60+ NZ Businesses Urge Minister To Improve H&S Regulatory Clarity And Competence

Sixty-one New Zealand companies are calling for radical improvements to how the Government supports businesses to manage the risks of harm from work, in a joint submission to a major health and safety review.

The companies which employ close to 200,000 people across the country and who influence close to 80,000 other businesses through their supply chains have come together with one voice to call for six recommendations as part of the Minister of Workplace Relations and Safety’s health and safety review.

Driven by a shared motivation to see an uplift in New Zealand’s workplace health and safety performance; Vector, Z Energy, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Downer, Auckland Airport, Air New Zealand, Fonterra and 54 other companies spanning multiple industries have developed the submission with the support of the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum (Forum).

“We encourage the Government to learn from the work of the UK and Australia, who are well ahead of New Zealand with a much more mature focus on education, which has vastly improved their health and safety outcomes. We need to ensure a change of approach here and move away from being reactive and focused on enforcement, so that New Zealand organisations can prevent incidents and, if they do occur, businesses are in a good position to learn from them,” says Simon Mackenzie, CEO of Vector.

“This improved mindset will help to drive productivity, reduce harm to our people, lessen the burden on our already stretched health system and encourage a culture of innovation and improvement. We know from the Forum’s State of a Thriving Nation report that the country is failing to realise these gains for our businesses, workers, communities and economy and a change is clearly needed,” he says.

“Together we all agree that the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 remains fit for purpose. However, we also need to see the Government urgently adapt the supporting regulations that are outdated or incomplete. Robust processes are also needed to support and monitor these regulations – and those that emerge to manage new risks in the future. This will provide businesses, particularly SMEs, with greater clarity for managing risks and reducing harm in the workplace,” says Stacey Shortall, Partner at MinterEllisonRuddWatts.

“Our submission also expresses our concerns with the competency and capability of WorkSafe NZ’s reactive, enforcement-focused approach. We are recommending to the Minister that a focus is put on improving the competency and capability of inspectors with industry-specific knowledge, and that WorkSafe NZ balances enforcement with proactive visits to businesses and work sites,” says Lindis Jones, CEO of Z Energy.

The joint submission also calls for a better alignment between key government agencies, saying the current approach is hindering the coordination, leadership and alignment of health and safety performance.

“We also want to see a balance in the regulatory system, encouraging businesses to drive positive outcomes and rewarding good performance, along with enforcement where it’s needed most,” says Lindis.

In its joint submission, the group of 61 organisations makes six key recommendations:

1. Improve clarity for duty holders (businesses) via completing core regulations and improving guidance and Approved Codes of Practice
2. Clarify and simplify overlapping responsibilities
3. Enhance regulatory practices and inspectorate competency
4. Establish a national data and insight centre of excellence for health and safety
5. Establish meaningful incentives for good health and safety performance in the system
6. Drive ongoing monitoring and performance of system stewardship.

The joint submission has been sent to the Minister as part of the ‘Health and Safety review’ announced in June 2024.

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