Health and safety starts at the top

The Pike River Mine tragedy, in which 29 men lost their lives, was one of New Zealand’s worst workplace accidents. What followed was a Royal Commission and the creation of an Independent Taskforce into Workplace Health and Safety.

The Royal Commission’s report concluded that the board of directors of Pike River Coal completely failed in their governance role and was critical of Pike River’s “culture of production”. The Royal Commission’s report also firmly fixed the spotlight on the statutory responsibilities of directors for health and safety in the workplace, recommending that:

• The statutory responsibilities of directors for health and safety in the workplace should be reviewed.
• The health and safety regulator should issue an approved code of practice to guide directors on how good governance practices can be used to manage health and safety risks.
• Directors should rigorously review and monitor their organisation’s compliance with health and safety.

Current legislation

The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (HSEA) is aimed at preventing people from being harmed at work. It applies to everyone and all places of work, regardless of whether the person is an employer, employee, contractor or a visitor.

The HSEA puts the responsibility first and foremost on employers (directors can only be prosecuted under the HSEA if the director has authorised, assented to, acquiesced in or participated in a breach of the HSEA by the employer) to take all practical steps to identify and manage workplace hazards. The HSEA requires employers to take all practical steps to:

• Provide and maintain a safe working environment.
• Ensure that all plant, equipment and tools are safe to use.
• Ensure that employees are not exposed to any hazards in or near their place of work.
• Have procedures for dealing with emergencies.

The HSEA also requires employers to identify all hazards in their place of work and, where appropriate, to eliminate, isolate or minimise those hazards (in that descending order).

Employees are also responsible under the HSEA for taking all practical steps to ensure that they, or anyone else, are not harmed at work.

New guidelines

In the wake of the Pike River Tragedy, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) and the Institute of Directors have recently issued a Good Governance Practice Guideline for managing health and safety risks.

The guideline is neither a policy statement nor a statutory document, but it emphasises that the directors of a company are best placed to ensure that the company effectively manages health and safety. It also stipulates that the focus of directors should be on determining an organisation’s purpose, developing an effective governance culture, holding management to account and ensuring effective compliance.

The guideline suggests that directors should focus on four key areas:

• Policy and planning
• Delivery
• Monitoring
• Reviewing

The guideline also emphasises that health and safety should be a part of everyday business and is as important as any other aspect of running a business.

A copy of the guideline can be downloaded for free by going to:

www.MBIE.govt.nz > News > In focus > Pike River > Media Releases > Guidelines for directors on their health and safety responsibilities

Why is the guideline relevant to me?

For many small companies, where the directors are actively involved in carrying out work and managing the health and safety issues arising from the day-to-day operation of the business, the guideline may be of limited application, as the directors will be intimately familiar with any health and safety issues.

However, as businesses grow and directors and senior managers become more removed from the day-to-day operation of the business, the guideline is a useful starting point and reminder for directors to review, consider and monitor their organisation’s compliance with the HSEA – both for the director’s own benefit and that of their business and its employees as well.

Contact information

This article was prepared by Simon Lapthorne, a Senior Associate at Simpson Grierson. If you have any questions relating to this article, or the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992, please contact Simon on ph: (09) 977 5274 or at simon.lapthorne@simpsongrierson.com.

The information in this article is intended as a general guide only and is not intended to be legal advice. Detailed advice should be obtained to cover a specific situation.