With 35 years’ experience in the extractive sector, here and in the UK, Chris Gray says we need to shift the focus on protecting workers from paperwork to making them aware of the hazards they face. Chris is the Institute of Quarrying NZ President, Managing Director of Whakatane-based concrete and contracting company Tracks and a member of the MinEx Board.
Our approach to health and safety has become like a complicated card game with far too many rules.
We’ve overcomplicated it, focusing heavily on risk assessments and written procedures, but are these really preventing harm?
After nearly 30 years of filling out risk assessments and producing what seems like an endless conveyor belt of documentation, I challenge you to ask yourself: Is this truly the best way to protect your workforce?
It’s not managers getting injured – it’s the workers. Yet, we’ve taken an administrative approach to health and safety that works well in an office but often fails to deliver where it matters – on the ground. It’s like a failed marketing campaign targeting the wrong demographic. We’ve designed our health and safety systems for the office environment, but the people who actually face the risks – the workers – are unintentionally being overlooked. We’re missing the mark, especially considering the literacy level of many workers in our industry.
Here’s the real issue: the focus needs to shift to hazard awareness training. Written documents might help some, but nothing beats practical, hands-on training in recognising and managing hazards. I’d argue risk assessments and procedures may contribute about 20 percent to preventing accidents, but hazard awareness training has the potential to make a much bigger impact. It equips workers to identify and deal with risks as they arise, in real time.
In a workplace where literacy levels can vary significantly, complex written procedures and risk assessments often fail to engage the very people they’re meant to protect. Instead, these documents end up being skimmed over or ignored altogether. We need a system that works for everyone, regardless of their ability to digest long, written instructions. That means focusing on actions and training that happens on site, where workers can see, hear, and practice hazard management – not just read about it.
Despite efforts to engage employees, we’re still stuck focusing on paperwork instead of real, practical actions that make a difference. Hazard awareness training should be at the core of our safety practices, along with emergency scenario exercises, pre-start meetings, and Take 5 processes. These are activities that take place in the workplace, not behind a desk.
To those in management reading this, think about your own experience. If I dropped you into a construction site tomorrow, would you feel safe because you’ve read the risk assessments? No … you’d feel safe because you are risk aware. You’ve developed the ability to spot hazards and manage them effectively, not because of a document but through practical experience.
Years ago, while completing yet another risk assessment – my 226th in fact – I realised something: I wasn’t creating anything new. I had two Excel sheets open; one was a blank risk assessment form, and the other was a list of about 30 hazards with controls that I would copy and paste into each assessment.
In truth, every risk assessment was just a reshuffling of a limited set of hazards. Wouldn’t it be more effective to simply train the workforce to recognise and manage those 30 hazards, rather than burying them in paperwork about each potential combination?
Let’s put it this way: imagine I’m teaching you a new card game. There are 30 cards, and I want you to learn how to use them. Sounds challenging but manageable, right? But what if I told you I needed to teach you every possible combination of hands you could be dealt, and, for each one, we’d need a written procedure? You’d think the game was absurd and completely impractical. This is what we’re doing with health and safety!
I often get frustrated when I suggest changing our approach, only to be told, “We have to do risk assessments – it’s a requirement.” And sure, we do need them, but we’ve put too much emphasis on this one tool, and it’s not delivering the results we need.
For those of you who believe risk assessments and written procedures are the answer, I’d say you’re a Health and Safety Manager. But if you’re someone who understands there has to be a better way, then you’re a Health and Safety Leader.
I’m not saying risk assessments and written procedures don’t have their place – they do. But our over-reliance on them isn’t providing the effective or efficient health and safety outcomes we need. When you sit your team down for inductions or go over standard operating procedures (SOPs), are you truly connecting with them?
If you asked someone to summarise what you just covered, you’re just as likely to hear, “I was thinking about whether I could take down two bad guys with this pencil if they burst into the room,” than a clear, detailed understanding of what you presented.
It’s time to change the game. Let’s focus on actions that make a real difference (hazard awareness training being the priority), and engage our workers in a way that resonates, rather than attempting to drown them in paperwork and complexity.
