In Focus: 7 April 2016

I have over the past year or so been regularly asked about changes to our Health and Safety laws. No Images? Click here

Hon Jo Goodhew
MP for Rangitata

I have over the past year or so been regularly asked about changes to our Health and Safety laws.

Many people have been fed misinformation and as a result have formed opinions about how it will affect their lives, businesses and organisations.

The reason most of this newsletter is dedicated to explaining the changes is to try and unwind some of the misunderstanding and give some reassurance.

New health and safety journey starts

The journey towards better health and safety practices in the workplace started this week with the new Health and Safety at Work Act coming into force on Monday.

This is the first major reform of workplace health and safety in more than 20 years and strikes the balance between ensuring workplaces are safe without imposing unnecessary red tape on business.

The new law makes it clear that everyone has a role to play in health and safety. It modernises our approach to health and safety and recognises the complexity of 21st century workplaces by encouraging more communication and co-operation, both within and between businesses.

The Health and Safety at Work Act does not require business to eliminate all risks in the workplace at any cost - that’s not realistic. But it does require that risks are dealt with in a sensible and proportionate way by those who are best placed to influence or control work.

Key features of the Act include:

• Requiring businesses to identify work-related risks and do what is ‘reasonably practicable’ to eliminate or manage them
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• Ensuring everyone from company directors to casual labourers have health and safety responsibilities that reflect their ability to influence or control work
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• A new requirement for all businesses to have effective worker engagement and participation processes for health and safety matters
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• A new duty on company officers to exercise due diligence when it comes to health and safety.
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We are committed to keeping Kiwi workers safe and reducing our unacceptable workplace death and injury toll. The changes made in this new Act will help in achieving our goal of a 25 per cent reduction in workplace death and injuries by 2020.

However, the Act is not a silver bullet for New Zealand’s health and safety challenges. Achieving lasting change will require leadership and an attitude change from businesses and workers alike.

This is the first step in the journey towards making our workplaces safer and ensuring that everyone returns home from work healthy and safe each day.

Voluntary organisations

There has been some concern about the new Work and Safety at Work Act and how it affects volunteers and voluntary organisations.

New Zealand’s volunteer sector is very important to all communities throughout the country. It provides valuable service to our country and those living here.

More than 1.2 million New Zealanders are involved in volunteering. It is important that they are safe in their volunteer work and also that unnecessary rules and regulations don’t put them off volunteering.

The Health and Safety at Work Act seeks to provide a balanced framework to keep workers and workplaces healthy and safe. Even so, a fear of legislative hurdles should not deter people from volunteering or Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBUs) from accepting volunteered service.

Volunteer associations, organisations and charities which don’t employ people, are exempt from the new legislation. This is the case as long as the organisation only has volunteers or engages contractors to work for it. The exemption extends to all members of the volunteer association including its trustees and volunteer board members.

Charities or voluntary organisations which employ people will have a duty of care under the new legislation for their workers and anyone else who comes into contact with the organisation’s activities. This includes volunteers who regularly work for the organisation and are integral to its operations.

The Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon Michael Woodhouse, recently wrote an article for a popular blog. The following excerpt from that article relates to volunteer organisations etc:

Another myth being perpetuated is that somehow sports clubs and voluntary organisations will be wrapped in more red tape resulting in people withdrawing from volunteering or holding sports events. Again this is nonsense. The Act has adopted exactly the same legal framework that existed under the previous law for voluntary associations. The Government was clear that the current framework was managing risk adequately and transferred it into the new regime.

More information
The website worksafe.govt.nz contains excellent information on all facets of the legislation. I would encourage you to visit it. It also includes plenty of information covering volunteers. Visit the website and use the search function for information on volunteers. Further helpful information and factsheets for volunteers and voluntary organisations can be found atvolunteeringnz.org.nz/hswa.

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