Construction Health and Safety New Zealand (CHASNZ), is a charitable trust developed in 2018 with the objective of improving the lives of construction workers by raising the standard of health and safety culture and performance across the construction industry in New Zealand.
The CHASNZ Board, comprises Independent Chair, Roger McRae and senior industry leaders from across all construction sectors, working together they are the collective voice for industry addressing the need for a sustainable change across the sector, identifying areas of risk, providing guidance on best practice health and safety and ensuring health and safety is an intrinsic part of doing better business.
Over the past five years injury claims have steadily increased and sadly 37 people have died on our building sites, making construction sites the deadliest workplaces in New Zealand.
This increasing injury rate is a key reason why ACC has entered into a five-year partnership with CHASNZ allowing an increase in efforts across health and safety promotion and protection initiatives, enabling a reduction in the harm caused by occupational illness and injury in the construction sector.
We want ALL our construction workers to go home safe and well at the end of each day.
Roger has over 35 years' experience in the construction industry in NZ and overseas, 31 of these years with McConnell Dowell, the last 17 as GM/MD for McConnell Dowell Constructors Ltd.
He brings a breadth of construction experience in the infrastructure sector as well as considerable experience in the governance of major project alliances and joint ventures. As a founding board member of Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT), Roger contributed to the Alliance successfully meeting the challenge of mobilising a very large organisation in a very short timeframe.
Roger has gained a reputation as a leader who really delivers, giving surety of strong project governance and achievement of key project objectives.
Campbell has worked in the New Zealand residential building industry for over fifteen years and is the current Master Builders President. BBS qualified in Finance, Property, Valuation and Construction, Campbell works as a Managing Director of Location Homes NZ, business owner of Morph Construction Solutions and is an active advocate of health and wellbeing.
Campbell represents the residential sector on the CHASNZ Board and will support the dissemination of Health and Safety information and strategies back into the residential building sector of NZ. Faced with daily challenges in modifying attitudes and processes on-site, he aims to encourage safe practices, so all workers return home every night.
Rick began his career in construction in 1973 as a cadet engineering officer with the Ministry of Works.
He worked his way up through the commercial construction industry, eventually working as a Regional Construction Manager for a large national contractor.
He completed an MBA in 1995, subsequently working in General Manager or Chief Executive roles in the marine engineering contracting, the manufacture of engineered wood products (LVL) and the industrial mechanical construction sectors. Rick is now CEO of Naylor Love.
Based in Auckland, Doug Johnson is Tonkin + Taylor's Managing Director and an engineering geologist with more than 30 years’ experience.
Before becoming Managing Director in 2010, Doug managed the company's largest team - Geotechnical. Doug’s specialist skills include engineering geological mapping, site investigation, soil and rock assessment, slope stability, groundwater and natural hazard assessment. He worked on many large civil engineering, mining and quarry projects throughout New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and the South Pacific.
Doug holds an MSc (Hons) and has published several papers on risk assessment and the evaluation and design of quarry and mine slopes using quantitative risk methods.
Clive brings a wealth of experience to the industry with over 20-years in property and finance and is well respected in the Private Sector Client sector.
As CEO of Kiwi Property Group Limited, Clive is responsible for the leadership, strategic direction and management of the Company.
Previously Senior Vice President – Development, East Coast for Westfield USA, he was involved in the creation and implementation of transformational strategies to evolve, strengthen and develop Westfield’s real estate portfolio. Holding senior roles in both Washington and New Zealand, Clive specialises in retail and mixed-use developments of both existing shopping centres and greenfield opportunities.
Toby has over 15 years industry experience and joined BCITO in 2020, following his role as Chief Executive of Connexis, which he led since 2018. For both training organisations, Toby has been involved in managing the RoVE transition, leading cultural change and enhancing organisational performance.
BCITO is New Zealand’s largest provider of building and construction apprenticeships with over 18,000 active apprentices. Toby has led ITO’s for several years and is a well-respected, experienced business leader with a wealth of knowledge in change management through his previous complex roles including Chief Executive of New Zealand Oil Services Ltd (JV between Z Energy and BP) and at NZ Post, particularly following the Canterbury earthquakes.
Toby is Treasurer of the Business Leaders’ Health & Safety forum and has been involved with the Construction and Infrastructure WDC since it was established in late 2019. A strong advocate for improving workforce safety and wellbeing both in NZ and overseas, Toby believes culture, training and education are key to making our workplaces safer and more productive.
Tracey is the GM, Operations at Te Waihanga, having joined in June 2020 after four years at New Zealand Rugby (NZR), where she was the GM, Communications.She has a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration and Master of Business Administration and is a Wellington Rugby Football Union (WRFU) Board member.
Tracey believes that health, safety and well-being are not a policy or procedure; it is a state of mind. She put this into practice at NZR by leading the Respect and Responsibility Review and was part of the HeadFirst Steering Committee.
One of Te Waihanga's key roles is supporting Government agencies and local authorities to procure and deliver major infrastructure projects, aiming to supplement rather than replace existing capability.
Dennis Maga is General Secretary of one of the country’s largest private sector unions, FIRST Union.
Born in the Philippines, Dennis is a well-known activist and union leader, helping lead campaigns to improve the lives of migrant workers, former refugees, and precarious workers and to end human trafficking.
Dennis plays an integral part in fighting for social justice dedicated to the worker's struggle ensuring they have all they need to get decent work, decent wages and safe work places.
Dennis proudly takes a stand against any unfair treatment of the workforce and is working to give our workers the power to make a difference for our families, our co-workers, communities and friends.
Before joining the Forum in May 2015, Francois was with the health and safety regulator for almost 10 years. During that time, Francois worked on policy, strategy, operations and national programmes and was involved in the establishment of the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum back in 2009-10.
Francois has spent his career working with industry to effect change. These experiences have involved working with a diverse range of organisations, including large and small businesses, sector groups and technical experts.
Jenny has a clear passion for the care of people and a demonstrated history of working in the
construction industry.
She has held the position of Health and Safety Manager for CS Roofing Canterbury for 12 years,
taking the opportunities of upskilling wherever possible, completing training for Occupation
Health and Safety and is a qualified Workplace Drug Tester. She believes that for Health and
Safety in the workplace to be effective there needs to be a culture of collaboration for all parties
and a desire to be thorough in thought and deed.
She is very passionate about the specialist trade of Roofing. Joining the executive board of the
Roofing Association of New Zealand (RANZ) in 2016, she currently holds the position of President
and sits as the Director of External Policy.
Jenny is the Founding Chair of NZWiR – In 2018 she went to the International Roofing Expo in New
Orleans USA where she attended the National Women in Roofing Conference. Realising the
potential an organisation like that could have in the New Zealand industry, she set about working
with the National Women in Roofing board to set a similar association set up here in NZ, the
National launch of NZWiR was in June 2019.
Outside of work Jenny is a very keen golfer, an enthusiastic mountain biker, and walker. She has
competed in several competition 10K walks and has completed a half marathon walk. She strongly
believes that to empower and engage with all people in the construction industry, we will be able
to do great things for industry, employers, and most importantly the workers themselves.
Hugh is a Civil Engineer with over 20 years experience in constructing pipelines, roads, bridges, subdivisions, bulk earthworks and landfills. He also has firsthand knowledge in tendering and delivering major infrastructure projects in New Zealand, Ireland, UK, Sweden, Saudi Arabia and Poland.
Hugh is a passionate advocate for health and safety in the construction sector, and enjoys helping small and medium sized enterprises embrace health and safety as a means of achieving operational excellence and superior business performance.
He is a member of the Business Leader's H&S Forum Steering group, Vice Chair of the Auckland Region of Civil Contractors New Zealand and is involved in developing trade training programmes as part of an Industry Reference Group with Connexis.
Hugh is a Chartered Director and received the award for Outstanding Individual of the Year at the 2021 Civil Contractors Auckland Branch Awards. Hugh is also an Independent Director of Inframax Construction Limited.
He is chairman of Silverdale Rugby Club, and has coached, refereed and played rugby for many years. He is also a taekwondo practioner, black belt, assistant instructor, and is married with four children.
Chris brings more than 30 years of experience leading business transformation across global and New Zealand based organisations.
His passion for Health and Safety transformation drives Chris to lead and implement global Health and Safety programmes across many of New Zealand's leading organisations, including Fonterra, and in his capacity as the National Consulting Health and Safety lead at PwC.
Chris is now leading Health and Safety in the Construction sector through Construction Health and Safety New Zealand (CHASNZ).
Chris has industry and technical experience which spans across construction, supply chain, operations, the dairy industry, aviation, logistics, information systems, finance and safety.
Chris is a key strategic leader with a strong people focus, having led and developed teams to achieve high levels of success, and is a recognised industry leader in safety-critical operations, where management of critical risk is vital to any business success.
Chris is a board member of Mates in Construction NZ, the charity dedicated to suicide prevention in the construction industry.
Jon has an essential role at CHASNZ undertaking key initiatives and researching innovative solutions that contribute to CHASNZ’s aspirations for a world class construction health and safety environment. Prior to the formation of CHASNZ, Jon was the GM of the Construction Safety Council.
Jon’s passion for helping people is what has motivated him through a varied career underpinned by health and safety.
Arriving in New Zealand in 2014, Jon worked mainly in the construction and transportation sectors for both client and constructor organisations. Previously, in the UK, Jon was Head ofHealth, Safety, and Environment for a global research and consultancy business working internationally, including the Middle East and Africa. Prior to this Jon worked as a Pavements Engineer and also had a career in the military working with Ammunition and Explosives.
Jon is a CharteredFellow of the Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (CFIOSH), a CertifiedFellow of the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management (CertFellNZISM) and aHASANZ registered Health and Safety Professional. Jon has also recently completed post graduate studies with Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia and is currently compiling a research proposal to apply to undertake a research project for a PhD.
Chris is a trained Occupational Therapist becoming a self-employed Occupational Health Consultant working with employers and ACC on occupational health and safety including workplace analysis and worker assessment, workplace training and injury prevention and management. Chris has extensive experience in the prevention and management of workplace musculoskeletal conditions and has republished both the NZ OOS Management Guidelines, NZ Patient Handling Guidelines and the Manual Handling Code of Practice. This programme was the first of its kind and scale in New Zealand and is still being used by workplaces to this day.
Chris joined CHASNZ to introduce a 'human factors' approach, developing evidenced based initiatives for the construction industry. The aim is to develop ways to address the contributing factors causing these problems and not just the obvious physical ones.
If you are interested in being part of this work, have some good ideas or are already doing work in this area to address strains and sprains in the industry, Chris would love to hear from you. Please contact Chris Polaczuk at chrisp@chasnz.org
What are 'Human Factors'
Put simply, 'human factors' are all the factors that make it easier to do the work in the right way. These could be the environment, the way the work is organised or the individuals own capacity to do the work.
Rachel is passionate about health and safety and improving operational performance through excellence in safety. She impresses as a confident public speaker, has a wealth of senior stakeholder experience and understands the industry and its challenges.
Her experience as a senior HR and Health and Safety professional makes her adept at creating and leading successful teams that strive for excellence and achieve great outcomes in complex operating environments. Her collaborative approach as a people connector combined with her pragmatic and analytical leadership techniques will be pivotal in her Advisory Group Manager role.
Managing the Advisory Groups is critical to the success of CHASNZ. Rachel’s role is essential in maintaining an effective connection between CHASNZ and our construction industry sectors. Advisory Groups have key leaders with reach and influence within their sectors passionate about health and safety with strongly connected with industry representative groups and stakeholder entities. They represent the interests of each industry sector and are the collective voice identifying opportunities for improvement and communicating what is important to their sector.
Her previous roles as Safety Assurance Manager, City Rail Link and Group Manager Health, Safety & Wellbeing for Auckland Transport, both major change and transformation programmes were key drivers in affirming her passion for health and safety. Rachel is active in governance roles for St John New Zealand - Chair for the Northern Regional Trust Board, and a member of the People and Capability Board Committee.
Carolyn comes to CHASNZ with a unique set of skills.
She has had an extensive career working in Office Manager and Executive Assistant type roles across a wide range of industries. Most recently for a tech solutions company which followed 10 years as Practice Manager and Executive Assistant for a C-suite recruitment company. Carolyn also spent 4 years working at Fonterra and a number of years at global tech companies EDS (Electronic Data Systems) and Intel NZ.
Carolyn’s career started out with an apprenticeship in hairdressing. She soon ditched the scissors for the building industry where she was admin for a large painting and decorating company, a timber supply yard, and then following four years at Benchmark Building Supplies she became Office Manager at NZ’s first Hardwarehouse (now Bunnings), where she recruited and trained the 100+ floor staff.
Having fully renovated her parents house as well as her own home, Carolyn has a real passion for DIY. She doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty, is super organised and loves getting things done and making sure everyone is happy.
Kate joins the CHASNZ team as their first graduate. She is passionate about health and safety, with a particular interest in training and development.
Kate previously spent seven years as Logistics Specialist in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, where her initial interest in health and safety was sparked. She was 6 Squadron’s Logistics Unit Safety and Health Co-ordinator, which helped develop her skills in leadership, communication, teamwork, and attention to detail. During this time, she received the Air Commodore Bailey award for outstanding performance throughout logistics trade training and the RNZAF ADZE award for significant trade contributions. She was also awarded a scholarship through the Air Force to complete her Bachelor of Business at AUT.
Kate came highly recommended through AUT after graduating as the top student in her majors of Management and Human Resource Management and Employment Relations. She is currently completing her Master’s thesis, focusing on occupational health and safety site induction training within New Zealand’s construction industry.
