CRL & Link Alliance Health, Safety & Wellbeing Strategy

Health,

Safety & Wellbeing Strategy

2022 - 2024

Purpose

This Health, Safety & Wellbeing Strategy sets out our updated highlevel vision for the safe and harm free delivery of City Rail Link.

We recognise - and respect - our obligations to protect our people and enhance the environment in which we work.

City Rail Link Limited and Link Alliance aspire to achieve industry leading standards for health, safety & wellbeing. Our strategy sets out what this means in practice, and what values we adopt to guide us in our pursuit of that vision.

Foreword

by Sean Sweeney & Francois Dudouit

The delivery of City Rail Link provides us with an opportunity to set industry leading standards in health, safety & wellbeing for the New Zealand construction industry. There has been amazing progress made in recent years to deliver lasting improvements to safe working practices, but we know there is always more to be done, and we can never be complacent. Too often, workers are seriously injured on construction sites. There have been numerous immeasurable tragedies for families, for friends and for colleagues. We know that everyone has the right to go home healthy and safe at the end of each day.

City Rail Link Limited (CRL Ltd) and Link Alliance are committed to working with industry to leave a great legacy in the management of health, safety & wellbeing in large infrastructure projects. Our CRL H&S vision statement – ‘Mahia te mahi, hei painga hei oranga mo tātou katoa’ (To do the work for the good of everyone) and Link Alliance Charter ‘Hui ē tāiki ē, Pono tauutuutu, Aroha tauutuutu, Marohi te tū’ (We are one team, We are accountable, We care, We inspire) set out and guide our strategy.

We will adopt practices which allow us to learn from where things have gone wrong, as well as where they have gone well. We will look to use safety improvements which have proven to be successful elsewhere, and to build on them further. We will place active consideration on health, safety & wellbeing at the heart of every decision. It will be evident in our actions, our thoughts and our behaviours.

Fundamentally, the responsibility for the safe delivery of City Rail Link lies with everyone that is involved, in whatever way, in building it. We therefore empower everyone to take time to understand their responsibilities, to take the time to recognise and commit to our health, safety & wellbeing objectives, and to always speak up if they see anything which they think could be safer.

Sean Sweeney

City Rail

Limited Chief Executive Officer

Francois Dudouit Link Alliance Project Director

Link

CRL Ltd’s Health & Safety Vision

‘Mahia te mahi, hei painga hei oranga mo tātou katoa’

‘To do the work, for the good of everyone’.

Our Health & Safety (H&S) vision has been suggested by CRL’s Mana Whenua Forum. It is a Māori proverb credited to Tu Puea Herangi.

In CRL’s context, our vision asks readers to consider who benefits from doing the work. At a personal level, it is ourselves, our colleagues, our families, our communities. It is also the built and natural environment upon which we work. It is also the city of Auckland, its people - its prosperous and sustainable future. We cannot reap these rewards if we do not work safely, if we don’t protect ourselves and our colleagues, and if we don’t protect the environment and the land on which we work.

Our vision therefore speaks to each individual to consider how working safely benefits others as well as ourselves.

CRL Ltd’s Health & Safety Values & Behaviours

In pursuit of our vision, and in consultation with CRL’s Mana Whenua Forum, we have identified several core values and behaviours which will guide us all in our decision making, our thoughts and actions. These values form the basis of regular staff recognition awards.

Our values - we will...

Respect and comply with our HSE obligations

Eliminate HSE risks wherever possible

Respect and care for the environment

Adopt a culture of continuous learning

Our behaviours - we will...

Take personal accountability for safety

Look after our mental health and wellbeing

Promote and adopt good HSE practice

Speak up if we see something wrong

Princess Te Kirihaehae Te Puea Herangi wearing the New Years medal she received in 1938, the Commander of the British Empire (CBE).

Link Alliance Charter & Safety Principles

Link Alliance Charter sets out four values -

Hui ē tāiki ē, Pono tauutuutu, Aroha tauutuutu, Marohi te tū’

‘We are one team, We are accountable, We care, We inspire’

These values are reinforced though Link Alliance Values Awards where examples of these values being enacted are recognised on a regular basis.

The Safety Principles were developed in conjunction with site leadership teams and H&S representatives and are used as a daily reference to guide and shape daily thoughts, behaviours and actions.

Our Strategic Priorities

Strategic Outcome 1

Partner effectively with suppliers to ensure compliance with health & safety requirements and to drive continuous improvement in health & safety performance.

Strategic Outcome

2

Progressively build and maintain resilience within the project workforce to drive improved mental and physical health outcomes.

Strategic Outcome

3

Develop and enhance safety leadership capacity & supervisory competence throughout the workforce.

Strategic Outcome 4

Continue to develop and enhance the maturity and effectiveness of the health & safety management system.

Strategic Outcome 1

Partner effectively with suppliers to ensure compliance with health & safety requirements and to drive continuous improvement in health & safety performance.

Why are we doing this?

• As a PCBU (Person in Charge of a Business or Undertaking) under the Health & Safety at Work Act, we have a duty to ensure that we have appointed competent and capable suppliers, and that we undertake reasonable checks to ensure they are discharging their legal duties and contractual requirements appropriately.

• All individuals working for Link Alliance are afforded the same protections, regardless of which organisation they are employed by.

• As work on the CRL project progresses towards railway systems installation, Mechanical, Electrical, Fire and Hydraulic (MEFH) and architectural work on the stations, public realm works and testing and commissioning, more interfaces between work being delivered by different suppliers emerge. It’s therefore important that the project engages with these suppliers to ensure those interfaces are well managed, and that all suppliers are aware of the minimum standards of work expected.

• Continuous improvement requires that all PCBU’s engaged on the project actively learn from where things have gone well, or not so well. We therefore need to facilitate the sharing of H&S information across suppliers, including H&S performance data, examples of good risk management practice, and relevant learnings from incidents or successes.

What are we going to do?

• Review and revise project minimum H&S requirements to ensure that remain fit for purpose and appropriate.

• Establish and communicate clear delineations of H&S responsibilities between suppliers and principal contractors, including the management of work at interfaces between different work groups.

• Undertake frequent inspections and reviews of work to ensure critical risk controls are being implemented effectively in practice.

• Establish and manage frequent H&S forums with contractors to facilitate the sharing of information, lessons learnt and examples of good H&S risk management practice.

Strategic Outcome 2

Progressively build and maintain resilience within the project workforce to drive improved mental and physical health outcomes.

Why are we doing this?

• The mental and spiritual health of our workforce is of equal important to physical safety.

• We know that there are many drivers of good mental and spiritual health outcomes, and that commonly, the NZ construction industry has many factors which left unmanaged, can give rise to poor mental health outcomes for its workforce.

What are we going to do?

• Refine and deliver a comprehensive risk-based occupational health monitoring programme to ensure risk controls are protecting our people from ill health outcomes.

• Develop and implement a programme which builds, enhances and maintains high levels of resilience in the workforce and which contributes towards a positive, engaging and healthy work culture.

• Establish and deliver frequent events, initiative and training activities which aim to build high levels of awareness of mental health risk factors and strategies to avoid them.

• Working with partners, ensure the right support mechanisms are in place for anyone who is struggling with their mental or physical health or wellbeing.

Strategic Outcome 3

Develop and enhance safety leadership capacity and supervisory competence throughout the workforce.

Why are we doing this?

• Organisations with a positive safety culture have high levels of safety accountability and leadership demonstrated throughout all level of the workforce. This means that people understand the impact they can have on safety standards in how work is done, set positive examples themselves, and work with others to ensure those standards are consistently adopted.

What are we going to do?

• Progressively build and enhance the safety leadership capability of our front line teams be delivering training and coaching programmes as a key facilitator to driving improved outcomes in this area.

• Continue to deliver our industry-leading behavioural safety programme and ensure this remains appropriate and relevant to the work being undertaken.

Strategic Outcome 4

Continue to develop and enhance the maturity and effectiveness of the health & safety management system.

Why are we doing this?

• Successful organisations adopt management systems which describe what they do, and how they do it, to satisfy and exceed their customers and stakeholders expectations. The maturity of the safety management system can be measured using well established assessment methods to establish how effectively the various components work together to achieve that goal. This allows for targeted improvement activities to be introduced to enable continuous improvement in systems, tools, management and leadership capability.

What are we going to do?

• Continue to progress the maturity of the CRL Ltd and Link Alliance safety management systems using Risk Management Maturity Model RM3.

• Develop and deliver a H&S improvement plan – a tactical programme of activities, informed by data analysis and engagement with front line delivery teams, to support and resolve issues to enable continuous improvement in H&S performance.

Supporting Pillars/Enablers for success

The following strategic pillars are key enabling and supporting activities required to ensure the strategic outcomes are met. Actions arising from these strategic pillars are captured and monitored in the Link Alliance Health & Safety Improvement Programme.

• Ensure lessons learnt from incidents and successes are identified and relevant improvement opportunities implemented effectively.

• Undertake checks to ensure control measures for the management of critical health & safety risks are in place and working effectively.

• Ensure effective communication and cooperation between suppliers delivering CRL scope of works on health, safety & wellbeing matters.

• Ensure clarity of accountabilities and responsibilities for the management and safe delivery of work.

• Build and maintain a fair and just culture where we invest in the capability and competence of our people.

• Engage and consult meaningfully with project H&S representatives on the design and delivery of these programmes.

• Work closely with all Link Alliance participants, H&S regulators and industry stakeholder groups to share best practice, lessons learnt and contribute to initiatives to further the H&S performance the NZ construction industry.