Northland Regional Council’s (NRC) work to protect the natural environment includes a diverse range of activities – biosecurity, biodiversity, water protection and monitoring, climate change, civil defence coordination and navigational safety within Northland’s harbours. We have many field staff who work in high-risk environments and activities across an expansive geographical area.

There is a comprehensive task safety analysis system completed in the office prior to field work taking place, but there is a need for dynamic risk assessment in remote and sometimes challenging conditions. The difference between work as planned and real-life conditions encountered on the day was an ongoing issue to address.

Some teams had their own paper-based process or electronic survey that they used to manage their team in the field, others had nothing. The Health and Safety team and Group leads had no easily reportable oversight over where, when and what field staff were involved with when on site. A staff survey found that only 40% of field staff were regularly completing an onsite risk assessment for sites they visited. There was also a lack of assurance that all staff involved in a task were operating under a current Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) or Job Safety and Environmental Analysis (JSEA). The burden of having adequate operating practices and risk assessment in place was on the individuals going into the field each day.

The solution was to develop a new organisation wide suite of health and safety tools which sits alongside the comprehensive JSEAs or SOPs. The new suite of tools uses ArcGIS Survey123 forms for planning and on-site risk assessment and ArcGIS dashboards for reporting and oversight, and Power Automate for notifications.

The first step is a Survey123 form called “H & S Before you go” which staff to complete as part of their preparation before leaving the office. The form acts as a check for staff to make sure all key planning and organising is done before they go. Including that JSEAs or SOPs are current, in place and understood, essential licenses and equipment are ready and prepped for the field work, and conditions are suitable to proceed.

The Before you go form also requires staff to nominate a ‘buddy’ as required by NRC's lone/remote working policy, and captures details about the planned work, staff involved, vehicle being used, communication methods and expected return time. An email is automatically sent to the buddy, using a power automate webhook, when forms are submitted. The email gives the buddy all the information they need to keep track of staff and make sure they are on track and are back safely when expected.

Arriving at a field work site, staff complete a second Survey123 form; “Take 5” which requires them to stop and assess the conditions before proceeding with the planned work. This includes checking to see if there are any additional hazards not already identified, traffic management, reassessing environmental conditions and completing a water safety assessment if required. The form includes warnings and requirements to stop the work if the task is deemed unsafe due to the conditions encountered at the site.

NRC has identified critical risks (those that cause significant injury, illness or death) and appropriate control procedures for these risks. "Before you go" and "Take 5" makes sure staff are aware of existing critical risks and that they identify new.

Critical risks addressed directly by "Before you go" and "Take 5" are:
-Lone working
-Working around water, - working in water (wading, diving, snorkelling) ; above water (boating or kayaking); around water (adjacent to, with fall risk more than insignificant)
-Driving
-Fatigue
-Working with contractors
-Work in the road corridor
-Hazardous substances
-Use of firearms
-Working with helicopters

An ArcGIS dashboard gives managers oversight of who is in the field each day and the types of activities those staff are undertaking. This enables NRC to understand who is doing what and where at an organisational level. This also assists with tracking staff in the event of any unexpected emergencies affecting Northland.

Reporting can also be done over longer time periods and gives the health and safety team and managers a better understanding of the types and frequency of certain activities and risks that staff frequently encounter.