Health and Safety - Incoming Changes for Clubs

The new Health and Safety at Work Act is expected to come into effect on Monday. Now is the time to become familiar with the expected changes and ensure your club is up to scratch in the health and safety department.

Health and safety is about the hazards that exist in your usual club environment. Do you have a first aid kit and people trained to use it? What will you do in the event of an accident or civil defence emergency? Do you have contact numbers for your members’ next-of-kin to ensure that can be contacted in the case of an injury or illness?

Is your club a PCBU or Volunteer Organisation?

It is important to understand if your club falls under the category of a PCBU or a volunteer organisation. This will help you understand your duties under the new Act. Click here for to help identify which category your club comes under. 

Whether your club is a PCBU or a Volunteer Organisation, you will - as a club or an officer of that club - have a duty of care and need to ensure that your health and safety processes and documentation are in order. Regardless of how big or small, your club should have plans in place to deal with these sorts of issues. The legal requirements for your club change according to whether or not you employ paid staff. All club committees and members should use the following guidelines to ensure everyone remains health and safe while participating in club squash activities.

Essential Reading

Sport NZ has been monitoring the progress of the new Bill and looking at its potential impact on sports organisation. Click here to read the updates (from our January newsletter).

Some of the things you can do:

• Nominate a safety officer on the management committee. Use a health and safety manual and include health and safety as a priority item on meeting agendas.
• Walk around the club environment and see if there is anything likely to cause harm. Write a list of all the risks and hazards in your club environment. Review past accident and injuries and identify what went wrong and why.
• Have processes and resources in place to eliminate, minimizes or respond to incidents, hazards, risks and emergencies in a timely way.
  
• Have details of up to date knowledge of your members. Train all your members and volunteers on health and safety (see below)

FREE online Sport Safe training

Sport NZ has developed a FREE online Sport Safe course in partnership with Skills Active that all paid staff and volunteers should complete. The training is suitable for people aged 16 or older and takes 20-30 minutes to complete. It covers:

• Who is responsible for what when it comes to health and safety.
• What your rights are as a paid or volunteer worker.
• The systems and processes that are used to keep everyone safe and having fun.
• How to identify and manage hazards.

First Aid Courses

There are lots of first aid and safety courses available. Red Cross New Zealand or St John New Zealand both offer a variety of health and safety training courses around the country.

Online resources

We recommend you download and adapt the guidance resources Sport NZ have produced on the Health and Safety section of their website.