Bosses baulk over workplace audits

By JAMES GARDINER

Medium and small employers are dragging their heels over getting health and safety audits done on their workplaces, despite the lure of up to 20 per cent reductions in ACC premiums.

The Accident Compensation Corporation is offering to pay the auditors $1250 a day plus travel and accommodation expenses yet employers either aren't interested or are fearful they won't pass and will have to wait until next April to have another shot at getting the discount.

Auditors from ACC's list say many of them are just waiting for the work to come in after undergoing training courses and being given an expectation that they would be rushed off their feet as up to 10,000 companies were eligible for premium discounts.

As one auditor told the Weekend Herald, it raises the issue of just how good the health and safety standards are in some workplaces, which have all been subject to the provisions of the Health and Safety in Employment Act since 1992.

According to ACC, 126 large companies representing nearly a quarter of the workforce have been accepted into the partnership programme, under which employers cover all the costs of treating injured workers in exchange for premium discounts of up to 90 per cent. By the end of March it hopes to have about 30 per cent of the workforce covered.

But at last count just one company had successfully passed muster for the standard premium discount by demonstrating good health and safety management practices.

The employers have until March 31 to pass an audit and will get any premium discount backdated but at the present rate of acceptance a bottleneck may be developing for the first three months of next year.

ACC plans to cope with that by trying to nearly treble the number of approved auditors, from just over 70 to about 200 - a move that has left some existing auditors incredulous because they have had so little work.

The corporation has a list of 71 auditors on its website and employers are free to choose who they use.