The following post was originally written as a newsletter article for ETNZ.
Over the next few months I will take you on a journey through the new health and safety law changes from the point of view of a theatre tech who has attended one or two too many health and safety seminars, so that you didn’t have to.
Ok, just to clarify I am not a lawyer. I cannot give advice on legal matters to do with health and safety. I am a theatre tech, and I also run a small business specialise in health and safety management planning for the entertainment and events industries. It is in that second capacity I have attended numerous conferences and seminars on the new health and safety laws and the changes that are expected to take place. And it is from these experiences I will share my learnings with you as best I can, technician to technician.
Today I will touch on some background, the history lesson if you like…
What the…?
So, NZ is on the brink of changing its health and safety laws. The Health and Safety Reform Bill is before a parliamentary committee and they are currently at the stage of considering public submissions (from what I can gather much of this is about the lawyers and law-makers “discussing” words and definitions in order to get a law that is usable in the courtroom…. an essential part of the process but well above my salary scale in terms of understanding!).
Why the….?
Following the Pike River coal mine tragedy in 2010 a taskforce was set up to look at workplace health and safety in New Zealand. The results found that essentially as a country we have a shocking record in terms of workplace injury, illness and deaths.
The first recommendation of the taskforce was that there be a new regulatory body established to lead health and safety reform. Hence the establishment of WorkSafe NZ in 2013.
Another key recommendations was a change in the health and safety law. The rational behind this was essentially to strengthen the object of the law from that of “promoting the prevention of harm in the workplace” as it currently stands to that of “securing the health and safety of workers”. This strengthening of intent puts emphasis into positive action to reduce workplace harm with the onus on business owners and governing boards to achieve this.
In addition the current Health and Safety in Employment Act (1992) is dated in terms of the modern work place, referring primarily to employer and employee relationships. This language was having less relevance in workplaces dominated by casual workers and contractors (like us). Hence the introduction of the Health and Safety Reform Bill.
Where the…?
The basis of the new laws have mostly been pinched from Australia, but with adaptations to suit the New Zealand work conditions. The benefit of this has been the sharing of information of what has and hasn’t worked in Australia in order to try to iron out some of the finer points in the consultation phases before it becomes concrete law.
When the…?
The current info on the WorkSafe NZ website indicates that the Bill won’t be passed before April 2015 following which time there will be several months before the new Act comes fully into force while guidelines and codes of practice are finalised.
Who the…?
Everyone will have responsibilities under the new laws at all levels of a workplace, just as they do currently. What the new laws clarify is putting the bulk of the responsibility for workplace health and safety with the top decision makers in organisations and including the board level of decision makers in this.
So what does this mean for us….?
Essentially it looks like the rules of the game aren’t set to change dramatically. If your organisation or business is meeting the requirements of the current law then you likely be meeting the majority of the requirements with the new laws.
What does look likely to change is the policing and penalties for infringements and where the onus of responsibility is going to be placed within an organisation.
