Health & Safety

Improving and protecting our health and safety at work is a massive part of what we do as a union.

Unions provide a balance in the workplace and help address the inherent inequality of power in employment relationships and nowhere is that more important than when it comes to protecting the safety of our members and others in the workplace (including patients, visitors and students).

We provide support and advice on the full range of health and safety issues you will come across at work: understaffing, fatigue, bullying and harassment, hazardous materials, radiation risks, RSI, moving and handling, high caseloads, infectious diseases and occupational stress.

We are committed to ensuring safe workplaces and ensuring health professionals are empowered to look after the safety of their workplaces and themselves.

APEX in the Health & Safety Space

Our collective agreements contain health and safety provisions including:

Limits on hours of work and minimum rest periods;
Provision of protective clothing and equipment;
Support for employees on ACC;
Meal and rest breaks;
Provisions to prevent bullying and harassment;
Agreements on workloads, rostering and/or staffing.

Your APEX delegates, advocates and health and safety representatives are available to assist you on all matters related to health and we give advice and support to APEX health and safety representatives. Contact us for more information.

APEX runs annual health and safety training for health and safety representatives and delegates. Our last training was in April 2024 and covered:

Health and safety systems;
The big 4 tools for HSRs– health and safety committees, incident reporting, PINs and ceasing unsafe work;
Risk assessment;
Bullying and harassment;
Case study of unsafe practice in a pathology laboratory; and
Designing health and safety interventions.

If you have an interest in Health & Safety and are not yet a representative, get in touch with us at events@apex.org.nz. Becoming a Health & Safety representative will ensure that you are kept up to date with news in the Health & Safety space, as well as giving you a chance to register for APEX Health & Safety training next year.

Health, Safety and Wellbeing resources

Click on the links below to access health, safety and wellbeing resources.

Fatigue Management & Minimisation

Te Whatu Ora’s fatigue management and minimisation steering group have published three guides for night shift workers, which reflect the principles to:

provide accessible and nutritious food options for night workers;
ensure staff have access supportive systems for napping, as an evidence-based means to reduce fatigue, for night workers;
provide supportive transport options for fatigued workers.

Supportive Systems for Napping – Guidelines

Safe Transport – Guidelines

Accessible and Nutritious Food – Guidelines

Working Night Shifts

You can download our guide to night shifts through the link below:

Night Shift Handbook

My Health & Safety Plan

Health & Safety issues in the workplace can be complicated with many moving parts. It can be overwhelming gathering and presenting the relevant information to your employer/PCBU. This Health & Safety Plan is designed to get you thinking about the information you will need in order to present an effective case for change. Click the button below to download ‘My Health & Safety Plan’.

My Health & Safety Plan

Health & Safety Representative Handbook

Worker Participation Agreement

A national Worker Participation Agreement has been signed between unions and Te Whatu Ora, click below to read.

Worker Participation Agreement

Keep Safe: Protecting yourself from violence & aggression in health care.

Violence and aggression towards workers in health care remains a major problem affecting all APEX members and not enough is being done to keep healthcare workers safe, particularly in Te Whatu Ora. In order to highlight some of the major issues and how to keep yourself and your colleagues safe we have put together a health & safety resource.

Keep Safe Handbook

APEX Rules

Download our List of Rules

Raise a Health and Safety Issue with APEX

Full name (required)

Private email address (required)

Employer (required)

Division

Location (required)

Describe your Health & Safety Issue:

Who does this effect in your workplace?

Have you submitted a incident form to your employer/PCBU?

What (if any) progress has been made thus far to remedy the issue?

Have you raised this with your delegate/health & Safety reps, if yes then who?

Additional Comments?

List of Health and Safety Reps

NAME	EMPLOYER	PROFESSION
Tania Arnold	Hawkes Bay	Pharmacist
Sarah Austin	Canterbury	Psychologist
Donna Bartholomew	Waitemata	Dental
Clare Berrill	Canterbury	Radiation Therapist
Saumya Bhatta	NZ Clinical Research	Lab Assistant
Stephen Boyd	Northland	MIT
Lynn Brott	Waitemata	Registered Technician
Jahyung Byun	NZBS	Registered Scientist
Megan Carlsson	Northland	Dietitian
Mark Cartman	Bay of Plenty	Physiotherapy
Katie Chadwick-Smith	Hutt Valley	Anaesthetic Technician
Rodney Chapman	SCL	Registered Technician
Poojaben Dave	Northland	Phlebotomist
Lauren Dix	Bay Radiology	MIT
Lepie Fekken	SCL	Registered Scientist
Sophie Halliday	Capital & Coast	Physicist
Lydia Henderson	Northland	Dietitian
Tina Hill	Hawkes Bay	Anaesthetic Technician
Lucy Howard	Hastings	Pharmacist
John Hutt	West Coast	Pharmacist
Vanessa Lawrence	Northland	Anaesthetic Technician
Nadine Liddell	Capital & Coast	Anaesthetic Technician
Casey Lowe	Pathlab Lakes	Registered Scientist
Tracey Luey	SCL	Registered Scientist
Karla Marx	Waitemata	MIT
Michelle Masters	Hawkes Bay	Registered Scientist
Kris Matangi	Hutt Valley	MIT
Tausie Munivai	Wairarapa	MIT
Thabani Mzizi	Waitemata	MIT
Rowan Peck	Canterbury	Psychologist
Jo-Anne Peters	Waitemata	MIT
Mark Reyes	Hutt Valley	Sonographer
Eden Simpson	Auckland	Radiation Therapist
Michael Smith	Waitemata	Anaesthetic Technician
Stewart Smith	Canterbury	Registered Scientist
Neil Spencer	MidCentral	Clinical Physiology
Kathryn Stewart	Bay of Plenty	Physiotherapy
Colin	Taylor	Anaesthetic Technician
David Ten Hove	Waikato	Biomedical Engineer
Sophie Trolove	Bay of Plenty	Physiotherapy
Kaitlyn Ustin	SCL	Lab Assistant
Charlotte Vanhecke	NZBS	Registered Scientist
Shaun Ward	Waitemata	Anaesthetic Technician
Adam White	Waikato	Physiotherapy
Rachel Wilson	Canterbury	MIT
Yi Zhang	Oranga Tamariki	Psychologist
Lynnette Stebbing	Waitemata	Dental Therapist

Have questions?

We are here to help. Fill out the form below, send us an email or give us a call.