Ministerial briefing

 |  Follow us on  

The future of the proposed Safety Star Rating Scheme will be decided early next year, according to a WorkSafe NZ briefing paper prepared for the incoming Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Michael Woodhouse.

This is just one of many topics dealt with in the document, which provides the minister with a summary of WorkSafe's background, current activities and future objectives.

The ratings scheme was first proposed in 2012 by former Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson and former Minister for ACC Judith Collins as a new way of assessing and informing health and safety practice, and of providing incentives for good performance. According to the briefing paper the scheme's initial proof-of-concept is now complete and a joint WorkSafe, ACC and MBIE development team is refining the design, analysing costs and benefits, conducting stakeholder tests, and determining how the package will relate to ACC's existing incentive schemes - which, it says, have been significantly less popular, and less effective in reducing injury claims, than had been anticipated.

In early 2015, the paper goes on to say, Woodhouse and Minister for ACC Nikki Kaye will receive advice on the star rating scheme's affordability and whether it is likely to attract sufficient business uptake to make it viable.

Overall the briefing document describes an organisation where a great deal is going on, as WorkSafe strives to overcome the problems of the past and redefine its future as OHS regulator.