What!?
I read some jaw-dropping stats on a news site recently that snapped me back in my seat. Surely, surely they can’t be that high, I mused.
I headed straight to the website of the statistical source, Statistics New Zealand, and, sure enough, the rate of injury-based claims to ACC from our high-risk sectors – forestry, agriculture and fishing – was more than sobering. For every 1000 fulltime equivalent positions in these sectors, 226 had filed an ACC claim last year. Nearly a quarter.
It’s not news that New Zealand has a particularly poor health and safety record, and these statistics bring the scope, once again, into sharp focus. Last year, the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety delivered its report to the Government. Taskforce chair Rob Jager highlighted, at the time, our country’s workplace injury rate was twice our Australian neighbours’, and nearly six times that of the UK. The workers injured each year in New Zealand, he said, would fill Eden Park four times over.
Janice’s Lesson Number 1: Spurred on by the taskforce’s findings, and not forgetting the tragedy of Pike River, the legislative times are a-changing – come April 1 next year, the duties and obligations for workplace health and safety will be much broader, and whether you’re a frontline worker, a manager, an employer, a director – or even a workplace visitor – you will be affected. Oh, and not surprisingly, the penalties for getting it wrong are set to become quite eye-watering.
Are you ready?
Currently still in Bill form, the upcoming Health and Safety at Work Act, together with the Government’s objective of cutting workplace injury and fatality rates by an ambitious 25 per cent in just five years, gives us some indication of just how brightly the spotlight will be shining on health and safety.
At the hub of the changes is a proposed new term: Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking. PCBU for short. It’s, perhaps, not the most user-friendly lingo, especially given that a PCBU may not actually be a “person” but rather an entity, like a company.
Janice’s Lesson Number 2: The PCBU will carry the primary duty for health and safety, and shoulder the responsibility for ensuring “so far as reasonably practicable” the safety of workers, including contractors, as well as anyone else who might potentially be affected by their operation. Note, too, this duty may well extend beyond the physical workplace.
Another critical change is around the duties of “officers” (generally, those at governance level). Their obligations are being increased significantly – no more reading the health and safety report and simply nodding. The proposed new law calls for officers to proactively conduct due diligence – checks, reviews and monitoring – and satisfy themselves the PCBU is meeting its health and safety obligations.
No-one’s exempt
Workers – and even visitors to workplaces – are set to inherit statutory duties, too. In driving home the message that every person has a role in keeping workplaces safe, everyone will be legally required to take reasonable care to fulfil their duty. For example, following health and safety procedures set down by the PCBU, taking care of their own personal wellbeing in the workplace, and complying with reasonable instructions from the PCBU.
Janice’s Lesson Number 3: When it comes to volunteers, both the volunteer workers and their organisation may fall under the new law. If a volunteer works for a PCBU, they will have the duties of a worker, and the PCBU will owe them duties, too. Voluntary officers of a PCBU will still carry the legal obligations around health and safety due diligence, but the Bill says it won’t be an offence if they fail in that duty. However, if yours is a group of volunteers, banding together for a community purpose, and no-one is actually employed, you’ll be deemed a “voluntary association” and exempt from the new law.
If you’re affected by these new changes, and you’re yawning and diarising this for a decent look sometime in late-ish March, let’s move right along to what’s currently being proposed by way of those eye-watering penalties I mentioned. “Reckless conduct”, whereby anyone with a duty recklessly exposes someone to serious injury or illness or death: maximum fine – $3 million, or a $600,000 penalty and up to five years’ prison for an individual. Fail to comply with a duty that results in exposure to serious injury or illness or death: maximum fine, $1.5 million ($300,000 for an individual). Even when there has been no exposure to risk of death or serious harm, failing to comply with a duty carries a maximum $500,000 fine, and a $100,000 penalty for individuals.
Given this legislation’s still making its way through the parliamentary process, there’s still potential for further tweaking, although it’s due to be passed before year’s end.
Better to be safe …
Janice’s Lesson Number 4: The buzz around the reforms is definitely starting to build among my business clients and on boards that I serve on. What I’m advising, at this stage, is for organisations to start now educating themselves on the big picture, including the new roles and duties, and to stay abreast of developments, while the politicians finalise the details.
Check out www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/about/reform for an overview of the reforms, which the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is updating as new information comes to hand. April will be here in no time – heralding the biggest overhaul of health and safety legislation we’ve seen in 20 years. Better to be safe than sorry – if you haven't already, start your research and planning now.