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Pipeline Projects Are Coming — Will Your Workforce Be Ready?

After one of the toughest periods in recent memory for New Zealand’s construction and infrastructure sectors, there’s a fresh sense of momentum in the air.

While residential construction remains subdued, infrastructure and civil works are showing real promise. At the recent Civil Contractors New Zealand conference, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to a strong pipeline of infrastructure projects — backed by long-term investment and a renewed focus on maintenance, renewals, and new works. Industry leaders left with a level of optimism we haven’t seen in some time.

That optimism is reflected in the latest Kennards Hire Construction Confidence Check, which found 93% of New Zealand construction decision-makers are confident about the industry’s performance over the next five years. Major projects are expected to ramp up from late 2025 into 2026, and forward-thinking businesses are already preparing their teams.

Why book training now?

Besafe Training General Manager Jason Braithwaite says now is the perfect time to get ahead:

“The training industry is competitive right now — making it the perfect time to secure courses. Competitive offers, such as Besafe’s Multi Ticket Deal (x 4), are proving popular with businesses that have work in the pipeline. Smaller companies are also taking advantage of our online and blended training options to minimise time off site while maintaining quality — crucial when margins are tight and every minute of your FTEs’ time counts.

It’s beginning to feel like the industry has turned a corner, with strong momentum from companies investing in their teams’ skills and compliance. This renewed focus signals a shift toward growth and resilience, with businesses recognising that a well-trained workforce is central to productivity, safety, and long-term success.”

Innovation driving value

Innovation — one of Besafe’s core values — has been key to moving forward.

“We’ve expanded mixed delivery options and introduced qualifications like the New Zealand Certificate in Workplace Health and Safety Practice (Level 4) —a 16-week course, completed through our online learning platform. Students are supported with a dedicated facilitator through zoom sessions, digital content, workplace activities and discussion boards.

To make it easy for businesses to explore our forward-thinking training solutions, we’ve launched our new Innovation page — bringing together blended and online courses, company bookings, residential partnerships, and our Employment Pathways Programme. You’ll also find practical resources, case studies, and ideas to support toolbox talks and training.”

The projects are coming — make sure your workforce is ready to step onto site with the skills, compliance, and confidence to deliver.

From “I’m Not Sure” to Confident and Capable

From “I’m Not Sure” to Confident and Capable: The Power of Training Within the Zone of Proximal Development

In this blog, our General Manager Jason Braithwaite shares reflections on how our training approach is shaped by the Zone of Proximal Development — a concept that helps learners move from uncertainty to confidence with the right support, at the right time. 

Recently I have been reflecting on what makes training truly effective — especially in health and safety. We don’t just want our learners to complete a course. We want them to leave feeling confident, competent, and ready to apply what they’ve learned in real-world situations. This is where Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) comes in — a concept that shapes how we train.

ZPD describes the space between what a learner can do independently and what they can do with guidance. In our view, this is where meaningful learning — and safer workplaces begin. Across our courses and programmes, we intentionally design our delivery to operate in that space: Trainers scaffold learning by offering the right support at the right time — never too much, never too little.

Practical training environments reflect industry scenarios so learners can apply theory with support before doing it solo. If you haven’t visited our Wiri Training Facility, make sure you drop in for a tour next time you are in the area (211 Roscommon Rd, Wiri). Peer learning is encouraged — especially for new or returning trainees who benefit from hearing real experiences from those further along. We adjust the pace when needed. Sometimes the most powerful learning moment happens when a learner says, “I’m not sure,” and we help them work it out together.

We’ve seen time and again that this approach doesn’t just improve knowledge retention — it changes behaviour. And in our field, behaviour saves lives.

I’m proud to work with a team that sees each learner not just as a seat in a classroom, but as an individual on a journey — from unsure to capable — with us walking alongside them.

Hands-On Training That Drives Safety and Productivity — Not Just Ticks Boxes 👷‍♂️📚

Hands-On Training That Drives Safety and Productivity — Not Just Ticks Boxes 👷‍♂️📚

At Besafe, we believe training should be more than theory. It should prepare people for the real hazards they face on the job — and give them the skills and confidence to make safe choices under pressure.

In New Zealand, the construction industry continues to carry one of the highest rates of workplace harm. In the past year alone, there were 28,188 work-related ACC injury claims from construction — more than any other sector. Auckland and Canterbury recorded the highest volumes of these claims.

That’s why real-world, hands-on training matters.

Whether it’s putting on a harness, operating machinery, or entering a confined space, our learners don’t just sit through slides — they do the work, using real equipment in realistic environments. We train how people actually work: practical, relevant, and grounded in industry best practice.

The result we’re working toward?

Fewer incidents. Safer sites. People getting home safe at the end of the day.

Staying Safe in Wet Weather

Health and safety doesn’t take a break when the weather turns — in fact, it becomes even more important. As heavy rain and storms roll in, staying alert and prepared is key to keeping your team safe on site and on the road.

Wet conditions increase the risks — with slippery surfaces, reduced visibility, noise hazards, unstable ground, higher chances of equipment malfunction.
That’s why wet weather safety is about more than rain jackets — it’s about planning ahead, communicating clearly, and knowing when to pause the job.

✅ Check your site hazards and access points
🛠️ Make sure PPE and wet weather gear is up to standard
📋 Review your emergency plans and procedures
📞 Keep communication lines open and clear
🚫 Don’t be afraid to postpone or stop work if conditions aren’t safe

Public holidays are coming up too — so make sure any unattended sites are secure, and signage is clear.

When your team knows what to expect and what’s expected of them, they’ll make better decisions in tough conditions — and come home safely at the end of the day.

Staying Sharp in a Short Week

Public holidays are great for rest and reset — but short weeks can throw off routines, reduce focus, and increase the risk of cutting corners.
After a run of days off, it’s common for teams to come back distracted, under time pressure, or simply out of rhythm. That’s when the little things — like a missed check, skipped step, or rushed task — can lead to big consequences.

Now’s the time to double down on the basics:
✔️ Refresh your toolbox talks
✔️ Revisit key safety procedures
✔️ Encourage everyone to take a moment — not a shortcut (or as ACC New Zealand says, “Have a hmmm”)
✔️ Keep the pace realistic, even if you’re playing catch-up

Short weeks often mean trying to do more in less time — but safety can’t be rushed. A few minutes spent reinforcing the right habits is a far better trade than dealing with a preventable incident.

The most effective teams treat every week — short or long — with the same focus and commitment to getting home safe.

Our Safety Poem

🎥 A Year to Remember – Our Safety Poem 🎄

As 2024 comes to a close, we wanted to do something special to thank YOU—our amazing students, clients and partners—for an incredible year. 💛

Here’s a little poem to celebrate the successes we’ve achieved together and to remind us all to stay safe this summer. ☀️ (Slip, Slop, Slap, Wrap—and let’s leave the sizzling to the steaks on the grill!) 🥩🔥 From delivering 12,000+ NZQA units to helping 116 workers into jobs, it’s been a year to be proud of—Massive thanks to you. 🙌

Enjoy the video, have a Merry Christmas, and here’s to an even brighter and safer 2025! 🎉

Check Your Training is Up to Date

Make the Most of Your Time Off

Keep these tips in mind, and let’s make it a safe and productive summer season!

BeSafe Blog – Permit Culture

Permits the red herring of workplace health and safety

 

A culture of compliance does not necessarily make a safety culture, as evidenced by the ongoing problem of workplace accidents.

 

Let’s be clear, permits and signs do not protect workers. Unfortunately, actual health and safety measures are often forgotten in the rush to complete the paperwork.

 

As an NZQA and CHASNZ accredited health and safety training provider that helps companies and students, mostly in the construction sector, take ownership of their time and productivity with a blend of online and practical learning courses – there’s no question in our minds that there’s too much emphasis on tick box safety.

 

We have a culture of paper health and safety, but proper measures like assessing risk, putting in place appropriate controls and ensuring they are enforced does not get the attention it deserves.

 

In 2022 there is a lot of data and information to help improve how work is performed and that actual freak accidents – the ones nobody saw coming – are incredibly rare.

 

When a workplace accident occurs, it is usually because of a failure of assessment, process or practice. There needs to be some real education of directors and management around understanding their obligations, as well as of workers.

 

  1. Cultural shift

 

Sadly, workplace accidents will continue until there is a significant cultural shift in health and safety regarding both attitudes and practice. The general workplace approach to health and safety is still too blasé. There’s a lot of lip service but very little practical application.

 

  1. Visible regulation 

 

The legislation around health and safety is too loose and characterised by sweeping statements but little direction on putting it into practice.

 

We need more vocal and more visible regulators. The data that we get from Government is out of date by the time it gets to us, so that needs to be more real-time because right now it is a lagging indicator.

 

  1. Better education

 

I look forward to when health and safety training is done for the benefit of worker safety instead of the current tick-box culture where there’s too much emphasis on paperwork and less so on skills and proper health and safety practise.

BeSafe Blog – Too many companies neglecting to elect health and safety reps

By Jason Braithwaite

 

Despite statutory obligations that work site health and safety representatives be elected by their colleagues – which helps ensure better health and safety outcomes – we see that the majority of safety reps who attend health and safety training appeared to be appointed by their employers – this is a mistake.

 

It is a mistake because elected health and safety representatives are more likely to be passionate about safety.

 

As the voice of the workers, safety reps do have statutory power to direct a worker who is in their work group to cease work that is not safe. In our experience, however, appointed health and safety representatives are less likely to want to rock the boat.

 

For a business of twenty or more staff, or where sites are considered high risk – like building construction, heavy and civil engineering construction, food production and manufacturing – employers are required to hold an election for a health and safety representative. However, most of the safety representatives we talk with are appointed by their bosses.

 

This is because some employers just don’t know, or they may be reluctant to take their chances with an elected health and safety representative because the rep has the power to issue a provisional improvement notice (PIN) and stop work if necessary. Employers, understandably, are reluctant to relinquish control or risk finding themselves in a fractious relationship.

 

Once a health and safety representative is properly trained, they can better identify a high-risk area and ask their employer to fix the problem, issue a PIN, report the matter to WorkSafe or halt work until the problem is fixed. All of these measures can have a substantial impact on the business. It makes employers nervous.

 

However, let’s remember that it is the workers who are on site day in and day out and who are exposed to the risks. The safety representative who is conscientious about their responsibilities fulfils a vital role in communicating hazards to employers and ensuring they are rectified.

 

  1. There should always be a health and safety representative

 

Workers frequently complain that they can’t get their bosses to listen to their concerns. A health and safety representative solves that problem, provided the rep takes their elected role seriously.

 

  1. Elect, don’t appoint

 

In addition to being a legislative requirement, health and safety representatives chosen by their colleagues are likely to be more passionate and conscientious about the role, which in the long run saves lives and ultimately protects the business as well.

 

  1. Training is essential

 

A trained health and safety representative makes a site safer. Their enhanced ability to do proper risk assessments and communicate with workers and bosses means they are less likely to make costly mistakes for both workers and employers.

 

An elected health and safety representative, because they are the kind of person that can get elected, is more likely to have essential communications skills.

 

Health and safety needs to be taken extremely seriously because it is about health, lives, and livelihood. We want mums and dads to get to come home to their families at the end of the day.

BeSafe Blog – Attention employers: Beware of issuing branded cloth masks

Attention employers: Beware of issuing branded cloth masks

 

By Jason Braithwaite

 

Brand cloth masks are good marketing and they meet current Government guidelines, but they should be viewed as professional protective equipment and, as such, they are not up to standard when it comes to making your team safer from Omicron.

 

Bear in mind that as an employer you are responsible for the health and safety of your staff on-site, and issuing PPE equipment that is not fit for purpose could have implications in the future.

 

The ambiguity, and potential unreliability, of public health advice was brought to light recently when Canada Post insisted an employee wear the company’s branded cloth mask. The worker was stood down after he insisted on using an N95 grade mask to protect his wife, who has pre-existing conditions.

 

If your staff were working at heights, you wouldn’t issue them with a poor quality harness. The same applies to the masks. Besides the fact that staff members are more likely to get ill, even seriously ill, your business will suffer when half your team is off sick.

 

Here at BeSafe, we had to review the use of branded cloth masks to align with the current recommendations. It’s a great bit of branding, and you think you’re doing the right thing, but if you want to protect your team and your business, toss the branded cloth masks and go with an N95 grade mask.

 

  1. Use good quality safety equipment

 

The evolving nature of the pandemic has resulted in oscillating messaging over the last couple of years, but the world has steadily moved towards best practice. I don’t doubt that it won’t be long before N95 becomes the standard. It is better to equip your staff with the best when it comes to protecting them, your business and your customers.

 

  1. Train staff in how to fit the mask

 

Like any other health and safety measure, your staff should be trained in best practice, and that includes fitting a mask properly. Even an N95 mask that has been poorly fitted will fail.

 

  1. Monitor maintenance

 

You can wash disposable surgical masks or implement a rotation system if using N95 masks. New Zealand research suggests that washing surgical masks saves money, helps the environment and is still ten times better than a triple-stacked cloth mask. Ensure your staff are cleaning and maintaining their equipment.

 

Companies could take a guidelines approach or a standards approach but should adopt a standards approach with PPE gear because it is a health and safety issue. You can aim to be compliant, or you can aim to be a leader and do a job that will get the better result.

BeSafe Blog – When more bosses train, workplace accidents will fall

When more bosses train, workplace accidents will fall

 

The most common question workers ask during our health and safety training programmes is: ‘How do I persuade my boss to implement these safety measures?’ If more bosses did the training, workers wouldn’t have to ask that question.

 

Apathy from some senior leaders may be a significant reason why deaths and accidents on New Zealand worksites have not reduced appreciably in the last few years, despite strict legislation.

 

Safety legislation passed in 2015 has not made a big difference. We still had one person dying a week in 2020, and that’s because legislation is a blunt instrument. A good health and safety culture starts at the top, but in our experience, there isn’t very much engagement from business leaders.

 

Participation in our senior leadership and management health and safety programmes – targeting SME business owners, general managers and directors – remains at less than five per cent and workers frequently worry about the lack of senior leadership engagement.

 

What can we as an industry do about it?

 

  1. Boss awareness

 

There are many health and safety awareness and communication programmes across worksites, but almost all target workers and health and safety representatives instead of their bosses.

 

A government health and safety communications campaign targeting bosses might make a difference.

 

  1. Make it law

 

Whilst the Health and Safety At Work Act 2015 stipulates training requirements for Health and safety representatives, there is no legal requirement for senior leadership and decision-makers to participate in specified health and safety training, but there should be.

 

Legislation is a blunt instrument, but maybe it is needed until the bosses can see for themselves the value of better understanding worksite health and safety. Some leaders must stop seeing health and safety as a cost and an inconvenience.

 

  1. Step-up 

 

I personally would like senior leaders – business owners, general managers and directors – who take health and safety seriously enough to do the training, also act to influence other leaders to do the same.

 

I am a business leader. I know how hard and stressful it is at the top, but we are talking about making sure more people go home to their families at the end of the day. Of all your stresses, the last thing you want is an injury or fatality on your site – better understanding can make a difference.

 

Health and safety is high stakes for senior leadership these days. Recent New Zealand Police action targeting company earnings – using the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009 (CPRA) where a health and safety conviction has occurred – demonstrates that health and safety is also a bottom-line issue with severe consequences. The police did not succeed, but that doesn’t mean this risk will go away.

 

Protect your people, yourself and your business. Get more engaged with health and safety. Do the training. Your staff should not have to be the ones trying to convince you about what safety measures to take.


Address: 1B Beatrice Tinsley Crescent, Rosedale, Auckland 0632

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Phone: +64 9 555 2365

Email: info@besafetraining.co.nz

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