Safety - Queenstown
At AJ Hackett Bungy, we pride ourselves on providing a safe, fun and rewarding adventure tourism experience. As you can imagine, safety considerations are fundamental to every aspect of our operations.
We feel the key to providing the client with the best experience is to effectively combine perceived risk with integral safety, and we achieve this by making sure we have the best crew, training, equipment and procedures in place to ensure that the experience is as safe and fun as possible.
The company has in place a number of checks and balances, including very thorough and comprehensive task analysis and inspection routines which ensure we are operating at or above the very high standards that have been set.
CODE OF PRACTICE
AJ Hackett Bungy pioneered the sport, and quickly recognised the need for a Code of Practice for Bungy Jumping.
This was then established as a written set of standards, namely, the Australian and New Zealand Standards Authority Guidelines for commercial operations in Bungy Jumping.
This document was written in conjunction with several other interested industry partners. In particular, advice was sought from the construction, adventure tourism and alpine industries. This standard is reviewed bi-annually and is altered or updated as new innovations and situations arise.
Although the majority of the committee forming the review group are from external bodies, we recognise that a wholly independent group should be auditing and checking our systems.
To achieve this we are regularly externally audited by two organisations.
AUDITING
We are audited by Bureau Veritas, an internationally recognised auditing company, and the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC).
Both audits are voluntary.
Bureau Veritas conducts (mainly) equipment and process audits. They focus on our maintenance and equipment.
Every item of operational equipment gets extensively tested and then assigned an appropriate working life span; worked out as the expected length of time, or amount of use, the equipment can with stand before its performance is likely to degraded to the point where it is only three times stronger than the expected safe working load.
The equipment in use is audited against the companys record of its life span, with the maintenance schedule also recorded by staff as it takes place and then compared to the recommended times and instances.
ACC runs a comprehensive Workplace Safety Management Practice Audit. (WSMP) The WSMP Audit is a systems audit. It checks the procedures that the company uses to eliminate, isolate, and minimize hazards in the workplace.
This audit is conducted bi-annually, with annual reviews taking place between full audits.It also covers areas such as inductions, training, health monitoring, management and employee participation, rehabilitation, contractors responsibilities, emergency responses and accident investigation.
AJ Hackett Bungy has attained the highest performance level (Tertiary). We are one of a very few tourism companies to have attained this level.
Several other external agencies are also engaged in conducting our training and providing safety equipment and expertise.
TRAINING AND EXTERNAL SOURCES
Health and Safety Training is sourced through a variety of Training Providers. Staff members are involved in academic training through Massey University, practical training with St Johns and certified employees training with the Combined Trade Union.
Each year AJ Hackett Bungy sends several staff on nationally-recognised Health and Safety Representative Training, and this constant up-skilling of staff helps maintain the highest standards.
The New Zealand Fire Service has helped the company establish comprehensive evacuation schemes for the recently-commissioned building at the Kawarau Bungy Site. Wormald is used to provide fire extinguishers and fire safety advice.
All safety and operational equipment is bought from reputable and industry recognised providers.
INTERNAL STANDARDS
To compliment these external checks, we also conduct very through internal safety, equipment and maintenance audits and also carry out periodic, daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, six monthly and annual inspections.
The company self-governs its policies and procedures through a Health and Safety Committee. This committee is made up of staff from the coal face and their brief is to keep the company safety as the primary focus. They also provide an avenue whereby any staff member can take a safety issue to the right people, and ensure that the situation is resolved in a manner which satisfies all parties.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION
The combination of a thrilling experience, quality product and highly-regarded safety record has meant the company has achieved widespread recognition, with awards from New Zealand Qualmark, the S Mark, and several Tourism New Zealand Awards.
AJ Hackett Bungy was also recently honoured for its commitment to, and expertise in safety, by the New Zealand Centre for Small & Medium Enterprise Research.
