techniques downgraded the matrix from an analysis tool to a reporting tool)

When we grow up we might accept that risk is about uncertainty. But that's a big word so flip the sentiment and use a short word.
SURE.
Get managers to ask "How sure are you that nobody will be harmed in this activity?" Anything less than 80-90% sure will not be acceptable to a judge.
And stop using the matrix.
I wrote most of this (and then some) in an academic article published in 2017.
Peace, C. (2017). The risk matrix: uncertain results? Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 15(2), 131-144. https://doi.org/10.1080/14773996.2017.1348571

GSI Direct is an Auckland-based insurance broker that places cover with underwriters, including Lloyds of London. The word "Direct" in their name is therefore something of a misnomer.
Over an 18-year period I had good experiences with Aon and then with Meridian as brokers. Aon was very good when I notified them of a possible claim (nothing to do with OHS) and that experience reinforced for me why we need professional indemnity cover for possible poor advice. The cover included legal expenses which could easily run to many thousands of dollars.
We also need public liability cover (just in case of damage to property owned by someone else) and statutory liability insurance for legal expenses if prosecuted under the Health and Safety at Work Act or other legislation.
I was paying a total of about $2,500 per year and was assured that this was the minimum premium for the range of work I carried out (OHS was one component of that).
Start with the NZISM broker. They know what OHS practitioners do, in-house and as consultants.

Check out the decision in WorkSafe NZ v Rentokil Initial Limited in 2016. The following are extracts from the decision in the District Court. (Suppressed was the name of the employee). The full decision can be downloaded from the Chief Judge of the DC website.
"[18] In 2007 the defendant established a policy requiring candidates for specific roles, including [suppressed], to be tested to establish whether they were immune to Hepatitis B as part of the pre-employment screening process. If the candidate was not immune to Hepatitis B, the defendant would offer the candidate Hepatitis B vaccination."
"[24] Upon investigation by WorkSafe, it was established that [suppressed] and one other employee, who started in 2014, were not offered vaccination against Hepatitis B at the outset of their employment."

I agree with pretty much all of the above. And Sheri had it nailed with her comments three weeks ago. However, I draw attention to the following on page viii of ISO45001:
"This document contains requirements that can be used by an organization to implement an OH&S management system and to assess conformity. An organization that wishes to demonstrate conformity to this document can do so by:
• making a self-determination and self-declaration, or
• seeking confirmation of its conformity by parties having an interest in the organization, such as customers, or
• seeking confirmation of its self-declaration by a party external to the organization, or
• seeking certification/registration of its OH&S management system by an external organization."
An external auditor might add value but so might customers, suppliers, sub-contractors, competitors, trade bodies, and other "interested parties". Their comments and feedback might be very illuminating!
I'm in the middle of a project on developing guidance for a trade body on an aspect of safety using ISO Annex SL (the base framework for all management system standards) for the framework. This means a user will be able to take the content and apply it to any relevant standard, including ISO450001, ISO9001, ISO14001, etc.

Well said Paul.
Sometimes just the abstract can be read in Google Scholar but even that may give some useful clues.

Perhaps I should have made this two posts. I agree about the opacity of academic language. When marking my students' assignments I give marks for good plain English.
But there was a second part to my post, repeated here so it doesn't get lost.

One of my academic research interests is the use of "grey literature". For example, the UK Health and Safety Executive research reports are often very helpful to me.
So, my question is: What sources do you use that is open access but reliable?

Read section 5 of the Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act.
I don't think it applies to investigations of incidents/events of the sort that we would investigate.

I have most of the following in my library. Most are out of print but can be found in secondhand bookshops. The book by Eves was published by IOSH and is really good but I don't have it. I think Grayland may have written a second book on the same subject.
Cawthorne, N. (2004). 100 Disasters that Shook the World. Arcturus Publishing Ltd.
Eves, D. (2010). Disasters: Learning the lessons for a safer world. IOSH Services Ltd.
Grayland, E. (1957). New Zealand Disasters. A H & A W Reed.
Kennett, F. (1975). The greatest disasters of the 20th century (1st ed.). Marshall Cavendish Publications Ltd.

Some great comments above!
I think the "decluttering" idea emerged from an academic paper in 2018 (Rae, A., Provan, D., Weber, D. E., & Dekker, S. (2018). Safety clutter: the accumulation and persistence of ‘safety’ work that does not contribute to operational safety. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 16(2), 194-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/14773996.2018.1491147).
Last year I did an online presentation on the subject and will revise, reuse and record the slideshow for my Victoria University OHS Master's students in March. I can make a link to the recording available when it is done if anyone is interested.
Preferably email me direct at christopherdotpeaceatvuwdotacdotnz

Two comments.
I have seen a chain link curtain that is heavy enough to stop birds, and allows a person to see and walk through. The chains were well made and probably would not snag on trolleys, stock or people.
Your question reminded me of an incident in 1978 in Bristol when the plastic curtain strips were being scratched by fork lift trucks to the point where they became opaque. A fork lift truck driver drove through and pushed an empty wooden pallet he could not see so that it slid and crushed the ankle and foot of a pedestrian against another pallet. This was bad enough but the pedestrian was a colleague who was an inspector.

This is something I get grumpy about! There is much free-to-access applied research that is easily accessible and that practitioners and professionals (especially) should be referring to. In some cases it might change the"professional judgement" of a practitioner/professional while in others it would strengthen a business case.
Accessing reliable research comes into what I am teaching at Victoria University and will also be in some of the webinars NZISM has asked me to run in 2021. It should be just part of growing into a professional.
Peter, no need to make my comments anonymous!

An update on my last post. I just catalogued another research report into Endnote. The report is:
Hewitt, S. (2010). Triaxial measurements of the performance of anti-vibration gloves. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0795]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
The report summary says:
"The aim of this investigation is to either confirm or challenge the assertion made by a particular machine manufacturer, that the glove they supply will provide useful attenuation of the vibration generated by their hand-held power tool products".

Hi all.
I've been recording all 1,161 HSE research reports in Endnote (proprietary software). A search has found 16 that include "vibration" as a keyword. Some may be helpful.
If one of the reports seems interesting you will need to visit the website and then look for the report number (eg, for the first in the list below copy/paste https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm into your browser and then go to the list that includes report 613; click through to download the report).
To make life easier I'm planning to also include in the database the IOSH research reports (and any others I can find) and then in 2021 include their use when teaching Master's papers at Victoria University. This is part of helping practitioners become professionals.

Darby, A. (2008). Whole-body vibration and ergonomics toolkit. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0612]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Darby, A., & Pitts, P. (2008). Whole-body vibration and ergonomics of driving occupations: Phase 2: Port vehicles. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0613]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Heaton, R., Hewitt, S., & Yeomans, E. (2007). Correlation between vibration emission and vibration during real use: Fastener driving tools. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0591]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Hewitt, S., Heaton, R., Shanks, E., & Mole, M. (2007). Correlation between vibration emission and vibration during real use: Polishers and sanders. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0590]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Hewitt, S., & Mason, H. (2015). A critical review of evidence related to hand-arm vibration syndrome and the extent of exposure to vibration. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR1060]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Mitchell, R., Garner, K., & Vaghela, S. (2004). Implications of the Physical Agents (Vibration) Directive for SMEs. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0267]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Pitts, P. (2008). Whole-body vibration of ground-preparation activities in forestry. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0636]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Poole, K. (2009). A review of the literature published since 2004 with potential relevance in the diagnosis of HAVS. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0711]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Poole, K., & Mason, H. (2006). Temporary threshold shifts as indicators of hand­arm vibration exposure. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0479]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Poole, K., & Mason, H. (2008). Data mining in a HAVS referral population. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0666]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Poole, K., & Mason, H. (2008). Upper limb disability and exposure to hand-arm vibration in selected industries. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0666]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Poole, K., Mason, H., & Mcdowell, G. (2008). The influence of posture and environmental temperature on the diagnostic ability of finger systolic blood pressure. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0665]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Scarlett, A. (2007). Whole-body vibration on self-propelled forage harvesters: Evaluation of emission and estimated daily exposure levels. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0544]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Scarlett, A., Price, J., & Semple, D. (2005). Whole-body vibration on agricultural vehicles: evaluation of emission and estimated exposure levels. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0321]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm
Shanks, E. (2007). Correlation between vibration emission and vibration during real use: Nibblers and shears. Health and Safety Executive [Research Report RR0576]. https://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrhtm/index.htm

Hi Michelle and other colleagues
I just checked the split for the paper I'm teaching for the MA at Victoria University this trimester. The split is almost exactly 50/50 with 9 male and 11 female students.
And while 12 are Kiwis, the others are quite a multinational group.