26.10.2012

Major Workplace Health and Safety review and consultation

New Zealand has one of the highest workplace death rates in the OECD.  For the first time in twenty years, a significant review of New Zealand’s entire workplace health and safety system is underway.  An independent, specialist Taskforce has been set up to review the whole system of education, regulation, and enforcement, in an effort to address New Zealand’s comparatively poor health and safety record.  The rate of workplace fatalities and injuries in NZ is higher than that of the United Kingdom, Norway, Canada and Australia.  The Taskforce is to establish how to address this.

To this end, and with the aim of meeting the Government’s target of a 25% reduction in number of deaths and injuries by 2020, the Taskforce is considering how to improve New Zealand’s health and safety system.  The Taskforce has now issued a consultation document, which sets out the key issues in health and safety management, and possible solutions.   In particular, the Taskforce is seeking feedback on the following issues:

  • Who gets hurt, killed or suffers from ill-health or disease as a result of work?
  • Regulatory framework
  • Regulators’ roles and responsibilities
  • New Zealand’s changing workforce and work arrangements
  • Worker participation and engagement
  • Leadership and governance
  • Capacity and capability of the workplace health and safety system
  • Incentives
  • Influencing health and safety outcomes beyond one’s own workplace
  • Major hazards
  • Health and hazardous substances
  • Small to medium-sized enterprises
  • Measurement and data
  • Our national culture and societal expectations

The Taskforce has invited submissions from all interested parties – individuals, unions, and businesses.  It wants to make sure its recommendations to the Government (due in April next year) are workable, and encourages submitters to share their experiences and ideas.  The consultation document, and information about how to make a submission, is at
www.hstaskforce.govt.nz .  Submissions close 16 November 2012.

If you have any questions regarding health and safety, or would like help on making a submission, email us on employmentnews@heskethhenry.co.nz or call us on (09) 375 8699.

Do you need expert legal advice?
Contact the expert team at Hesketh Henry.
Kerry
Media contact - Kerry Browne
Please contact Kerry with any media enquiries and with any questions related to marketing or sponsorships on +64 9 375 8747 or via email.

Related Articles / Insights & Opinion

Property
Make Your Premises Good Again
With all the time, effort and cost that goes into taking on a new lease of commercial premises, what happens when it comes time to move on can seem unimportant. It is not surprising, then that make-go...
25.06.2025 Posted in Property
Flooded car
Flooding due to overland flow paths and damaged drainage
Persistent heavy rainfall across the country often results in damage to property due to flooding caused by overland flow paths and defective drainage.  But who is responsible for the cost of the dama...
17.06.2025 Posted in Climate Change & Property
Understanding Indirect Privacy Notification: What you need to know
The Privacy Amendment Bill (the Bill), if passed into law, will require agencies to notify individuals when their personal information is collected from a source other than the individual themselves, ...
16.06.2025 Posted in Corporate & Commercial & Employment
iStock  Succession Plan medium
Family Ties: Intra-Family Succession and Exit Planning
As the second instalment in a series of articles looking at the generational wealth transition and its impacts on business succession in New Zealand, Ben Hickson (partner, Corporate & Commercial...
16.06.2025 Posted in Corporate & Commercial & Private Wealth
Employment law at a glance – June 2025
If you are anything like us, you will be shocked to realise that we are halfway into 2025. As time has been marching on, so too have employment law developments – and there have certainly been quite...
05.06.2025 Posted in Employment
HH Pg  Forrest uncropped
ETS Update: Climate Change Commission recommends minor tweaks to ETS Settings
Last month, He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission (the Commission) released its annual advice to the Government on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) settings for the period 2026 to 2030 (Advice)....
HS Scrabble Med Crop Vignette
Health and safety learnings for landowners following latest Whakaari decision
The leasing and subleasing of land, buildings and infrastructure is commonplace in New Zealand business and commerce, but what happens when something goes wrong? Do landowners have health and safety o...
08.05.2025 Posted in Health & Safety
SEND AN ENQUIRY
Send us an enquiry

For expert legal advice, please complete the form below or call us on (09) 375 8700.