Concerns over NZ’s ‘outdated’ work safety rules

Saturday, 3 February 2024

Officials warned WorkSafe’s performance is of “particular concern”, putting the workplace health and safety regulator under “intensive monitoring”.

A briefing to then-incoming Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden in November painted a grim picture of New Zealand’s health and safety in the workplace, raising numerous concerns including the stalling of reducing work-related deaths.

Since then, WorkSafe staff faced significant cuts, with 113 roles to go and the new structure to be implemented in February.

On WorkSafe’s performance, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment was unable to “assess how decisions about priorities for allocating resources will contribute to ensuring work health and safety, or have confidence in WorkSafe’s ability to justify requests for additional resources”.

Its forecast operating budget exceeded its available funding by almost $18 million for the 2023/24 year.

WorkSafe committed to addressing those issues, including starting to “right-size the organisation to ensure it operates within its funding envelope”, with a new chief executive, Steve Haszard, appointed for 18 months to see the changes through.

MBIE has put WorkSafe on ‘intensive monitoring’ - a step up from its status of being ‘on-watch’, and appointed a Crown Observer “to provide oversight and an additional level of assurance”.

Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden said she had “many” conversations with WorkSafe, and was happy with the “turnaround that we're seeing in the early days”.

“There have been concerns in WorkSafe mainly around finances and also making sure that they're getting the settings right, so we're looking at where they can have the most impact in worker safety in New Zealand

“Those are conversations that I'm having, ongoing, with the new chief executive and with the board, and I look forward to seeing progress made within Worksafe.”

MBIE wrote in the briefing there were challenges facing workplace health and safety, including “an outdated and incomplete regulatory framework”, urging the minister to modernise the rules.

Outdated rules for areas such as machinery and equipment and working at heights “cover risks that together account for almost 80% of New Zealand’s work-related deaths,” the briefing stated.

“Regulations for hazardous substances that manage a significant range of acute, health and catastrophic risks are large and complex making them difficult to understand and apply, especially for small businesses.”

It raised the fact that New Zealand’s work-related death rate continued to track at twice of Australia and four times of the United Kingdom.

“Progress to reduce work-related deaths and serious injuries has stalled. Furthermore, a worker is 15 times more likely to die from a work-related disease than a workplace injury.

“System outcomes are inequitable, with some population groups disproportionately represented in work-related injury, illness and fatality statistics.”