Most of us fondly remember field trips or a special day out on the weekend heading over to the zoo. There was nothing quite like seeing an elephant for the first time, or hearing the sound of a lion’s roar; or even understanding the core zoo ethos of conservation and why it’s so important to learn about endangered animals.
Wellington Zoo, unabashedly considered the zoo with the ‘biggest heart’ by CEO Karen Fifield, is something special. When quizzed about their workplace, a genuine enthusiasm and love for what they do beams from each staff member.
Karen describes the zoo as “small and perfectly formed”. In her eyes, even though Wellington Zoo is on the smaller side, it certainly has “the biggest heart.” The team takes great pride in the zoo being a hub for the Wellington community; a place of “healing, pride, and the best animal welfare.”
For any regular organisation, managing EHS is no simple feat. Coordinating staff over different locations and keeping an eye over all the different moving parts makes for a busy role for any EHS manager.
Now, add animals to the mix - and you’ve got yourself a completely unique environment with risks that the usual office might struggle to imagine. There’s a range of risks and hazards at the zoo, most notably perhaps, feeding and working with animals that have the potential to cause some serious harm.
Moreover, the workplace environments in the zoo are somewhat varied. There’s an animal hospital, construction and maintenance sites, as well as the animal enclosures themselves. Each workplace has its own safety needs and particular risks.
As a result, the team has to ensure that the safety and wellbeing of each staff member - from zookeeper, to construction worker, to manager - is taken care of.