Burnout, workload and public aggression towards frontline staff have emerged as key health and safety risks for Rotorua Lakes Council’s workforce.
The audit and risk committee reviewed the council’s health and safety performance for 2025/26 on Wednesday.
Despite improvements in key safety measures, councillors repeatedly returned to pressures staff face at work and in interactions with the public.
Mayor Tania Tapsell said it was crucial council workers felt not only safe, but also healthy.
“I noticed a trend in this report around risks relating to workload, fatigue and psychological safety, and I wonder whether that may be under-represented,” she told the committee.
“Given the pressures we are under in the current environment, often through no fault of our own, things can become very challenging.”
Results from the council’s 2026 employee engagement survey identified concerns about burnout, bullying, trust and staff feeling able to speak up as among the top themes, and highlighted a need for better management of workload and wellbeing risks.
The report found those risks may be under-represented in formal health and safety reporting despite being raised through employee feedback.
Councillor Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said she hoped staff could discuss issues openly and would not have to “suffer in silence”. She asked if support was sufficient in the organisation.
Health and safety and wellbeing manager Jesse Jarlov said the council was developing a wellbeing roadmap that would address stress, fatigue and psychosocial risks.
Chief executive Andrew Moraes told councillors the issue was a major priority.
“Our people are the most important part of this organisation,” he said.
“Without them, we cannot deliver the services our customers and community rely on. But there’s always more we can do, and we’re conscious not to become complacent.”
Moraes said staff willingness to seek help for work-related or personal issues was monitored through the council’s annual staff survey and by the executive team.
According to the 2025 Annual Report, Rotorua Lakes Council employs about 500 staff, including 476 full-time employees.
Aggression toward staff
The annual health and safety review revealed violence and aggression toward staff remained one of the council’s most significant operational risks.
Violence and aggression accounted for 16% of reported risk events during the year, making it the second-most frequently reported risk category.
The report noted violence and aggression were particularly prevalent in customer-facing and enforcement roles and required enhanced monitoring and assurance.
Tapsell said elected members were particularly conscious of the issue because they saw changing behaviour within the community.
“We do really feel for all of our staff that are on the frontline,” she said.
Jarlov said staff in higher-risk roles received de-escalation training, support procedures and post-incident assistance.
Moraes said the council had introduced measures over the past 12 to 18 months to better protect staff, including reducing situations where employees worked alone in potentially volatile circumstances and implementing a customer behaviour policy that set out what constituted unreasonable conduct and how the council would respond.
“We have activated that policy a number of times over the past year,” he said.
WorkSafe warning
The council recorded 693 health and safety events during the year, including 96 injuries, 11 lost-time injuries, 247 incidents and 335 near misses.
While none was serious enough to require notification to WorkSafe, the council was issued an improvement notice by the regulator.
This was because a contractor carried out a roof inspection outside an approved roof-safety system while under council supervision. The notice required the council to address the health and safety issue, although no injury occurred and the incident did not meet the threshold for notification.
The council must comply with the notice by September. Jarlov said staff training and procedures had already been updated, and broader contractor-management reforms were underway.
Operating a vehicle accounted for 14% of reported risk events, while fleet telematics data recorded more than 8000 low-level speeding incidents during June alone – down 56% on the prior July.
The annual review found speeding behaviour improved markedly after a speed monitoring policy was implemented.
Higher-risk incidents involving drivers travelling more than 10km/h above the speed limit fell from 1355 in July 2025 to 161 in June 2026, an 88% reduction.
The report concluded that speeding remained a significant fleet safety risk and suggested lowering the threshold for formal intervention.
The annual review found the council’s overall health and safety management system had continued to improve, earning an internal rating of “developing/performing”, up from the previous “developing” assessment.
It also highlighted achievements including zero WorkSafe notifiable incidents, falling injury rates, improved reporting systems, completion of 12 SafePlus improvement actions and stronger health and safety assurance processes.
The council’s wellbeing roadmap will be presented at the next audit and risk committee meeting in November.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
