Jen Dransfield is a health and safety advisor at Naylor Love. She talks about what changes when the people doing the work are part of the conversation about how it gets done safely.
The first thing Jen was handed when she said she wanted to work in health and safety was the Pike River Royal Commission report. She says it has followed her into every career decision since. We talk about trialling an idea on one site before pushing it up the chain, working across construction companies during the Christchurch rebuild, the many hats a safety person wears and why emailing a document around isn't consultation. She gives her view of Safety II and HOP too.
What we cover in this episode
- Trialling ideas on one site before rolling them out
- How construction safety differs from region to region
- The report that shaped her career
- Lessons from the Christchurch rebuild
- Keep asking questions until you understand
- The many hats of a health and safety person
- Work as imagined versus work as done
- What real consultation looks like
Episode chapters
- 0:00 Meet Jen Dransfield
- 3:04 Culture at Naylor Love
- 6:10 Piloting ideas on one site
- 7:10 Regional differences in construction
- 11:16 Jen's path into safety
- 15:18 The Pike River report
- 18:26 The Christchurch rebuild
- 22:35 Connection across companies
- 24:37 What good looks like
- 26:23 Asking questions
- 30:31 The many hats of a safety person
- 34:34 The NZHSP Facebook group
- 38:39 Work as imagined versus work as done
- 41:42 Safety II and HOP
- 43:46 What real consultation looks like
- 51:58 Where to find help
Connect with Jen Dransfield
Find Jen Dransfield on LinkedIn.
Free tool for this episode
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This episode sits in the Critical risk on the ground collection. Browse every episode or follow the show on Spotify so you don't miss the next one.
About the host
Matt Jones is the founder of Advanced Safety and a HASANZ-registered health and safety consultant. He's a Professional Member of NZISM, holds a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health and founded the New Zealand Health and Safety Professionals community. His book is Raise the Standard: Why Good Organisations Go Blind and How Leaders Restore Visibility.
Guests share their own views and experience. This page is general information, not legal advice. Latest update: 13 November 2026
