Safety a career focus

Health and safety is an everyday focus for Citycare Property, but for one staff member it’s gradually become a career choice.

David Goy began his Citycare Property journey in a pre-apprenticeship role when he was 17. Fast forward 15 years and he’s spent many happy times in Christchurch working in various roles for the company, constantly learning and always taking opportunities to advance his career.

David started in the horticulture team looking after parks, then moved to the reactive maintenance team. He says Citycare Property always supports people with opportunities to upskill.

“Initially, I did my horticulture apprenticeship and a few years ago I did the Field Leadership Programme. This was a programme created to encourage grounds-people to move into leading hand and supervisor roles. In the last two years I have worked my way up to a full-time role as a Health and Safety Advisor. All the way through there’s been opportunities to advance my career,” he says.

David initially started to focus a day a week on health and safety matters. That grew to two days a week, then more, and now he is full-time.

“My role is to help and encourage a safe workplace so everyone can go home safe every day,” David says.

Presently he is studying his Level 4 Health and Safety certification through the Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce. His ambition is to one day lead the health and safety team.

“You always have to be bettering yourself in life,” David says.

A normal day for David involves investigations and reports on incidents, site visits to teams, and introductions to new Health and Safety systems. During lockdown he’s been able to support people with training on the company’s new lone worker phone app and helping staff to become more familiar with the Safety Hub, an employee online training platform.

His previous roles with horticulture, landscapes and building maintenance underpins his work. David is also a valued member of the Citycare Property's rural fire fighting team.