Health and safety leadership during COVID-19

Overview

A recording of a live webcast with Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum held on 22 April 2020.

Felicity Caird, GM of the IoD’s Governance Leadership Centre, was joined by George Adams (Chair) and Francois Barton (Executive Director) of the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum to discuss how business leaders can lead a clear, considered and coherent safe- start risk plan for their organisations as we transition to COVID-19 alert level three.

Read our media release Leaders urged to consider, test safe-start risk plans for Alert Level 3 and member memo Alert Level 3 – Are you safe to re-start? for further information.

Presenters

George Adams. Independent Director, Chair of of the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum

George came to New Zealand in 2003 as managing director of Coca-Cola Amatil New Zealand & Fiji, a role he held for 10 years. Since moving into governance, he's also become chairman of Apollo Foods.

In 2014 he was asked to chair the Occupational Health and Safety Group, set up to advise WorkSafeNZ on work-related illness and disease. The same year he chaired the Independent Forestry Safety Review investigating the high serious injury and death rate in that industry. While heading Coca-Cola here George also chaired the NZ Food and Grocery Council.

Previously he was Financial Controller of British Telecom Northern Ireland and Group Financial Director of Dublin-based bottling company Molino Beverages.

Francois Barton. Executive Director, Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum

Francois took over as Forum Executive Director in May 2015. Prior to joining the Forum Francois established and ran WorkSafe NZ’s national programme team, which has delivered major safety campaigns in construction, agriculture, forestry and manufacturing. He previously held roles at MBIE - including being involved in early discussions that led to the development of the Canterbury Safety Rebuild Charter - and at the Department of Labour, where he was part of the team that set up the Forum in 2010.