SafePlus

SafePlus is a health and safety improvement toolkit for businesses. It was developed jointly by WorkSafe New Zealand, ACC and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).

SafePlus offers a model of what ‘good’ health and safety practices and performance look like, to support any organisation in understanding their current practices – and initiating positive and ongoing change. It was designed with input from New Zealand industry and tested with over 90 businesses.

SafePlus enables in-depth conversations that include people at all levels of the organisation. These conversations can help to reveal for any organisation what might help – and what gets in the way of – working in ways that are healthy and safe. The SafePlus toolkit supports organisations in developing a culture that includes everyone’s health and safety practices and ideas, to build collective ownership of performance.

https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/managing-health-and-safety/businesses/safeplus/about-safeplus/

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. […]

Workplace Near Miss Reporting That Teams Use

A reversing ute stops short of a pedestrian in the yard. A worker catches a loose handrail before it gives way. A load shifts while being lifted but lands safely. Nothing has injured anyone – this time. Yet each event has exposed a gap that could cause serious harm on a busier day, in worse […]

How to Manage Contractor Onboarding Safely

A contractor can arrive with a tidy vehicle, the right tickets and years of experience, then still be exposed to a risk nobody mentioned. They may not know a reversing area changes at 7 am, where underground services run, which plant is isolated, or who has authority to stop work. That is why knowing how […]

Hear It from Our Clients

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

We can’t speak highly enough of Lake Safety Services and Derek in particular. Rather than applying a cookie-cutter template, Derek took the time to genuinely understand our business and our processes before putting anything together. The result was a health and safety solution that fits like a glove – tailored, practical, and clearly built around how we actually operate, not just a generic checklist. If you’re after a consultancy that treats your business as unique rather than “one of many,” Derek and the team at Lake Safety Services are the ones to call!

Jacques Schoeman

Director

MAD Media Ltd – New Plymouth

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

Through Derek, Lakes Safety Services provided an extremely thorough and personalised service to Broadlands School. Derek’s scope was the review the school’s EOTC practices and to make recommednations in changes to policy and day to day management practices including practical EOTC staff documentation. This brief was very well achieved! Derek has also provided great follow up service and a willingness to assist with any future EOTC draft policies before being adopted by the Board.

Graeme Taylor
Principal

Broadlands School

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

We had a great experience with Lakes Safety. Derek provided practical, on-site support for our small business, taking the time to look at what we already had in place and offering straightforward guidance on how we could improve our systems.

He was very easy to chat with and came up with practical, workable solutions that actually fit our business. He really does make health and safety much easier and more manageable for a small business.

Carolyn Inglis
Director

Taupo Employment Services

As a business, we’ve had a fantastic experience working with Lakes Safety Services: professional, reliable, and highly knowledgeable, making every interaction seamless from start to finish.

The commitment to people, safety, clear communication, and attention to detail gives us complete confidence in the services provided.

We highly recommend Lakes Safety Services to any business or individual. They’ve shown us that health and safety doesn’t have to be complicated. Practical approach and expert guidance have made a real difference to our business and our staff.

Mirela Petrar
Operations Manager

Taupo DeBretts

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

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

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

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

Practical Health and Safety Support That Works

Supporting Taupo, Turangi, Rotorua and the wider Lakes region

With over 30 years of real-world experience, Lakes Safety Services provides practical health and safety consulting across Taupo, Turangi, Rotorua and throughout the North Island. We help businesses manage risk, build practical safety systems, manage contractors, complete SafePlus assessments and improve health and safety governance — without unnecessary paperwork or complexity.