Central Safety Group Melbourne

November 2019

Safety Shake-up across The Tasman

Presentation by: Nan Austin, Consultant, Management Systems Consulting & Auditing

Presentation package now available (members only)

The death of 28 miners in an underground explosion at New Zealand’s Pike River Coal Mine nine years ago led to anger, accusations and the call for a major inquiry into the country’s safety laws. The result was a major re-engineering of New Zealand’s safety systems with the introduction of the new Health and Safety Work Act in 2016.
Nan has just returned to Melbourne after three years as Manager, Health and Safety at the University of Waikato on New Zealand’s North Island. She gave a first-hand account of the safety reforms in New Zealand, and how the new system is working out, concluding that there is still a long way to go in achieving an effective proactive approach.

The presenter:

Prior to her three years as Health and Safety Manager at the University of Waikato in New Zealand, Nan held a number of senior national safety roles in Australia. This included Manager, Work Health and Safety at the Red Cross Blood Bank and National OHS Manager at Healthscope. Throughout her career Nan has specialised in the development of auditable systems for safety and injury management. Her work experience has been complemented by studies at Masters level in Business Administration and Personal Injury Management.