The handling of "critical risks" to Land Information staff venturing into remote areas has been given the lowest possible ranking for health and safety.
A consultant's review released to RNZ says the engagement with the critical risk work seems to have "stalled".
"Meanwhile, there is a concern people on the ground do not have sufficient knowledge to manage risks eg in the field, when they encounter people hiding in the bush."
LINZ involved with managing Crown property and has a large, complex supply chain with lots of specialist contractors.
"The supply chain risks range from managing Crown land, construction and demolition, and biosecurity to remote work, helicopters and vessels, exposure to violence and aggression, gang activity, drugs and other risks."
LINZ's system "requires substantial work to develop and progress", said February's 47-page review. In April, the agency agreed to take action on most of the 33 recommendations.
RNZ asked for any documents that sparked the review, but the agency said there weren't any.
"The review was not initiated in response to any identified HSW deficiencies, and it did not relate to any bullying, harassment or personal grievances," it said in an OIA response.
Critical risk 'confusion'
The agency said it commissioned the health and safety review as a matter of good practice to find ways to improve.
It had earlier identified eight critical risks - Antarctica, helicopters, ships and boats, site visits, fieldwork, physical security, driving and psychosocial (bullying, harassment, stress, fatigue) - but the review found limited info on each of the eight, as the programme to manage them had not reached implementation.
In December last year, a top-level meeting decided to merge some risks, such as choppers, planes and boats.
"This shows there is confusion on top events and critical risk categories, with a lack of confidence these are accurately described," the review said.
Many of the risks were focused in the South Island.
Even though LINZ worked on controls to the eight, it was "unclear" where that work was at "with no plan on timeframes and what next".
Much was missing.
"There is currently no detailed formal Critical Risk Framework, Assurance Programme or a formal Critical Risk Management programme at LINZ.
"Compared to other government agencies, LINZ are still in a state of development/defining an understanding of and how to manage their critical risks with no clear programme of work in place."
'No plan or roadmap'
Psychosocial risk was given a "deep-dive" recently, but overall, agency reviews were ad hoc.
In psychosocial, out of 14 things it should be doing, only three were in place, four were partially in place, and seven were absent or not known about. The absent ones included having regular psychologist debriefings for high hazard teams, while reporting processes were only partial.
In its big supply chain of contractors, despite a lot of "foundational work", LINZ's health and safety system was inconsistent and monitoring too basic.
It had taken a frustratingly long time working up new guidelines for these.
Technical support for teams in the field ranged from good to them receiving "push back".
The review's 33 recommendations included a rejig of its health and safety team roles, and more training.
"None of the HSW team have received any change management training since joining LINZ and this is a capability that will be required to implement HSW work programmes."
They lacked "long term direction and priorities".
It concluded LINZ was developing technically, but further behind on good culture and capability. It had no overarching long term strategy. While worker representation had improved, "there is no plan or roadmap for further changes".
In April, the agency agreed to implement or agreed in principle to 29 of the 33 recommendations, but said it would have to prioritise.
It would focus on improving oversight (governance), critical risk management, supply chain safety and service delivery.
"Work is underway to develop a workplan to support the prioritised actions identified in the review," LINZ told RNZ.
"Other areas will be assessed, once the priority areas are delivered."
For critical risks, it was starting with a "reset".
Its service delivery was not up to scratch, so it would review that further.
This story was first published on rnz.co.nz |  |
