The legislation boosts approved codes of practice for businesses
The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill has passed its first reading in parliament.
The legislation enhances Approved Codes of Practice (ACOPs), granting businesses access to guidance that is customised and more easily updated than regulations.
“The changes in this bill will make it easier to run a business in New Zealand by increasing certainty and removing fear, helping to ease costs of compliance and improve safety outcomes”, said workplace relations and safety minister Brooke van Velden. “ACOPs will now act as ‘safe harbours’ for compliance, meaning that if a business complies with their sector’s ACOP, they have done enough to meet their health and safety requirements”.
The bill also clarifies WorkSafe’s functions, addressing concerns regarding inadequate guidance, regulations that were not keeping up with best practice, and a lack of certainty regarding the regulator’s approach, which was attributed to inconsistencies and heavy punishments.
“A major theme in the feedback we received from businesses was that they don’t know what they need to do to manage their risks and meet their obligations”, van Velden said. “This all results in a feeling of fear and uncertainty that leads businesses to take unnecessary actions to protect themselves, creating more costs to the business without actually making workers any safer”.
The legislation will require WorkSafe to guide businesses on critical workplace risks to address in order to fulfill their Health and Safety at Work Act obligations.
“This new focus will make WorkSafe a more consistent and helpful agency, so that businesses can get the support they need to keep workers safe, without wasting resources on external consultants or excessive paperwork compliance”, van Velden said.
Moreover, the bill introduces a carve-out from general Act requirements for small low-risk businesses, which merely have to manage critical risks and offer basic facilities ensuring worker welfare. It also clarifies directors’ health and safety due diligence duties, confirming that manager should oversee day-to-day health and safety risks while directors concentrate on governance.
The bill indicates that businesses are not bound to their health and safety duties with regard to individuals who engage in recreational activities on their land; the duties apply only if the business is conducting work on the same part of the land concurrently. This lifts health and safety responsibilities from landowners and puts them on the organisation hosting the recreational activities in question.
van Velden said the legislation would open for submissions at select committee.
