Ensuring everyone working on the Land Mobile Radio (LMR) network build sites get back to their homes safe and sound after a good day’s work is a top priority for NGCC and the company building the network, Tait Systems NZ (TSNZ).
The new LMR network consists of more than 500 sites spanning the entire country. It is a major component of the new Public Safety Network which will provide New Zealand’s emergency services with a resilient, modern, secure critical communications network to support their operations and safety.
With the building of the sites underway, NGCC and TSNZ staff are visiting sites to carry out health and safety audits, starting in Canterbury, Wellington and Auckland regions. Other regions will follow.
“NGCC has an overlapping duty of care with TSNZ and their build partners to ensure there are health and safety systems and processes in place and they are being put into practice,” says NGCC Commercial and Finance Director Mark Flintoff.
“We want people to be safe on the job, to understand and mitigate risks, and to get home safely at the end of a good day’s work.”
Riaan Hunt, TSNZ's Health, Safety, Quality, and Environment Manager agrees saying: “Safety audits are a vital part of our commitment to ensuring that our teams deliver the LMR network in the safest way possible.”
Public safety is also a feature with some sites, like Mt Victoria and Mt Kaukau in Wellington, because they are public spaces and people use or visit them.
While some H&S site visits are straightforward once processes have been completed to access the site, others are more challenging and require a bit more time. Often, the most challenging aspect can often be the weather, which can be extreme and change rapidly, Mark Flintoff says.