Health and Safety Committee – Terms of Reference

Constitution
The Health and Safety Committee shall be a committee of the Board of Diving New Zealand.

Purpose
The purpose of the Health and Safety Committee (“the Committee”) is to assist Diving New Zealand put in place health and safety policies and procedures that reflect best practice.

Responsibilities
  • Review, monitor and make recommendations to the Board via the Chair, on the organisation’s health and safety risk management framework and policies to ensure that the organisation has clearly set out its commitments to manage health and safety matters effectively.
  • Review and make recommendations for Board approval on strategies for achieving health and safety objectives.
  • Review and recommend for Board approval targets for health and safety performance, and assess performance against those targets.
  • Monitor the organisation’s compliance with health and safety policies and relevant applicable law.
  • Ensure that the systems used to identify and manage health and safety risks are fit-for-purpose, being effectively implemented, regularly reviewed and continuously improved. This includes ensuring that the Board is properly and regularly informed and updated on matters relating to health and safety risks.
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Authority
The Committee does not take actions or make decisions on behalf of Diving New Zealand unless specifically mandated by the Board. The Committee will make recommendations to the Board on all matters requiring a decision.

Review
The Committee shall:
  • Ensure that processes are in place to develop, implement, audit, regularly review and update the health and safety management framework to be consistent with accepted standards.
  • Review the Health and Safety practices on at least an annual basis.
  • Review any serious incidents (including near misses) at any Diving New Zealand-hosted event to enable reporting and advice as it sees fit to assist in its implementation of Health and Safety procedures.

Reporting
The Committee will report to the Diving New Zealand Board on the progress in relation to its health and safety initiatives.
The Committee shall:
  • Report directly to the Board via the Chair.
  • Provide written reports on the progress and activities of the Committee for board meetings.
  • Contribute to an annual evaluation to confirm that objectives are being met and are achieving the desired results.
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Membership
  • The Board shall, at its discretion and from time to time, determine the composition of the the Committee, and appoint a convenor.
  • The Chair of the Board shall be an ex officio member of the Committee [ref: DNZ Constitution C18.1.3] but is not counted as a member for the purposes of establishing a quorum unless officially appointed to the Committee by the DNZ Board.
  • In establishing the membership of the Committee, the Board shall have regard to: experience and expertise; demonstrated willingness to work in a constructive and collegial manner with other Committee members and with the wider DNZ membership geographical spread; gender; and where practicable, avoidance of conflict(s) of interest.
  • A quorum for any Committee meeting shall be two thirds (or nearest) of the Committee membership, as constituted at any time.

Desired Skills
  • Knowledge of health and safety regulatory requirements.
  • Experience in managing or administering health and safety requirements in an organisation (in particular in an aquatics discipline and or voluntary organisation).
  • Demonstrated experience and capability of working constructively with others and as a team.
  • Ability to communicate and form good relationships with both external and internal stakeholders.

Term
  • All members of the Committee shall continue in office until otherwise determined by the Board, or until the member resigns, whichever comes first.
  • The Board shall call for expressions of interest at no greater than three year intervals (commencing from June 2019) to allow for "refreshment" of the Committee, as appropriate.
  • All changes to the membership of the Committee, including resignations, shall be notified to the Board and recorded in the minutes of the appropriate Board meeting.