Health and Safety Issues in New Zealand ... - Business.govt.nz

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Introduction Autopsies, tissue harvesting and the environment that they occur in are a specialised and unusual area to consider the application of the Health and Safety in Employment Act (HSE Act). Although in terms of usual industrial activities the risks faced occur relatively infrequently, this service is a vital part of New Zealand’s medical, educational and forensic services and will remain so. It is clear historically that pathologists and mortuary attendants are at increased risks from this aspect of their occupation 1 . OSH has audited the control measures to the risks posed by both standard and high-risk autopsies using the traditional health and safety hierarchy, which is unusual for this industry. There are many cultural and emotional issues, as well as infection control and occupational health and safety considerations in this industry. Because of the geographically widespread distribution of mortuaries, and the need for some sharing of expertise in difficult or unusual cases, OSH elected to make this a national project so as to ensure the application of uniform standards during the audit and the delivery of uniform advice to employers. 6 Health and Safety Issues in New Zealand Mortuaries
Relevance of the Health and Safety in Employment Act The empowerment of the HSE Act in April 1993 fulfilled the vision of Robens, enunciated in 1972 in the United Kingdom, by bringing the health and safety aspects of all places of work under one legislative umbrella (HSE Act) and under the supervision of one Authority (OSH). The HSE Act has two broad principles. It encourages excellence in health and safety management and requires compliance with minimum standards. (Section 5) The principal duties and requirements of the HSE Act are set out as follows: • In essence, “managers must manage”. Employers are required to ensure the safety of employees at work by adopting a systems approach to identifying hazards, assessing which are significant hazards, i.e. those hazards that can result in ‘serious harm’ as defined in Schedule 1 of the HSE Act, and control these hazards by means of an hierarchy of measures. (Section 6, Section 7) • This hierarchy requires that employers consider eliminating the hazard, isolating the hazard if elimination is unreasonable and impracticable, and minimising the hazard if elimination or isolation is unreasonable or impracticable. Minimisation itself contains an hierarchy of controls, starting with engineering controls and last of all considering the use of personal protection. (Section 8, Section 9, Section 10) • Included in the Act is the requirement of communication with employees (concerning the identified hazards and the appropriate control measures), the requirement for training and supervision, and of ongoing monitoring (of the hazards, the control measures and the employees’ health status). (Section 11, Section 12, Section 13) • Standards are developed in conjunction with employers and employees or adopted from overseas where they are applicable. • The HSE Act contains clauses (Sections 15, 16 and 19) which apply to people other than employers and employees who may be exposed to risk from the places of work. • The requirements of the HSE Act are tempered by the requirement that the employer has to take “all practicable steps” (Section 6). The consideration of “all practicable steps” includes what other facilities have achieved in the way of risk control and what is accepted “best practice”. It is the Courts that establish the parameters of the HSE Act (e.g. what constitutes serious harm, what are “all practicable steps”, etc.) Until the Courts determine these steps, it is OSH’s function to explore issues with employers and employees and develop practical guidelines to address issues as they arise. It is OSH’s view that the mortuary falls under the jurisdiction of the HSE Act, that pathologists and mortuary technicians are at risk of suffering “serious harm”, as are visitors to the mortuary such as medical students, and the sections of the Act dealing with communication and monitoring are of relevance. Health and Safety Issues in New Zealand Mortuaries 7
Page 1 and 2: Health and Safety Issues in New Zea
Page 3 and 4: Contents Executive Summary.........
Page 5: Acknowledgements This project arose
Page 9 and 10: Standards Applied Facility and Proc
Page 11 and 12: Methods A list of mortuaries in its
Page 13 and 14: Comments on Institution A • Meets
Page 15 and 16: Comments on Institution B • Does
Page 17 and 18: Comments on Institution C • This
Page 19 and 20: Comments on Institution D • This
Page 21 and 22: Comments on Institution E • This
Page 23 and 24: Comments on Institution F • This
Page 25 and 26: Comments on Institution G • This
Page 27 and 28: Comments on Institution H • This
Page 29 and 30: Comments on Institution I • This
Page 31 and 32: Comments on Institution J • This
Page 33 and 34: Comments on Institution K • This
Page 35 and 36: Comments on Institution L • This
Page 37 and 38: Comments on Institution M • This
Page 39 and 40: Comments on Institution N • This
Page 41 and 42: Comments on Institution O • This
Page 43 and 44: Comments on Institution P • This
Page 45 and 46: 6. That “risk assessment” occur
Page 47 and 48: References 1. Lunn J, Mayho V. Inci
Page 49 and 50: Minimum Standards Observed Measures
Page 51: Appendix 2: Generic Recommendations

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