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Construction Health & Safety NZ (CHASNZ) is a new charitable trust developed to provide leadership of health and safety in the construction industry.

CHASNZ will supercede the existing Construction Safety Council and will take over ownership of ConstructSafe, the safety competency assessment programme, subject to the approval of the Construction Industry Council (the current owner of ConstructSafe).

CHASNZ Board membership comprises senior industry leaders from across all construction sectors and will be led by an Independent Chairman, Roger McRae (formerly MD of McConnell Dowell).

Other members and the sectors they represent include:

  • Civil and Infrastructure Contractors – Steve Killeen (CEO, Downer NZ)
  • Commercial Building Contractors – Rick Herd (CEO, Naylor Love)
  • Residential Building Contractors – Nigel Smith (Managing Director, Milestone Homes)
  • Small and Medium sized Contractors – Graham Burke (Chair, Specialist Trade Contractors Federation)
  • Government – Nicole Rosie (CEO, WorkSafe New Zealand)
  • Unions – Richard Wagstaff (President, NZCTU)
  • Public Sector Client – Shane Ellison (CEO, Auckland Transport)
  • Private Sector Client – Susan Huria (Director, Ngāi Tahu Property)
  • Consultants – Darryl-Lee Wendelborn (MD, Beca NZ)
  • Independent – Francois Barton (Executive Director, Business Leaders’ H&S Forum)

CHASNZ will work in partnership with the government, regulators and unions to deliver a unified plan to create consistency and simplification of industry standards, systems, measurement and expectations across the construction industry.

“CHASNZ is an industry lead group, working in partnership with the Government and Unions and whose purpose is to provide a single voice on health and safety in the construction industry”, says Roger McRae.

“We are indeed fortunate to have such influential industry sector leaders at the Trust Board table. The construction industry in NZ is very diverse and through the influence of the Trust Board, CHASNZ will seek to bring the industry closer together and provide direction that addresses the current inconsistency in standards and systems that is hampering improvement in health and safety and raise the standard of health and safety for all who work in the industry.”

CHASNZ plans to create a lean executive team, lead by a CEO, who will work closely with existing businesses and industry groups, through the establishment of Task and Advisory Groups.

Jon Harper-Slade, previously GM of the Construction Safety Council has been appointed as Acting Chief Executive of CHASNZ.

Jon is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health and a Certified Member of the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management and has had a varied career in health and safety spanning NZ, UK, Africa and the Middle East.

Jon will also continue to lead the ConstructSafe scheme, which is about to launch the tier 2-5 competency tests. A key focus will remain on the quality and relevance of the testing, to ensure learnings are disseminated to training organisations and the wider industry, but most importantly making sure that testing provides value to the industry.