Health and Safety for Airlines. An Example of New Zealand

Table of contents

1. Introduction

2. Organisational Governance and Operations
2.1 The need to improve
2.2 The Benefits

3. HSWA 2015 Organisation Roles and Responsibilities
3.1 Key terms
3.2 Duties of PCBU
3.3 Duties of officers, workers, and other persons
3.4 Engagement and participation

4. Health and Safety Management Systems (HSMS)
4.1 Policy and planning
4.2 Delivery
4.3 Monitoring
4.4 Review

5. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Hiquet (2021) asserted that “an airline is a complex organisation with multiple management systems, dispersed operations, many technical functions, highly regulated- overlapping State jurisdiction and subject to multiple national regulations “ (p. 1) like shown in “figure 1”.

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Figure 1: Employee work groups involved in the flight departure process (Bamber et al., 2013, p.88)

Therefore, senior officers such as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and board directors must exercise due diligence on health and safety by having a good understanding of the risk profile of its operations, the key controls in place and a system of providing information on whether these controls are working.

In addition, leaders need to demonstrate to their staff, their suppliers, customers and contractors that they mean it (The Institute of Directors, 2021).

2. Organisational Governance and Operations

2.1 The need to improve

Since 2004, approximately 105 workers are killed annually in Aotearoa from work-related injuries. The broader social and economic impacts of worker fatalities are estimated between fifteen and twenty billions New Zealand Dollars (NZ$) per annum (two to four per cent of gross domestic product).

In New Zealand, work-related fatal injury (WRFI) record has been poor compared with other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, being twice as high as Australia and four times that of the United Kingdom.

Although, high-profile occupational fatality events such as the Pike River Coal mine tragedy in 2010, have placed Kiwi workplace safety record under public scrutiny (Lilley et al., 2020).

Therefore, the Pike Rover Royal Commission which led to the elaboration of Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) and the creation of WorkSafe New Zealand stated:

“The board and directors are best placed to ensure that the company effectively manages health and safety. They should provide the necessary leadership and are responsible for the major decisions that must influence health and safety: the strategic direction, securing and allocating resources and ensuring the company has appropriate people, systems and equipment” (Institute of Directors in New Zealand, 2013).

As a principle of good governance, the responsibility to have the policy to develop an Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS) resides in the senior management of the organisation.

2.2 The Benefits

A robust health and safety culture that begins at the board table and spreads throughout the organisation adds significant value.

Indeed, there are benefits linked to having a health and safety culture such as (The Institute of Directors, 2021):

- Enhanced standing among potential workers, customers, suppliers, partners and investors as a result of a good reputation for a commitment to health and safety.
- Workers participating positively in other aspects of the organisation. A good organisational culture spreads wider than health and safety.
- Decreased worker absence and turnover. Engaged workers are more productive workers. For example, it improves productivity as workers feel the management takes OHS seriously by engaging them with their work (Garnicaa & Carsire Barriga, 2018).

For instance, the cost of running an efficient OHSMS is offset by significant savings in insurances premiums and, for organisations part of the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) Accredited Employer Programme (AEP), to reduce their levies.

3. HSWA 2015 Organisation Roles and Responsibilities

3.1 Key terms

In section seventeen, the meaning of Person Conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU). For instance, the airline as a legal person. (WorkSafe New Zealand, 2019).

However, the executive team members fulfil the role of an officer as describes in section eighteen and must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU meets its health and safety obligations.

In contrast, section nineteen refers to the meaning of worker (e.g., employees/managers, contractors, trainee).

Furthermore, workers have a health and safety duty to take reasonable care to keep themselves and others healthy and safe when carrying out work at the workplace (i.e., section twenty).

For example, an aircraft is a workplace (Parliamentary Office Counsel, 2020).

3.2 Duties of PCBU

In section thirty-six, the organisation has the "primary duty of care" and must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable (SFAIRP), the health and safety of its workers and any person it influences (e.g., passengers) or directs (e.g., contractors).

If the PCBU manages or controls the workplace (S37) it must ensure, SFAIRP, the workplace, the means of entering and exiting the workplace, and anything else arising from the workplace is without health and safety risks to any person (WorkSafe New Zealand, 2019).

In practice, the primary duty of care is a broad overarching duty that includes, but is not limited to, the organisation having effective practices in place (WorkSafe New Zealand, 2017).

3.3 Duties of officers, workers, and other persons

WorkSafe has charged three individuals under section forty-four of HSWA over the Whakaari/White Island eruption tragedy (ComplyWith, 2020).

Indeed, it imposes a due diligence duty on officers of an organisation, which is a new duty in the HSWA 2015 when it came into force and this is the first WorkSafe prosecution for a breach of it.

Therefore, this section requires the executive team and senior managers, to exercise due diligence to ensure the organisation is complying with all its duties and obligations under the HSWA.

Meanwhile, sections forty-seven to forty-nine describe the offences relating to duties of care and the maximum penalties attached to them.

For instance, a breach can lead to a fine of up to $600,000 and imprisonment for up to five years as stated.

While the facts of any given case will inform what might be construed as “the care, diligence, and skill that a reasonable officer would exercise in the same circumstances”, section forty-four also makes some minimum requirements very clear (Parliamentary Office Counsel, 2020) . These include taking reasonable steps to:

- acquire, and keep up-to-date, knowledge of work health and safety matters
- gain an understanding of the nature of the operations of the business or undertaking of the organisation and generally of the associated hazards and risks
- ensure that the organisation has (and uses) appropriate processes
- eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety (and has and uses appropriate resources for this purpose)
- receive and consider information regarding incidents, hazards and risks and respond in a timely way to that information
- comply with any duty or obligation of the organisation under the Act
- verify that these processes are happening and resources are being provided

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