Course: Small Business Guide to Health and Safety
Lesson number: 1 of 5
Topic: Key Concepts
Duncan Faulkner,
Co-Founder
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"Welcome to the Auditz ‘Small Business Guide to Health and Safety’. Over the next few weeks we will be taking you through a step by step guide to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. |
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA)
New Zealand’s key work health and safety legislation is the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) and regulations made under that Act. All work and workplaces are covered by HSWA unless specifically excluded.
WorkSafe NZ (WorkSafe)
WorkSafe is the government agency that is the work health and safety regulator.
Designated agencies
Designated agencies are government agencies other than WorkSafe designated to carry out health and safety functions for certain sectors.
Regulator
The regulator means WorkSafe or a relevant designated agency.
Duty holders under HSWA
A duty holder is a person who has a duty under HSWA. There are four types of duty holders – PCBUs, officers, workers and other persons at workplaces.
PCBU
A PCBU is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking’. A PCBU may be an individual person or an organisation.
This does not include workers or officers of PCBUs, volunteer associations, or home occupiers that employ or engage a tradesperson to carry out residential work.
A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, and that other persons are not put at risk by its work. This is called the ‘primary duty of care’.
Officer
An officer is a person who occupies a specified position or who occupies a position that allows them to exercise significant influence over the management of the business or undertaking. This includes, for example, company directors and chief executives.
Officers must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU meets its health and safety obligations.
Worker
A worker is an individual who carries out work in any capacity for a PCBU. A worker may be an employee, a contractor or sub-contractor, an employee of a contractor or sub-contractor, an employee of a labour hire company, an outworker (including a homeworker), an apprentice or a trainee, a person gaining work experience or on a work trial, or a volunteer worker. Workers can be at any level (eg managers are workers too).
Workers have their own health and safety duty to take reasonable care to keep themselves and others healthy and safe when carrying out work.
Other person at workplace
Examples of other persons at workplaces include workplace visitors and casual volunteers at workplaces. Other persons have their own health and safety duty to take reasonable care to keep themselves and others safe at a workplace.
New Zealand’s key work health and safety legislation is the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) and regulations made under that Act. All work and workplaces are covered by HSWA unless specifically excluded.
WorkSafe NZ (WorkSafe)
WorkSafe is the government agency that is the work health and safety regulator.
Designated agencies
Designated agencies are government agencies other than WorkSafe designated to carry out health and safety functions for certain sectors.
Regulator
The regulator means WorkSafe or a relevant designated agency.
Duty holders under HSWA
A duty holder is a person who has a duty under HSWA. There are four types of duty holders – PCBUs, officers, workers and other persons at workplaces.
PCBU
A PCBU is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking’. A PCBU may be an individual person or an organisation.
This does not include workers or officers of PCBUs, volunteer associations, or home occupiers that employ or engage a tradesperson to carry out residential work.
A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, and that other persons are not put at risk by its work. This is called the ‘primary duty of care’.
Officer
An officer is a person who occupies a specified position or who occupies a position that allows them to exercise significant influence over the management of the business or undertaking. This includes, for example, company directors and chief executives.
Officers must exercise due diligence to ensure the PCBU meets its health and safety obligations.
Worker
A worker is an individual who carries out work in any capacity for a PCBU. A worker may be an employee, a contractor or sub-contractor, an employee of a contractor or sub-contractor, an employee of a labour hire company, an outworker (including a homeworker), an apprentice or a trainee, a person gaining work experience or on a work trial, or a volunteer worker. Workers can be at any level (eg managers are workers too).
Workers have their own health and safety duty to take reasonable care to keep themselves and others healthy and safe when carrying out work.
Other person at workplace
Examples of other persons at workplaces include workplace visitors and casual volunteers at workplaces. Other persons have their own health and safety duty to take reasonable care to keep themselves and others safe at a workplace.
