Background WorkSafe New Zealand has recognised the need for an explicit focus on occupational health in its work. The initial area of concentration for this is clean air, with a particular effort in educating those exposed to airborne contaminants on available controls. In order to do this, WorkSafe needed to upskill its inspectorate and provide tools to support engaging and educating employers and employees across a number of sectors. This evaluation looked at how well the upskilling of staff was implemented and the role it played in establishing a focus on occupational health in the inspectorate.

Methods The evaluation utilised a mixed method approach, including administrative data analysis, surveying and focus groups with inspectors to understand whether the project was implemented as intended.

Results Results are still being analysed, but will be available at the time of the presentation.

Conclusions Occupational health is an area of new but increasing focus of WorkSafe. Learnings from this evaluation will provide valuable information for other regulators and health and safety specialists on what will support implementing practice change.