A discussion paper on the revision of the definition of serious harm

D: Guiding documents

ILO code of practice for the recording and notification of occupational accidents and diseases 1996

With particular reference to chapters 2 and 3.

Chapter 2, Policy on recording, notification and investigation of occupational accidents, occupational diseases and dangerous occurrences, and related statistics

Chapter 3, Legal, institutional and administrative arrangements for setting up reporting, recording and notification systems

Includes a requirement that competent authorities prepare and maintain a list of occupational diseases, containing at least the diseases enumerated in the most recent version of schedule 1 to the Employment Injury Benefits Convention 1964 (No 121).

Also codification requirements of section 3.1.2.

Section 3.2 describes the classification of information to be recorded at both the level of the enterprise and at the national level:

5. economic activity of the employer enterprise or establishment (ISIC)
6. occupation (ISCO)
7. employment status (ICSE)
8. nature and bodily location of the injury, type of accident, agency related to the injury or the accident (refers to annexes F, G, H and I of the code for classifications concerned).

Chapter 6 describes in detail arrangements for notifying industrial injury and illness at both the level of the enterprise and the national level. Lists of notifiable information are given for each of:

• occupational accidents;
• occupational diseases; and
• dangerous occurrences.

Chapter 7 describes the extension of recording and notifications to self-employed persons.

The ILO considers the gathering of such information to be essential to the development of a national policy concerning occupational health and safety. New Zealand's meeting these requirements will contribute to its ratification of ILO convention 155, a key element of which is the development of a national policy.

The ILO code of practice also requires the maintenance of certain records on accidents at the level of the enterprise, and these will be relevant to the development of the regulations regarding the prescribed form of the accident register.

A copy of the code is available at: www.ilo.org/public/english/support/publ/pindex.htm

New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy, June 2003

With particular reference to objectives 5 and 6.

Objective 5: Integrate injury prevention activity through collaboration and co-ordination

Action 7: Develop mechanisms to co-ordinate injury prevention research and evaluation activities.

Objective 6: Advance injury prevention knowledge and information

Action 2: Investigate the demographic (e.g. age and gender), geographic, and socio-economic characteristics of groups most at risk of injury, and the factors that contribute to injury, both underlying (e.g. social conditions) and more immediate (e.g. alcohol).

Action 3: Investigate the circumstances of specific injury events and near misses, and collate and analyse this information as a means of identifying opportunities for prevention.

Action 4: Improve injury surveillance systems through the co-ordination and enhancement of injury databases and the aggregation and publication of timely and comprehensive injury statistics.

Action 5: Improve the availability and quality of ethnicity information in injury databases by ensuring consistency with standards for the collection, production and presentation of ethnic data recommended by Statistics New Zealand.

Action 9: Ensure that injury prevention research strategies focus on key injury issues, particularly those where effective interventions are not well established.

A copy of the strategy document is available at: www.nzips.govt.nz

Workplace Health and Safety Strategy for New Zealand to 2015

With particular reference to objectives 1a) and 1c).

Objective 1a): Set high government expectations for workplace health and safety in New Zealand and ensure that regulatory standards are achieved.

Action 4: Develop, review, align and evaluate standards and guidance (such as audits, inspections and investigations) within the legislative frameworks of the HSE Act and the HSNO Act, so they are clear, relevant and effective.

Objective 1(c): Improve co-ordination and alignment of government agency roles and activities.

Action 6: Develop more effective processes for sharing data and information between government agencies.

A copy of the strategy document is available at: www.whss.govt.nz

Surveillance of Occupational Disease and Injury in New Zealand: Report to the Minister of Labour

This review by the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee was published in December 2005, and followed the completion of two technical reports on existing surveillance practice in New Zealand and abroad.

The review proposes the staged development of an effective surveillance system for occupational disease. This would include changes to the way data from existing sources, including notifications of serious harm, are collected and coded. The review also recommended the use of a unique identifier for those suffering harm, to improve the integration of disease and injury data from administrative sources.

A copy of the report is available at: www.nohsac.govt.nz

NZ Injury Data Review

In support of the development of the injury prevention strategy, during 2000-01 the New Zealand Injury Data Review reviewed existing sources of injury data and proposed a conceptual framework for injury data and a model for information management. This has, in turn, informed the establishment of the Injury Information Manager within the Statistics New Zealand, and an injury database is in development.

The Injury Data Review also indicated that improvements could be made in the collection of:

• free text from providers of the written notice, particularly describing activity;
• the date of death, where relevant;
• ethnicity of the injured; and
• the severity of the injury.

A copy of the review is available at: www.dol.govt.nz/publication-view.asp?ID=119