Health and safety with pictures

MAARTEN HOLL/Dominion Post

HEALTH HAZARD: Mark Potter, left, and Gavin Karl, directors of Hazard Co, have found that their cartoon approach to health and safety has turned out to be a winner within the building industry.

Relevant offers

Industries

Dream Homes comes to a halt Waikato land targeted in energy exploration Steel & Tube sees interim profit decline TelstraClear back in black Resignations at MediaWorks holding company boards Hamilton firm trains Singapore pilots Power price hikes People not keen to pay for fast broadband extras 176,245 fly into Wellington airport F&P Healthcare extends US distribution deal

Tradesmen are throwing out their health and safety folders with glee thanks to two builders with a clever idea.

Hazard Co's yellow and black cartoon builder has become a staple character on 2500 building sites, about a third of all the residential building projects in the country.

In 2006, Mark Potter and Gavin Karl saw the potential in taking an onerous health and safety regime and lightening the workload.

Turning the Health and Safety Act into a set of easy-to-understand cartoons and flip cards, and simplifying the administration and compliance paperwork required, the pair captured the attention of hands-on businesses that hated filling out forms.

Hazard Co built a system that took the hard work out of compliance, becoming the middleman for the construction industry and the Labour Department, and were signing up 200 new sites a month at $130 each, plus an annual subscription.

The system turned a hefty folder of health and safety rules and regulations into simple pictorial flipcharts.

With numeracy and literacy an issue in the trades industry, the pictures were easier to quickly understand for contractors and workers, warning them of their obligations to keep a safe and healthy workplace.

"We have pitched the idea at the guys on the worksite. We've just changed the format," Mr Potter said. Targeted at volume builder Jennian Homes initially, Hazard Co has signed up most of the residential building companies and hundreds of individual operators, as well as working with Placemakers and Resene.

Traditionally, only big building companies had systems for health and safety, with the average chippie and sparkie flying by the seat of their pants.

Only 1 per cent of builders actually notified their jobs with the authorities, to save on having to fill out the forms, Mr Karl said.

"Now we are notifying 40 a week."

With two full trading years behind them, the system has been tried and tested with 20 serious harm injuries and one death on Hazard Co sites. E

ach time, the Labour Department investigations have not prosecuted, satisfied all preventative measures were taken.

For a $250 annual fee Hazard Co acted as the go-between, telling tradespeople what they needed to do, and liaising with authorities.

Mr Potter said inspectors found it easier because they dealt directly with Hazard Co instead of hundreds of individual tradesmen.

Going from a two-man team at the dining room table to a 15-strong company, Hazard Co is focusing on other industries such as hospitality. An online training module being developed can be adapted to anything from driver safety to fire warden training.

"This opens up a huge sector, it'll be a big addition to what we are doing," Mr Potter said.

- © Fairfax NZ News