The new Health and Safety Reform Bill (the Health and Safety at Work Act) came into force 4 April 2016. The ‘Health and Safety at Work Act’ replaces the ‘Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992’.
This act is important for all landlords because at some stage you will have contractors on site, maintenance taking place or some other form of work in or around your investment property. This all relates to the new Health & Safety at Work Act. All Inspire Property Management contractors are asked to complete a ‘Contractor Agreement’ to comply with these new changes.
The government brought this in because;
1. There are, on average, around 500 workplace claims to ACC every day
2. Last year there were over 10,000 serious harm events – around 200 a week
This is exactly the same legislation introduced into most states of Australia in 2013.
In that time, they’ve reduced workplace claims by 16%
The government has instructed WorksafeNZ to reduce the incidents here by 25% by 2020.
(That’s a reduction of 45,000 workplace claims per annum!).
The Act is part of “Working Safer: a blueprint for health and safety at work” and reforms New Zealand’s health and safety system following the recommendations of the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety.
Working Safer is aimed at reducing New Zealand’s workplace injury and death toll by 25 per cent by 2020. It will require leadership and action from business, workers and Government to achieve this goal. The Act’s key emphasis is on everyone in the workplace being responsible for health and safety.
The Act works to focus effort on what matters, based on business risk, control and size:
• It reinforces proportionality – what a business needs to do depends on its level of risk and what it can control
• It shifts from hazard spotting to managing critical risks – actions that reduce workplace harm rather than trivial hazards
• It introduces the “reasonably practicable” concept – focusing attention on what’s reasonable for a business to do
• It changes the focus from the physical workplace to the conduct of work – what the business actually does and so what it can control
• It supports more effective worker engagement and participation – promoting flexibility to suit business size and need.
To read more about the Health and Safety at Work Act go to this link http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/employment-skills/workplace-health-and-safety-reform
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