Health and safety key priority for WIL
WIL’s health and safety advisor Keri Harrison is passionate about using practical methods to meet regulatory requirements.
WIL’s health and safety advisor Keri Harrison credits the willingness of the operations and management team to embrace change as the main reason for improvements to WIL’s health and safety culture.
“When I started working with WIL in 2017 it was a very simple health and safety system but due to the hard work of WIL’s operations team the organisation has adapted quickly to meet new rules and regulations. This has been backed up by management and WIL’s Board investing in health and safety system improvements.”
Keri’s background in mining and quarry and local government has helped her to understand the health and safety requirements for WIL’s irrigation scheme. She spent eleven years at the Selwyn District Council working in the asset management team and then worked as a health and safety manager for Southern Screenworks before starting her own health and safety consultancy Tui Creek Consulting seven years ago.
“I previously oversaw the water race intakes for the Selwyn District Council and that was my first contact with WIL as one of the intakes started just on the edge of WIL’s irrigation scheme which naturally made me interested in learning more about it. I also rewrote the water race bylaws for Selwyn District Council.”
Keri is one of a small group of New Zealand women holding an A grade quarry manager’s ticket, having achieved this qualification last year.
“I’m passionate about the mining and quarrying industry and want to continue to improve my knowledge. I enjoy mentoring and coaching work to help develop future quarry managers.”
In terms of risk identification and mitigations, Keri says that WIL staff have a strong awareness of potential hazards in the workplace.
“The operations team are the people who are most at risk of having an accident, so we make sure to remain aware of all potential risks and to have everything documented with practical steps to take to avoid risks wherever possible.”
Keri says technology is helping WIL to change its approach to health and safety. An app is used by the operations team to capture data in real time.
“I am always looking for ways that we can do things more effectively and technology is a great enabler for this. Instead of having to write everything down we can use the app to capture content in a more efficient way.”
Keri thoroughly enjoys working with WIL and finds all staff and directors to be extremely supportive of health and safety.
“I honestly cannot thank the ops team enough for all their support in helping me to achieve the necessary governance requirements. Brent and the Board are also very supportive and recognise the importance of health and safety as this is a key aspect of running a successful irrigation scheme.”
Keri would like to invite all WIL shareholders to an upcoming health and safety workshop which will feature guest speaker Dr Mary Obele discussing health, safety and workplace risks. The event will take place at 3pm on Thursday 11 September at the Oxford Workingmen’s Club and shareholders can RSVP by emailing alexmasoncontracting@gmail.com
