Health and Safety at Work Act

The Health and Safety Reform Bill has passed and the new law (the Health and Safety at Work Act) will come into force 4 April 2016

The Act, which is part of ‘Working Safer: a blueprint for health and safety at work’, reforms New Zealand’s health and safety system following the recommendations of the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety.

Working Safer is aimed at reducing New Zealand’s workplace injury and death toll by 25% by 2020. It will require leadership and action from business, workers and government to achieve this goal. The Act’s key emphasis is on everyone in the workplace being responsible for health and safety.

The Act works to focus effort on what matters, based on business risk, control and size. Below are some key themes included in the Act:

• It reinforces proportionality – what a business needs to do depends on its level of risk and what it can control.
• It shifts the focus from hazard-spotting to managing critical risks – actions that reduce workplace harm rather than trivial hazards.
• It introduces the “reasonably practicable” concept – focusing attention on what’s reasonable for a business to do.
• It changes the focus from the physical workplace to the conduct of work – what the business actually does and therefore what it can control.
• It supports more effective worker engagement and participation – promoting flexibility to suit business size and need.

The Health and Safety at Work Act will replace the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. The new law will be supported by regulations.

How to comply

The regulations, created by MBIE and supported by information and guidance from WorkSafe New Zealand, are intended to help businesses (particularly small businesses) understand what they need to do to comply with the general duties of the Act.

The detailed regulations are now available on the Legislation website –http://www.legislation.govt.nz/.

Guidance is available on the Worksafe website – http://www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/.

Regulations at a glance

1. Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016

Persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) have duties to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace is without risks to the health and safety of any person.

These regulations outline additional duties on PCBUs related to managing risks, monitoring risks in the workplace, specific duties related to young persons in the workplace and obtaining a police vet for workers at limited child-care centres. 

2. Health and Safety at Work (Worker Engagement, Participation and Representation) Regulations 2016

These regulations prescribe matters relating to work groups, health and safety representatives, and health and safety committees to support more effective worker participation. This includes information on who can be a health and safety representative or on a health and safety committee, and training for health and safety representatives.

The regulations also include matters that an inspector may make a decision on if the parties are unable to reach an agreement themselves, and specify the sectors that are high risk for the purposes of worker participation requirements.

3. Health and Safety at Work (Major Hazard Facilities) Regulations 2016 

These regulations deal with matters relating to the health and safety of people involved in the operation of major hazard facilities and the local communities near them.

The regulations provide threshold quantities of specified hazardous substances and ways to determine whether a facility is a lower or upper tier major hazard facility, and the duties of operators.

4. Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016

These regulations impose additional duties on PCBUs in relation to work involving asbestos. This includes managing asbestos risks, removal of asbestos and licensing of people removing asbestos.

5. Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016

These regulations deal with the provision of adventure activities. They set out the process for becoming registered as an adventure activity operator and make it an offence for unregistered operators to offer adventure activities to participants.

These regulations revoke and replace the Health and Safety in Employment (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2011. Only minimal changes were made to align terminology and concepts with the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and to add a new offence of offering adventure activities while unregistered.

6. Health and Safety at Work (Mining Operations and Quarrying Operations) Regulations 2016

The regulations prescribe matters concerning health and safety in mining operations, including competency requirements relating to safety-critical roles in mining, quarrying and alluvial mining operations.

These regulations revoke and replace the Health and Safety in Employment (Mining Operations and Quarrying Operations) Regulations 2013. Only minimal changes were made to align terminology and concepts with the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and fix some drafting and minor implementation errors in the 2013 regulations.

7. Health and Safety at Work (Petroleum Exploration and Extraction) Regulations 2016

These regulations deal with matters relating to the health and safety of people involved in the operation of installations for petroleum exploration and extraction.

They revoke and replace the Health and Safety in Employment (Petroleum Exploration and Extraction) Regulations 2013. Only minimal changes were made to align terminology and concepts with the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, to use clearer terminology for duty holders and to improve the emergency response duty in relation to onshore non-production installations. 

8. Health and Safety at Work (Rates of Funding Levy) Regulations 2016

These regulations prescribe the levy required to be paid by employers and self-employed persons under section 201 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

They also revoke and replace the Health and Safety in Employment (Rates of Funding Levy) Regulations 1994. Only minimal changes were made to align terminology and concepts with the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. No levy rates were changed.

What is still to come?

• Regulations specifying infringement offences and fees will be finalised shortly.
• The regulations for work involving hazardous substances are currently being consulted on and will be finalised later this year. Submissions were due by 5pm, Friday 26 February 2016.
• Regulations to support the power in the new Act for the regulator to grant exemptions from regulatory requirements (clause 228A) will be developed this year.
• Phase two regulations will be developed over the next two years.

What Worksafe is doing to support you

There is general information about HSWA on www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/, which will be regularly updated as we finalise formal guidance for you. Worksafe will be rolling out guidance and fact sheets for you now that the regulations have been finalised. It is also working on developing:

• Case studies
• Videos
• Interactive tools.

These will give you good context for your approach and will put you in the best position possible on 4 April 2016.

We are regularly updating information to support you and you can sign up for updates from us.