Practical tips for a business to ensure HSW compliance in New Zealand

Published date28 February 2024
Law FirmLegalVision
AuthorMs Louise Miao

If you are an employer, manager or officer of a business, you have duties to manage health and safety at work (HSW). Risk management is an ongoing and integral process for new and existing business owners. In particular, you should focus on risk management when you are changing work practices or environments and responding to workplace incidents or concerns. The duties under the health and safety laws can be challenging to interpret. However, WorkSafe New Zealand has developed a list of approved codes of practice (ACOPs) to provide practical guidance on achieving the required workplace health and safety standards. This article outlines some practical tips to ensure HSW compliance.

Identify Your Duty Holders

As an employer, you have the primary duty of care to ensure the health and safety of your workers. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSW Act) is the main piece of law when considering HSW compliance.

Under the employment laws, duty holders include:

  1. persons conducting a business or undertaking;
  2. officers; and
  3. workers.

You should identify your duty holders (e.g. by reviewing your organisational structure) and ensure that they understand their obligations. A person can have multiple duties, and more than one person can have the same duty simultaneously.

You can provide a workplace induction and implement a HSW policy to inform your duty holders of their responsibilities and the potential consequences for contravening the policy.

Undertake a Risk Management Process

The following figure illustrates the risk management process.

1. Plan: Identify and Assess the Risks

You should identify what could cause harm to people, including physical and mental injury or illness. For example, hazards may arise from the:

  • physical work environment;
  • use of equipment, materials and substances; and
  • work process.

The following are examples of common hazards.

Hazard Example Potential harm
Manual tasks Tasks involving sustained or awkward postures, high or sudden force, repetitive movements or vibration. Musculoskeletal disorders, such as damage to joints, ligaments and muscles.
Gravity Falling objects, falls, slips and trips of people. Fractures, bruises, lacerations, dislocations, concussion, permanent injuries or death.
Psychosocial Excessive time pressure, bullying, violence and work-related fatigue. Psychological or physical injury or illness.
Electricity Exposure to live electrical wires. Shock, burns, damage to organs and nerves leading to permanent injuries
...

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