Health and Safety Reform 2015

On 1 July 2015 at Q Theatre Auckland, DANZ held a DRIVE seminar to introduce and explore the new health and safety legislation which is due to come into law later this year.

Lawyers and presenters: Scott Ratuki and Karina McLuskie from Tomkins Wake Lawyers kindly provided the expert advice and presented the current situation based around the power point presentation 'Health and Safety Reform Bill – Chronic Unease'. They explained what 'due diligence' required, the different levels of responsibility an organisation or dance business might have and that we have to undertake good practice but also be realistic.

Using the DANZ poster Dance Code of Ethics is a good start, as is using the DANZ Codes of Best Practice for dance teachers, choreographers and dancers - you can find this information here. Being able to risk assess a venue or event and develop a health and safety policy and procedure that is relevant and effective for your organisation is also key. If you need some templates for policies a good open source is Policy Bank.

A good way to understand the looming changes is to listen to the 1 July podcast on National Radio where Tania Kopytko and Scott Ratuki were interviewed by Lynn Freeman.

“The tougher new Health and Safety at Work legislation coming into force soon means performing arts spaces and companies will have to watch their step. Dance companies and teachers have been talking to experts in the field, to get some idea of what they're in for under the new legislation. Lawyer Scott Ratuki from Tompkins Wake and the Executive Director of Dance Aotearoa New Zealand Dr Tania Kopytko talked to Lynn Freeman about the changes.”

Listen to the full interview here - OSH On the Dancefloor

Download Power-point Presentation here -  Health and Safety Reform Bill - Chronic Unease
Download the Presentation Abstract here - Presentation Abstract