Online help for Health and Safety questions

We all die. Ideally we will pass from this world worn out and surrounded by the people we love, free from pain and regret. Unfortunately that is not always the case. Each year 50-60 New Zealanders die in work related accidents. Rather embarrassingly we have twice the number of workplace deaths compared to Australia (WorkSafe NZ, 2016, para 2).

To try and combat such statistics we have seen huge reform in the area of health and safety which saw the establishment of WorkSafe New Zealand and the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) which came into effect in April 2016. This law sets out new responsibilities for both the employer and employee in an effort to make sure that everyone can gets home at the end of their working day. Since these law changes will affect us all the library has recently subscribed to a new database: Work Force Manager: Health and Safety at Work [On campus access only]. This database contains all the information you could need on employee and employer obligations, customisable templates and useful links to further advice. Due to licence restrictions this database can only be accessed on campus and not from home, but it is well worth exploring for answers to any health and safety questions your tutor may pose. What you can learn from this new online resource is applicable not just at Ara but in all areas of your life. If you want to survive for a long time and die peacefully in your own bed it pays to be aware of your environment to keep yourself and others safe.

Understanding HSWA [website]. (2016) Retrieved March 1, 2017, from WorkSafe New Zealand Source website: http://www.worksafe.govt.nz/worksafe/hswa/understanding-hswa

–Colleen, Knowledge Advisor

Children’s Day – Te Rā O Te Tamariki

The first Sunday in March each year is Children’s Day in New Zealand. Louise Bunt from the Ara Early Learning Centre, explains what this means to her:

From the position of a teacher, a kaiako, here at Ara Early Learning Centre, every day is Children’s Day. Working with children at the heart and center of everything that underpins our philosophy ensures that each child, each day, is seen as a treasure, a taonga, highly valued.

We celebrate within ourselves the achievements, big and small, the milestones, the connections. We celebrate with the children the light in their eyes when they know they belong, when they realise they are masters of their own learning. We celebrate with parents, whanau, by being in partnership and marvelling over how precious their little ones are. We celebrate with the community every day we leave work and return to our homes and families before coming back the next day. We show love and affection and we care. There is no other way to make your work about the care and education of children but to hold high an ideal vision, a dream, for how the World could be.

We honour the children not only now for all they bring, their gifts of wonder, but also for their future abilities, their forward thinking, their contemporary position in society. Let Children’s Day remind us that every moment you are present with a child makes their day!

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