Blog

Taupo Owned Health & Safety and HR Providers Align on Practical Support for Local Businesses

This week we brought together a group of locally owned Taupo health & safety and HR providers for a practical discussion at the Taupo Cosmopolitan Club on how we collectively support businesses in the region. The session included Rural Safe, NZ WorkSafe Ltd, Medicache, Health & Safety Tailored for You, Lakes Safety Services, IPG, and […]

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Supporting Taupo Businesses with Practical HR Support

In our work, people-related matters often sit alongside health and safety. From policies and processes through to day-to-day employment questions, it’s an area that businesses need to get right — and have the right support around them. A New Relationship That Adds Value Recently, we’ve connected with MyHR to better support our clients. They came […]

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Choosing Health and Safety Software in Taupo: What Actually Matters

Many Taupo organisations are reviewing their health and safety systems — particularly around training, competency, reporting, and supervision. With multiple software platforms available, it can be difficult to determine what genuinely adds value and what simply adds complexity. Start with Risk and Governance Before selecting any platform, organisations should be clear about their operational risks […]

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Using SafePlus to strengthen your health and safety system

SafePlus is often seen as something organisations “go through” when they’re being assessed. In reality, it’s one of the most practical tools available for businesses to step back, test their own systems, and identify where improvement will actually make a difference. WorkSafe provides SafePlus self-assessment resources that allow organisations to review their health and safety […]

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Why good safety signage matters (and why less is often more)

Safety signage plays a critical role in managing risk, but only if people actually read it, understand it, and act on it. In real environments, especially outdoors or shared public spaces, signage that is cluttered, poorly worded, or inconsistent quickly becomes background noise. At the Taupo NZDA range, signage was recently reviewed and upgraded to […]

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Blaze Up or Get Lucky – Part 2

What to Wear (and Where to Get It) In Part 1, we shared two real near-miss incidents from public land — both avoided only because the hunters followed the firearms safety rules and identified their targets before pulling the trigger. But how many others are relying purely on luck? This time, we’re talking solutions. What […]

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Incident Management in Real Workplaces: Learn, Improve, Prevent

No one wants to fill out forms or tick boxes — but incident management isn’t about paperwork. It’s about learning from what goes wrong, supporting your team, and preventing it from happening again. If you’re running a small or medium business, you don’t need a complex system — but you do need a clear process […]

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Risk Management in Real Workplaces: Focus on What Matters Most

Risk management doesn’t need to be complicated — and it definitely shouldn’t be overwhelming. Whether you’re running a small café, a tourism business, or a busy trades team, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) expects you to identify and manage risks. But it doesn’t say you have to create piles of paperwork. […]

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Blaze Up or Get Lucky: Why Visibility Still Matters in the Bush

Hunting is one of New Zealand’s great outdoor traditions — but even experienced hunters can get it wrong if they don’t stop and identify what they’re really aiming at. With more people hunting on public land than ever, close calls may be becoming all too common. I had two of those close calls myself recently. […]

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Free Workplace Health & Safety System Check-Up

This winter, Lakes Safety Services is offering a free check-up of your health and safety system, designed specifically for small to medium-sized businesses in Taupō and Tūrangi. This is not a medical or wellness check — it’s a practical check of your current health and safety setup to help you see what’s working, what’s missing, […]

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Hear It from Our Clients

See the impact we've had on businesses and how we could do the same for you.

Derek provided excellent health & safety consultancy. His advice was practical, thorough, well-delivered, and easy to implement. He helped us identify risks we’d overlooked and suggested cost-effective solutions. Recommend for any business needing H&S guidance.

Murray Beadle
General Manager

BFA Business Advisors and Accountants – Taupo

Highly recommend this health and safety company! They provided top-notch service for our roofing business, ensuring everything was up to standard. Their team was professional, thorough, and easy to work with. We feel confident knowing our safety measures are in excellent hands. Great job.

Laurence
Director

 

Storm Tech Roofing – Hawkes Bay

We are a small yet complex organisation and have been working with Derek for the past year with the goal of creating a robust health and safety system that is maintained through internal ownership and embedded into business as usual. While Derek is knowledgeable, professional, and enthusiastic, his real superpower is working alongside the team to create a system which is tailored and practical, all while growing internal capacity. We would absolutely recommend Derek.

Lake Taupo Hospice

“I got Derek in to update our H&S management system. He was honest and did a great job. Highly recommend.”

Mark Bowsher
Station Manager

Whareroa Station – Waikato

Derek was approachable, experienced, and readily available (at very short notice) for what was required for our H&S work site induction. Highly recommend should your company be in need of a person to tackle H&S matters.

Grace Solomon
Resident Manager

Two Trees Ngā Rākau e Rua – Taupō

Thank you, Derek, for your professional and objective advice. Your insights were incredibly helpful. We also really appreciated your enthusiasm in sharing your social networks and experiences, it was truly inspiring!

Eve Liu

Office Manager

Hauraki Civil Engineering – Rotorua

“Very knowledgeable and willing to put the effort in upfront to understand our situation. Tailored things to fit our business requirements without creating a pile of confusing admin for us”

Spenser Christiansen
Director 

That Dingo Guy – Manawatu

Connect with Lakes Safety Services – Practical Support, Real Results

Health and Safety Expertise That Works for Your Business

With over 25 years of real-world experience, Lakes Safety Services provides practical health and safety consultancy, coaching, and support across Taupō and the Central North Island. We specialise in solutions that fit your people, tasks, and risks — not just checklists. From technical systems and governance advice to contractor management and SafePlus assessments, we help you build safer workplaces with confidence.