Mike Cosman

Mike is a highly experienced risk and safety management specialist who has worked in this field for over 43 years as a regulator, manager, policy maker and consultant in the UK and New Zealand. He was a member of the Government Taskforce set up after the Pike River Mine disaster that helped shape the current legislative framework.

As well as working with many public and private sector organisations, he has been the external advisor to six public sector health and safety governance groups (currently MPI and MFAT) and recently joined the HS governance group for the NZ operations of a listed Australian company. Chairing the board of New Zealand Institute of Safety Management and working closely with a number of sector groups, Mike helps promote good governance practice. He is keen to ensure there is alignment around interpretation of the Due Diligence Duties on officers under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 between IoD, WorkSafe NZ and the Courts as the first charges are laid relating to this relatively new duty.

Mike firmly believes that tone from the top is as important in setting the strategic direction for health and safety as for any other critical area of business risk. With the increasing focus on 'decent work' as an objective across many aspects of the workforce and the lead being shown by investors, Government and ethical consumers in the ESG agenda, the opportunity exists to use health and safety as a showcase of an effective risk management system - as well as meeting ethical, legal and other obligations.