Business North November 2021

86 | BUILDING G.J. Gardner Homes Manukau A winning health and safety initiative T Karen Phelps The G.J. Gardner Homes Manukau team. M ajor investment in health and safety by G.J. Gardner Homes Manukau Major Projects has been recognised with it winning the Site Safe New Zealand best health and safety initiative by a small business award at the 2021 Safeguard competition. The annual awards, which began in 2005, are organised by Safeguard magazine and proudly supported by WorkSafe New Zealand and ACC. The G.J. Gardner Health and Safety in Design programme that won it the award uses an approach to refine its risk assessments so that its designers are pointing out potential health and safety implications early in the process. G.J. Gardner Homes Manukau Major Pro- jects specialises in medium density residential development and has team of 16 full-time employees. Owner Rachel Soakell says that projects are often started prior to the building consent stage allowing its design team to undertake value engineering and the necessary design changes for the client. Recognising that it often encountered delays when specific design features or specifications had additional health and safety requirements during construction that were not accounted for a critical risks checklist was created and implemented. “This checklist is used by our Health and Safety Advisor during the 60% drawing design review to highlight any potential risks with the project. “The critical risks checklist helps us plan ahead, allow additional time where required for specialist scaffolding or other safety equip- ment and ensures our quantity surveying team budget it for it as well. “It also means we can choose the right sub-contractor for the job and we are pre- pared on site,” she says. The checklist has also enabled the franchise to track health and safety resource consent conditions and other client requirements. A further development has been not just identifying and planning critical checklist items but also considering designing them out and looking at the building specifications from multiple viewpoints. Using the Worksafe New Zealand Health and Safety in Design: An Introduction (Work- safe, 2018) as a guide G.J. Gardner Homes Manukau Major Projects began investigating not only the health and safety implications of constructing the design but also the implica- tions for the lifetime of the building including the health and safety of the workers undertak- ing maintenance. This resulted in a master risk matrix checklist to cross check the designs against in- cluding items such as reducing the roof pitch where possible making it safer to install and safer to maintain and including roofing access hatches and engineered anchor points on the roof to allow workers in the future to safely inspect the roof in harnesses. Rachel says the benefits of the new initiative have been numerous including fewer delays onsite due to design related health and safety requirements, which in turn has reduced project costs, and should also lead to lower maintenance costs for clients throughout the lifespan of their building. G.J. Gardner Homes Manukau Major Projects also won the the 2019 Site Safe best health and safety initiative by a business of no more than 50 staff category at the New Zea- land Workplace Health and Safety Awards. The award recognised the company’s unique Mental Health and Wellness Pro- gramme when, as part of a WorkSafe SafePlus assessment, it identified work related stress and fatigue as issues. G.J. Gardner Homes Manukau Major Pro- jects is owned by Rabo Construct Ltd, which is directed by Rachel Soakell, Dougal Paterson and Jeremy Waters. The franchise undertakes larger project developments in the Manukau and Central Auckland area. Clients include HNZ, Creat- ing Communities, Tamaki Regeneration, iwi, churches and large developers. “The critical risks checklist helps us plan ahead, allow additional time where required for specialist scaffolding or other safety equipment and ensures our quantity surveying team budget it for it as well.” THE HOUSE CLADDING EXPERTS WHO HELP TO MAINTAIN YOUR GREAT REPUTATION 139 Kerrs Rd, Wiri | 021 678 709 admin@taylorsuperclad.co.nz www.taylorsuperclad.co.nz Taylor Superclad is one of New Zealand’s leading cladding specialists, particularly when it comes to weatherboards, but we believe we’re only as good as our last job. Working on up to 10 projects a day, we’ve put 30+ years into making sure cladding is the easiest aspect of residential construction.