Changes to H&S legislation

Changes to H&S legislation

With the new HSWA (Health and Safety at Work Act 2015) recently being implemented in New Zealand workplaces, we have been working with Laura Kennedy from Safewise over the past few months to ensure that we are compliant with these legislation adjustments. There are 4 key changes that you need to be aware of:

1. Responsibilities for health and safety – in short, everyone is now responsible for health and safety. This includes our organisation, the people who work in it, the Board of Trustees and other people who work with us. It is important that we are all aware of what our responsibilities are. See WorkSafe NZ to find out more about specific worker responsibilities.
2. Notifiable events – under HSWA, we are required to notify any serious and other notifiable work-related events to WorkSafe NZ. Further information on this is available on the WorkSafe website.
3. Risk management – there are changes to how we identify and manage hazards and risks in the workplace. A healthy and safe workplace starts with identifying and understanding what our work-related health and safety risks are; particularly those that have the potential to cause people serious injury or illness. It then involves doing what is reasonable, what is practical and what you are able to do to eliminate, or where they can’t be eliminated, minimise those risks. Recently Laura, in conjunction with ConneXu health and safety representatives, undertook an audit of these risks. Read full story….
4. Worker participation – all people who work with or for ConneXu must have reasonable opportunities to participate in improving work health and safety. This includes on-going two-way communication so that all of us are able to raise health and safety concerns, be part of making decisions which affect work health and safety, and offer suggestions for improving health and safety. Our health and safety system has been set up so that two-way communication about our safety is not only possible, but an integral part of how we work together every day. For example, health and safety is now the first agenda item in every team meeting, plus items from monthly health and safety meetings get fed back into these team meetings, and vice-versa.