The government wants to hear about people’s experiences with New Zealand’s work health and safety regulatory system: how it’s working, what works well, and what could be improved.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister, Brooke van Velden, says the current approach to workplace health and safety is not achieving the results most Kiwis expect.
“New Zealand’s workplace fatality rate is far too high (73 people are killed in work accidents each year, on average), yet organisations and workers are still spending huge amounts of time and resource complying.”
The Health and Safety at Work Act is almost ten years old and van Velden says it is time to take a step back and look at what’s working and what needs to change.
The government is inviting businesses, workers, and anyone with an interest in the work health and safety regulatory system to submit feedback. Responses will inform MBIE’s advice to Ministers on potential improvements to the work health and safety system.
Five areas of focus
There are 5 main focus areas for the feedback:
1: Understanding and management of risks
How does your business or organisation make decisions about managing health and safety risks? What are the reasons behind these decisions, and do you think these actions are effective? What are your compliance costs?
2: Balance between flexibility and certainty
Does the current law strike the right balance between being flexible (to allow for different responses to different circumstances) and providing certainty? Is it too detailed in some cases, or not detailed or clear enough in others?
Which requirements are causing you problems, and which are working well?
What sources of information and advice do you use (e.g. guidance and approved codes of practice), and what do you think of these?
3: Worker engagement and participation
How does your business or organisation engage with its workers - how do workers participate in health and safety, and what types of worker engagement and participation practices do you find are most effective?
4: Effectiveness of regulators
What are your experiences with the health and safety regulators - e.g. WorkSafe New Zealand, Maritime New Zealand, the Civil Aviation Authority - or any third parties authorised to perform necessary tasks within the system (e.g. checking compliance or issuing licences)?
5: Objective of the regulatory system
Is the work health and safety regulatory system clear, effective, flexible and durable, proportionate to the risks, and balancing risks with costs?
Is the current threshold at which risks need to be managed correct?
You can also share your views on any other aspect of the work health and safety regulatory system.
How to submit feedback
The consultation is open until 31 October 2024.
You can get more information and submit feedback at the MBIE website: www.mbie.govt.nz/have-your-say/work-health-and-safety.
