About Us

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A time for change

The founders of Orange Umbrella® have worked at the cutting edge of organisational health and safety and workplace performance at a global level for over three decades. They have worked in this field understanding the reluctance of many to participate in better practice; the gamble many organisations take without understanding the ramifications of a disaster until it happens. This is the real world and often common sense and logic are disguised by what we call ‘false economics’. What would seem logical doesn’t happen. Poor understanding, a lack of hard data and the overly simplistic view of a complex subject has meant health and safety was assigned to the “too hard” basket.  The world is changing and health and safety has become the final business performance frontier because of pioneering businesses such as Orange Umbrella®, the power of the computer and the accessibility of online technology.

The power of new technology

The GSP™ engine and the NewHeights™ process have changed how we look at health and safety forever. The horse that bolted is now firmly back in the stable ready to work for organisations in ways never previously possible.
The founders of Orange Umbrella® worked with specific industries to ensure the New Heights™ process could be customised to meet highly specialised industry demands.
Tony Roithmayr has for many years worked intensively with some of the leading electrical generation plants in North America and the NewHeights™ process has been moulded to work with outstanding results for the electrical industry.
Heidi Borner co-inventor of the GSP™ system and the NewHeights™ process is considered an authority on occupational health and safety. She first applied the GSP Model within the health industry, specifically for patient handling. While the NewHeights™ process has been constructed so far for the electrical and health care industries, other companies are seeing the benefits and coming on board. 
While industry specific customisation is currently underway for other industries and there are few applications where the process can’t be quite easily adapted, we encourage you to make contact if you have questions about your industry or your business. 

The power of people

At the heart of the process is a realisation that health and safety is a human challenge and any attempt to manage health and safety requires an innate understanding of how people really think and behave. 
The genius of not only NewHeights™ but also the GSP™ survey engine is premised on this simple equation; if people know what to do, are equipped to do it, are able to do it and want to do it, and are supported by positive interactions, then and only then will it get done. 
When you understand why and how NewHeights™ will lift organisational performance, you will be absolutely sold on the need for it.  This was not an overnight creation, it has taken many intense years of watching and listening to what business was asking for. We are sure you will see both the simplicity and the value of the process. Because it is supported by people from industry and comes with a highly pragmatic industry and organisational focus it works.  

Tony Roithmayr, MEd

Tony is a performance consultant and coach who specializes in performance solutions that build positive workplaces and improve business results.

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Tony is the creator of The Performance Maximizer - a unique set of lenses into the world or organization performance; originator of the GSP concept and technology; and co-founder of Orange Umbrella.

Tony has held human resource management positions as well as internal and external consulting roles in financial services, consumer-packaged goods, health services and the high-tech and energy sectors. He holds a Master's degree (M. Ed., Developing Human Resources) from the University of Toronto. At the University of Calgary he has taught Performance Consulting to graduate students for seven years. He is a frequent speaker at regional, national and international conferences.

Tony believes an organisation has a great safety culture when employees report they feel energized and satisfied, healthy, safe and fully supported in their workplaces to produce excellent results. Tony firmly believes that such cultures can be built and sustained, and, that it does not just happen. Leaders create and sustain an effective safety culture.

To achieve Great Safety Performance, Tony works with leaders to apply Orange Umbrella tools to ensure both employees and their leaders Know What to do, are Able to do it, are Equipped to do it, Want to do it and enjoy Interactions with each other that foster trust, respect, integrity, collaboration, and accountability.

 

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Heidi Börner MN, COHNC(C), BN, RN, Cert. Supervision

Heidi brings seventeen years of consulting experience in Occupational Health and Safety specialist services. 

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She has developed, implemented and delivered injury and illness prevention and management programs for a range of private and public sector small, medium, and large industrial, educational, and healthcare organizations.  

In her career she has worked on many projects including:

  • National code of practice, and policy development
  • NZ Patient Handling Guidelines
  • NZ Code of Practice for Manual Handling
  • Research:  Neurological effects of occupational solvents exposure.
  • Health and Safety management systems development, implementation to ISO14001 standard
  • Health and Safety auditing
  • Disability Management & Modified Work program development
  • Case management for a variety of industries
  • Health Assessment Surveillance program development and implementation
  • Accident/Incident Investigation
  • Workplace health promotion
  • WHO Safer Communities – Occupational Health and Safety component

 

Through her experience working with such diverse projects and types of businesses, she has observed that evaluation of the effectiveness and cost:benefit of programs and interventions is sorely lacking. Do all these policies, programs and activities actually work?  She co-developed the Orange Umbrella tools for organizations, associations, insurers and compliance bodies so that they have a way to measure the success of health and safety systems.  Heidi's Master of Nursing research thesis from Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand tested the GSP™ survey for evaluating patient handling in health care organizations. 

Heidi has her Canadian Occupational Health Nursing Specialty Certification, and Bachelor of Nursing with Distinction. She holds a Certificate in Professional Supervision and mentors and coaches other OH&S professionals and nurses. She is an author and speaker, and has maintained her registration as an Occupational Health Nurse in New Zealand and Alberta, Canada. 

 

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Jon Everest MSc, GradDipBsnsStds (Dispute Resolution), Cert. Supervision, Adv.M.LEADR,IMI Certified Mediator, MCMI

Jon Everest works in the area of conflict management as a mediator, conflict coach, facilitator, trainer and professional supervisor. He is on the LEADR Board and Advanced Panel of Mediators, as well as a member of the International Mediator Institute.

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Jon knows the value of clear communication and a healthy workplace culture in organizations. He has provided independent facilitation and disputes advice to Victoria University of Wellington since 2003. He has also delivered training with Conflict Management New Zealand and Vantage Partners in the USA to organizations in both the private and public sectors in New Zealand and Australia.
He puts this theory into practice by conducting independent investigations, mediations and conflict coaching to a variety of individuals and organizations. He has run the Ministry of Justice restorative justice training since 2005 and facilitates restorative justice conferences which help people to be accountable and offer restitution for the impacts of their behaviour. These experiences are humbling and profound as he sees the process help people to positively and safely move past difficult and traumatic events. He is a board member for Wellington Ending Abuse and Violence (WEAV), an organization that offers violence intervention programmes, and also for LEADR NZ, a professional body for mediators in Australia and New Zealand.
Jon's belief that in every conflict there is opportunity for growth came from his background where he served as a police officer in the UK and Hong Kong. His MSc from Leicester University (UK) concentrated on examining crime and violence in the workplace and the systemic factors that can assist organisations to manage behaviour proactively. Jon is also a New Zealand qualified health and safety auditor and incident investigator.
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Matthew Kerr BDes.

Matthew provides website technologies and web IT applications for companies so that they can achieve their goals. 

 

He has work experience in Austria, Germany, China, New Zealand and the USA. He provides client support for Orange Umbrella, as well as designing and managing the ongoing evolution of Orange Umbrella tools. 

 

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