Charlie Strickland says his Hawke’s Bay health and safety consultancy really began by accident. “Instead of offering me the job, they asked me for my consulting rate and whether I could set up a health and safety system for the whole company. The business was all by accident.”

But it was a happy accident, unlike the mishap with a wool press in Western Australia a few years earlier that had left Charlie with permanent damage to one arm. After returning from Australia to the Hawke’s Bay, where he had grown up, Charlie eventually became a supervisor at a sawmill, with responsibilities for both human resources and occupational safety and health.

“I really had no idea there was a market in the Bay for the kinds of skills I developed at the sawmill,” says Charlie. “But my first client is still a client and I really enjoy being in business for myself. It has its ups and downs but I have now set up health and safety systems for eight companies, three of which are regular clients providing the bulk of my work.

“I audit their systems and help them upgrade where needed, so they can achieve the accreditation they need to win contracts from some of the major industries here in the Bay.”

Charlie says it was a mate who pointed him towards Te Puni Kōkiri’s Business Facilitation Service. “I rang up one morning and ended up being referred to a business mentor, Anton Randell. We talked about where I wanted to go with the business and Anton helped me put a business plan together. It was great.

He helped me look around corners and predict issues that were going to come up anyway, so I could think about them well before I had to do something.

“The biggest thing overall with the Te Puni Kökiri service was that they made me feel I was worth it. It was the first outside acknowledgement I received about what I was doing. That was pretty significant to me. Three years on, I still touch base with Te Puni Kökiri and now I recommend the service to other people as well.”

The experience has given Charlie the confidence not to only modify existing health and safety systems for clients but to develop systems of his own. “For one long-term client we have added innovations to their occupational safety and health system every year that I have worked with them. And each year they can see the return on their investment as their risks fall, along with their ACC costs,” says Charlie.