Advancing Safety in Film

I was brought up in Nuhaka and the Mahia Peninsula was a huge part of my heritage. It is a beautiful landscape, sculptured hills, and sweeping beaches. The curves of the peninsula feel like they have been drawn by an artist, and everywhere you look there are multiple layers of sea, sand, hills, and sky. The power of this land is so encompassing, it never leaves me, it is part of me wherever I go.

Yesterday, we left Paraparaumu, driving through sheets of rain, multiple roadworks, and an endless amount of traffic, to arrive as the light was falling in Mahanga, to begin a few days’ holiday on the East Coast. Walking along the beach, as the grey-black sky blends into the sea, I started to focus on my last remaining task before my holiday could truly begin, this article for NZTECHO.

Over the past three years, I have been privileged to be part of a group of people who have been working on updating the Health and Safety Guidelines for the Screen Industry. Safety Guidelines were always a part of SIG with co-operation with other Guilds. When the government announced health and safety was to be reviewed and the Act was to be updated, SIG looked at how we would approach this change.

We set up a committee to follow the changes, but the scale of the new Act meant there was a new approach needed to look at Health and Safety in the Screen Industry. It was going to mean a review of all our guidelines and new methods of presenting that to our screen industry members and to interested parties such as the international productions that wished to work in New Zealand.

To lead this group, I talked with David Strong who had worked in various roles in the screen industry but the skill I was interested in was his ability to lead and manage a culture of change. David had been managing change in NZ Post and during his time with ScreenSafe he moved to managing change in the Fire Service.

David led the formation of a Steering Group to guide the development of the health and safety guidelines and ScreenSafe was established. The ScreenSafe Steering Group members came from SIG, SPADA, and NZAPG. ScreenSafe applied and received funding from the NZFC, NZ On Air, SIG, SPADA, Screen Auckland, and Screen Wellington.

Over the next three years, a website - www.ScreenSafe.co.nz - was created, guidelines were written and peer-reviewed, workshops were undertaken, and online tools were created to help people understand the new health and safety environment.

We are still completing the guidelines, but we are now in the final stages of the creation of ScreenSafe. David Strong has resigned as Chair of the Steering Group, and he deserves a huge thank you from the Screen Industry for guiding us through the transition to a new Safety Culture. I have taken the Chair to oversee the completion of the guidelines and the transition of ScreenSafe into SIG.

ScreenSafe will continue to grow. Once the guidelines are completed, it will move into a platform that provides Health and Safety information, promotes safe working practices, continues to update information as it happens, and provides news about Health and Safety. There are still workshops to be held and there is now an online tool to test you on the basic principles of Health and Safety with a certificate at the end that you can show to Production Companies that you have some understanding of safety.

Health and Safety is about you. About your regard for yourself, regard for your fellow workers, and regard for your environment. Think about what you are doing, why you are doing it - is it going to harm you or your fellow workers - then for most people the result will be a safer and happier workplace.

This is not just about your physical environment but your mental environment as well. Sexual Harassment and Bullying are topics of the moment and for good reason. We need to look at ourselves and think about how we treat people, especially in those situations where you are under pressure, being asked to do something that may not be to your liking. Being under stress can lead to mistakes and bad judgment, but ultimately you have control even though it may not feel like it. Take a moment to step back and analyze your decision, as there may be better ways to complete the task.

Health and Safety is about our lives. I want to continue walking down the beach looking at the grey-black sky blending into the sea and the layers of sea, sand, hills, and sky. Now I can start my holiday.