Few New Zealand businesses ready for health and safety law changes

Too many businesses are ill-prepared for increased health and safety obligations under New Zealand's new Health and Safety Reform legislation. Set to become law early next year, businesses are at risk becasue of this according to a health and safety expert.

The most significant reform of New Zealand’s workplace health and safety system in 20 years was announced in August by then Labour Minister Simon Bridges.

At the time, Minister Bridges explained “the Working Safer package represents a major step change in New Zealand’s approach to meet our target of reducing the workplace injury and death toll by 25% by 2020.

“The reforms recalibrate our approach so we are working smarter, targeting risk and working together to improve performance in workplace health and safety.”

Developed in the wake of the Pike River mining tragedy, the new system aims to reduce deaths in New Zealand workplaces, and the estimated 600 to 900 who die annually from the long-term effects of occupational disease.

The new law, will increase employers’ responsibilities to have safe work practices and to be sure that employees know how to work safely.

This means that directors, owners and managers, who are duty holders with influence and control over the business, will need to know about all of their business’s operational risks and hazards and how they are being managed. They will also be expected to verify that the organisation’s safety management is effective and meets the Health and Safety Reform law’s requirements.

The new law also puts the onus on duty holders to lead the organisation’s safety performance by making sure the changes are implemented and organisational practices are keeping employees, contractors and visitors safe.

However, Brent Sutton, Health and Safety Solutions Manager at health and safety development organisation Workbase, says anecdotal evidence suggests many businesses have done little to prepare for their new obligations, which is a concern because the new law will be more prescriptive.

Sutton explains “businesses should immediately begin work on determining how they will meet the new requirements, if they have not already done so.”

Sutton notes that the law will extend health and safety duties and responsibilities across all parties in a supply chain, and some contracting and principal organisations are already beginning to impose the new health and safety compliance requirements on their supplier businesses.

He states “the risks for smaller organisations go beyond higher legal penalties and include the risk of losing their contract business from larger organisations.

“Larger organisations concerned with the increased reputational risks are likely to stop using contractors and suppliers that are not demonstrating an ability to manage their own health and safety risks.”

Sutton says addressing the situation starts with boards and business owners knowing what steps to tak, adding “this can be easier said than done, especially for the vast majority of New Zealand businesses that do not have a dedicated health and safety role.

“Managing health and safety risks requires employers to understand and comply with a wide range of documents covering legal compliance, duties, requirements, guidance and standards. Many of these documents are long, and written in complex legal and technical language.”

Sutton notes that getting to grips with health and safety requirements is particularly challenging for small and medium-sized enterprises. This is significant because they are often in the highest-hazard industries, such as forestry, agriculture, fishing, manufacturing and construction.

Doing more of the same is not an option, says Sutton, but more needs to be done to support businesses to comply.

He continues “industry bodies need to take a more hands-on role in supporting businesses to develop practical, industry-specific workplace health and safety systems that are simple, easily understood, used by everyone, and integrated into all parts of the organisation.”

In the meantime, Sutton suggests that businesses could make a start on preparing themselves by:

1. Identifying all of the business’s hazards and risks.

2. Understanding the business’s health and safety obligations, and its strengths and gaps. Businesses could develop this knowledge by speaking with relevant industry associations or similar businesses, or through external verification of how well their health and safety system is working.

3. Developing a plan for implementing the health and safety changes, and making it manageable by creating a prioritised list.

4. Addressing the business’s greatest health and safety risks first.

The regulator, WorkSafe New Zealand, provides guidance and standards for many industries on their website at www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/information-guidance/guidance-by-industry

Image: The new law defines even a performance by the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra as a workplace.

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