Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum

What Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum does

The Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum is a Wellington-based non-profit membership coalition launched in July 2010 by Prime Minister John Key with 94 founding CEOs, now comprising 440+ CEOs, Managing Directors and Country Heads across more than 20 New Zealand industries. Its members collectively influence approximately 25% of New Zealand's workforce, and the Forum serves as a peer network plus knowledge platform for senior executives responsible for workplace health, safety and wellbeing — helping them meet officer due-diligence duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act and build safety cultures.

The Forum's 'product' is a portfolio of knowledge assets and convening services rather than a software platform: annual flagship research (the State of a Thriving Nation series, with the 2025 edition quantifying NZ H&S costs at NZ$5.4 billion / 1.3% of GDP), CEO guides and frameworks (Risk Toolkit, Monitoring What Matters, Safety Leadership, Protecting Mental Wellbeing), case studies featuring member organisations, webinars with international experts (e.g., Dr Todd Conklin), CEO-only lunches, field trips, virtual connection calls, and advocacy submissions. It co-produces materials with strategic partners including WorkSafe New Zealand, the Institute of Directors, the GM Safety Forum and ACC.

Revenue is generated almost entirely through graduated annual membership fees ranging from NZ$850 (small organisations) to NZ$12,750 (large organisations) excluding GST, supplemented by event sponsorships and partner-funded projects. Go-to-market is community-led: CEOs join through an application and commitment process involving a one-on-one meeting with Chief Executive Francois Barton, with growth driven by word-of-mouth, peer referrals and participation in advocacy. A Board chaired by Sheridan Broadbent provides governance.

Name

Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum

Legal name

Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum

Website

https://forum.org.nz

Company type

Private

Founded year

2010

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum is a Wellington-based non-profit coalition of 440+ New Zealand CEOs, Managing Directors and Country Heads, delivering peer learning, CEO-level guidance frameworks, advocacy and the annual State of a Thriving Nation report to improve workplace H&S.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Workplace Health and Safety Leadership

NAICS

Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Executive Summits & Invitation-Only Forums (MPAGAGAK), Thought Leadership & Executive Visibility (BPAFADAG)

Keywords

• Health and safety leadership
• CEO peer network
• Workplace safety governance
• Member coalition advocacy
• Safety knowledge resources

Headquarters

HQ city

Wellington

HQ country

New Zealand

HQ region

Oceania

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Annual Membership Fees: Members pay annual membership fees that cover all events, attendance at Forum events, and the development of resources. The fee is graduated to recognize variable organization size.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

The Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum is a coalition of 440+ CEOs, Managing Directors, and Country Heads of New Zealand organisations that operates as a paid annual membership network. It delivers peer networking, knowledge products (CEO guides, frameworks, research reports, video case studies, advocacy submissions), and in-person and virtual events (CEO lunches, field trips, masterclasses, webinars) to develop CEO-level leadership of workplace health and safety in New Zealand.

Product overview

The Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum is a coalition of 440+ CEOs offering a membership-based platform focused on improving workplace health, safety, and wellbeing in New Zealand. Rather than a single software product, the Forum provides a portfolio of knowledge products including annual economic reports (State of a Thriving Nation series), guidance frameworks (CEO Guide to Risk, Monitoring What Matters, Safety Leadership Guide, Protecting Mental Wellbeing at Work Guide), CEO case studies, research reports (Better Governance, Health and Safety Systems Taskforce reports), advocacy submissions, and events programmes (CEO courses, lunches, site visits). The Forum serves as a peer network enabling knowledge sharing among senior leaders through resources, events, and collective advocacy to influence national H&S policy and performance.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Annual CEO Membership
• CEO Events and Courses Programme

Quantifiable outcome

• More than two-thirds of Forum members made changes in their workplace they would directly attribute to the Forum
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.

• CHASNZ (Construction Health and Safety New Zealand)supportingOthersThe Forum identifies CHASNZ as one of the health and safety sector leadership groups working alongside the Forum in New Zealand.
• SaferFarmssupportingOthersThe Forum identifies SaferFarms as one of the health and safety sector leadership groups working alongside the Forum in New Zealand.
• FISC (Forestry Industry Safety Council)supportingOthersThe Forum identifies FISC as one of the health and safety sector leadership groups working alongside the Forum in New Zealand.
• ShopCaresupportingOthersThe Forum identifies ShopCare as one of the health and safety sector leadership groups working alongside the Forum in New Zealand.
• HASANZ (Health and Safety Association of NZ)supportingOthersThe Forum identifies HASANZ as one of the health and safety sector leadership groups working alongside the Forum in New Zealand.
• WorkSafe New ZealandcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorkSafe NZ is the regulatory partner. The Forum collaborates with WorkSafe on initiatives including the Health and Safety Governance: A Good Practice Guide released July 2024, the Better Governance project, and advocacy for improved H&S performance.
• Institute of Directors (IoD)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe IoD and WorkSafe NZ released the Health and Safety Governance: A Good Practice Guide in July 2024, supported by the Forum and GM Safety Forum, to support NZ directors to improve H&S outcomes.
• GM Safety ForumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe GM Safety Forum partnered with the Forum and WorkSafe NZ on the Better Governance project (2022-2023) to understand why H&S governance performance has stalled in New Zealand.
• FlourishDXsupportingGTM or Marketing PartnerThe Forum sponsored a FlourishDX event on leading psychologically safe and healthy workplaces in June 2025.
• ACCsupportingStrategic or Co-development PartnerACC supported the 'Thriving in Manufacturing' project - a pilot helping manufacturing businesses identify work-related mental health risks and redesign work to minimise them.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• British Safety Council: UK membership charity offering training, qualifications, and campaigns to improve health, safety and wellbeing. Closest international peer by structure - a membership association that convenes leaders around H&S best practice and produces guidance content.
• Health and Safety Association of New Zealand (HASANZ): NZ umbrella body for H&S professionals. Domestic peer with overlapping mission around improving H&S performance; the Forum explicitly identifies HASANZ as a complementary sector group, making it the closest local counterpart by remit.
• CHASNZ (Construction Health and Safety NZ): NZ sector leadership group for construction H&S, explicitly identified by the Forum as a partner. Most direct sector-specialized competitor to the Forum's horizontal CEO membership in the highest-risk NZ industry.
• GM Safety Forum: NZ-based peer forum for General Managers responsible for H&S. Closest direct operational counterpart - co-partner with the Forum on the Better Governance project - serving the next tier below the Forum's CEO audience.

Regional players

• WorkSafe New Zealand: NZ's primary workplace H&S regulator. While a regulator rather than a membership body, it is the Forum's most important strategic partner and operates adjacent leadership, governance and education programs targeting the same CEO audience.
• Safety Institute of Australia: Australian professional body for OHS practitioners. Regional peer with similar membership-association structure and H&S advocacy role; a useful benchmark for any Australian expansion of the Forum.

Broad incumbents

• International SOS Foundation: Global non-profit focused on workforce wellbeing, travel risk and occupational health. Comparable scale and mission orientation toward senior-leadership H&S and wellbeing content; relevant for benchmarking international health-and-wellbeing leadership programming.
• Vistage Worldwide: Global CEO peer advisory and executive coaching organization. Operates a similar CEO-network-and-events business model at much greater scale; relevant for benchmarking the Forum's CEO community/membership motion.
• YPO (Young Presidents' Organization): Global peer network of CEOs offering forums, education, and community. Comparable in the CEO-network-with-content business model, although broader than H&S and serves a different demographic stage.
• National Safety Council: US-based chartered non-profit focused on eliminating preventable deaths through workplace and roadway safety. Most direct international analog to the Forum's H&S leadership mission, though with a broader safety scope and a much larger footprint.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/business-leaders-health-and-safety-forum

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum