These guidelines provide practical advice for organisations on how to keep volunteers healthy and safe at work.

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Keeping volunteers healthy and safe (PDF 3.6 MB)

Key points

• Certain organisations with volunteers have health and safety duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) – New Zealand’s key work health and safety law.
• These organisations have duties that cover the work they do, their workplaces and their volunteers.
• Volunteers and officers of these organisations have their own health and safety duties to meet.

1. Introduction

These guidelines can help organisations work out if they have work health and safety duties, and what those duties are.

1.1 Who are these guidelines for?

These guidelines are for organisations with volunteers.

Volunteers are people who are not paid for the voluntary work they do. Many organisations involve volunteers, for example:

• an organisation fully run by volunteers (such as a community group that maintains a local reserve)
• a business or an organisation with employees that also involves volunteers in their activities (such as a national charity that uses volunteers to help support their charity shops).

1.2 Why should organisations read these guidelines?

Certain organisations with volunteers have duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) – New Zealand’s key work health and safety law.

These guidelines can help organisations work out if they have health and safety duties.

If organisations do have duties, these guidelines explain what those duties are, and how to keep volunteers and others healthy and safe.

1.3 What do these guidelines cover?

These guidelines cover the following topics.

• To work out if your organisation has health and safety duties – go to section 2: Does your organisation have work health and safety duties?

If you have work health and safety duties

• To find out what type of volunteers you have – go to section 3: What type of volunteers do you have?
• To find out about your health and safety duties – go to section 4: What are your health and safety duties?
• For practical advice on managing risks – go to section 5: How can you manage risks?
  * This section may also be useful for organisations that do not have work health and safety duties
• To find out the health and safety duty your officers have – go to section 6: What is your officers' health and safety duty?
• To find out the health and safety duties your volunteers have – go to section 7: What are your volunteers' health and safety duties?
• For a summary of work health and safety duties – go to section 8: Summary of duty holders and their duties

2.0 Does your organisation have work health and safety duties?

Certain organisations with volunteers have work health and safety duties.

If you are unsure whether your organisation has work health and safety duties, this section can help you.

2.1 Does your organisation have duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA)?

For your organisation to have work health and safety duties, it must be a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking’ (PCBU).

There are certain organisations with volunteers (called ‘volunteer associations’) that are not classed as PCBUs. Volunteer associations do not have HSWA duties.

Use the flowchart in Figure 1 to work out whether your organisation is a volunteer association or a PCBU.

Section 2.3 provides worked examples using this flowchart.

2.2 Is your organisation a volunteer association or a PCBU?

Use the flowchart below to work out if your organisation has health and safety duties.

Open larger image

Text alternative for Figure 1: Flowchart: Is your organisation a volunteer association or a PCBU?

1. Is your organisation a group of volunteers^a working for a community purpose^b?

If no: You are a PCBU, and HSWA applies. You have work health and safety duties.

If yes: Go to question 2.

2. Do you have employees,^c as well as volunteers?

If no: You are a volunteer association, and HSWA does not apply. You do not have work health and safety duties under HSWA.

If yes: You are a PCBU, and HSWA applies. You have work health and safety duties.

Footnotes

a. A volunteer is someone not paid for the voluntary work they do. Volunteers can be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses (for example, petrol expenses if the volunteer work requires them to drive).

b. Community purpose could include the promotion of art, culture, science, religion, education, medicine, or to support a charity, sport or recreation activity.

c. An employee is a person employed to do work for hire or reward under a contract of service (commonly called an employment agreement). A person engaged to work as a contractor under a contract for services is not an employee.

End of text alternative for Figure 1.

2.3 Examples: Are they a volunteer association or a PCBU?

These examples show how to use the Figure 1 flowchart to work out if an organisation has health and safety duties under HSWA.

2.4 If you have regional and national offices, are you one PCBU or many?

Your organisation’s structure will determine whether regional offices are classed as PCBUs in their own right or form part of a nationwide PCBU.

Your regional offices will likely be PCBUs if they are recognised as separate entities.

In these circumstances, the PCBUs that form part of the wider organisation must work together to manage risks.

See Appendix 4 for guidance on working together with other PCBUs.

2.5 What should you know if your organisation is classed as a volunteer association (not a PCBU)?

Even though your organisation does not have work health and safety duties, it may still have other duties. For example, there is a common law duty to take reasonable care of people involved in your activities. What is reasonable will depend on how serious the possible risks are, and how likely they could occur. For an example of what the duty of care could look like: communitytoolkit.org.nz(external link)

Your organisation should still adopt good work practices to keep your volunteers healthy and safe. Section 5 provides guidance on managing health and safety risks.

2.6 What should you read next?

Is your organisation a PCBU?

If yes

You have HSWA duties. Keep reading to find out what these are.

If no

You do not have HSWA duties but should still adopt good work practices to keep your volunteers healthy and safe. You could read Section 5 for guidance on managing risk.

3.0 What type of volunteers do you have?

Under HSWA, there are two types of volunteers.

Your volunteers will either be:

• volunteer workers or
• the volunteers that do not meet the definition of ‘volunteer workers’ – we call these ‘casual volunteers’ in these guidelines.

For certain requirements, PCBUs have different health and safety duties towards volunteer workers and casual volunteers.

The next step is to work out what type(s) of volunteers you have. This section will help you to do this.

3.1 How can you work out what type of volunteers you have?

The flowchart in Figure 2 will help you to work out if your volunteers are ‘volunteer workers’ or ‘casual volunteers’.

Section 3.3 provides worked examples using this flowchart.

3.2 Do you have volunteer workers or casual volunteers?

Open larger image

Text alternative for Figure 2: Flowchart: Do you have volunteer workers or casual volunteers?

Do you have volunteer workers or casual volunteers?

1. Confirm they are a volunteer^a

If yes: Go to question 2.

2. Does the volunteer work with your agreement or knowledge?

If no: They are a casual volunteer. Under HSWA, casual volunteers are classed as ‘other persons’ at a workplace.

If yes: Go to question 3.

3. Is their work ongoing and regular?

If no: They are a casual volunteer. Under HSWA, casual volunteers are classed as ‘other persons’ at a workplace.

If yes: Go to question 4.

4. Is their work an integral part of your organisation?

If no: They are a casual volunteer. Under HSWA, casual volunteers are classed as ‘other persons’ at a workplace.

If yes: Go to question 5.

5. Does the work they do only involve helping with fundraising?

If yes: They are a casual volunteer. Under HSWA, casual volunteers are classed as ‘other persons’ at a workplace.

If no: Go to question 6.

6. Does the work they do only involve helping with sports or recreation? (for a sports or recreation club, or an educational institution)

If yes: They are a casual volunteer. Under HSWA, casual volunteers are classed as ‘other persons’ at a workplace.

If no: Go to question 7.

7. Does the work they do only involve helping with activities for an educational institute outside its premises?

If yes: They are a casual volunteer. Under HSWA, casual volunteers are classed as ‘other persons’ at a workplace.

If no: Go to question 8.

8. Does the work they do only involve caring for another person in the volunteer’s home?

If yes: They are a casual volunteer. Under HSWA, casual volunteers are classed as ‘other persons’ at a workplace.

If no: They are a volunteer worker. Under HSWA, volunteer workers are classed as 'workers'.

Footnote

a. A volunteer is someone not paid for the voluntary work they do. Volunteers can be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses (for example, petrol expenses if the volunteer work requires them to drive).

End of text alternative for Figure 2.

3.3 Examples: Are they volunteer workers or casual volunteers?

The following examples use Figure 2 to work out if volunteers are ‘volunteer workers’ or ‘casual volunteers’.

3.4 What should you read next?

Section 4 explains your organisation’s health and safety duties – including where there is a difference between volunteer worker and casual volunteer requirements.

4.0 What are your health and safety duties?

PCBUs must keep all volunteers healthy and safe.

As a PCBU, your organisation has health and safety duties that cover:

• the work you do
• your workplace
• your workers and other people at your workplace.

There are overarching duties that apply to all PCBUs. There are also duties that depend on the type of work activities you do, and the type of volunteers you have.

This section provides a high-level summary of those duties for those new to HSWA.

4.1 What overarching duties do you have?

What are the key duties to be aware of?

There are overarching duties that all PCBUs have. These are summarised next.

Primary duty of care

What is the primary duty of care?

As a PCBU, your organisation must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, and that other persons are not put at risk by its work. This is called `the primary duty of care’.

What does ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ mean?

Just because something is possible to do, does not mean it is reasonably practicable in the circumstances.

Consider:

• What possible actions can be taken to ensure health and safety?
• Of these possible actions, at a particular time, what is reasonable to do?

For more information, see Appendix 3

Managing work risks

What is your duty to manage work risks?

Risks to health and safety arise from people being exposed to hazards (anything that can cause harm).

You must first try to eliminate a risk so far as is reasonably practicable.

If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, it must be minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.

We describe how to manage risks in Section 5

Working with other PCBUs

When must you work with other PCBUs?

Often two or more PCBUs work together.

This could be when you share a workplace with another PCBU. Another example is in a nationwide organisation that comprises of multiple PCBUs (the national office and local offices are separate PCBUs).

All PCBUs involved must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, cooperate, and coordinate activities with other PCBUs they share duties with. This could include managing shared risks.

See Appendix 4 for more information on PCBUs working together.

Notifying WorkSafe

When must you notify WorkSafe?

You must tell WorkSafe when certain things (called notifiable events) happen. If a notifiable event occurs, there are requirements to:

• preserve the site (by the PCBU who manages or controls the workplace)
• notify us
• keep records.

More information, including a list of notifiable events

Which key duties do not apply to volunteers?

Usually PCBUs must engage their workers in health and safety matters, and provide ways for them to participate (as described in Appendix 5). However, these duties do not apply to volunteer workers.

Even so, we still recommend you regularly talk with all your volunteers and involve them in health and safety discussions.

4.2 What are your general workplace duties?

There are certain facilities, emergency plans, first aid and training you need to provide. Where relevant, you must, so far as reasonably practicable, provide the following:

Workplace and facilities requirements

A workplace is any place where:

• a worker goes, or is likely to be while at work, or
• where work is being carried out, or usually carried out.

Workplaces must be clean, healthy, safe, accessible, and well maintained so work can be carried out without risks to worker health and safety.

There requirements for the workplace including for the layout, flooring, lighting, and ventilation.

For volunteer workers

There are also requirements to provide volunteer workers with facilities including toilets, drinking water, and facilities for hand washing, eating and taking breaks.

For more information about these requirements, see our guidance Workplace and facilities requirements

Emergency planning

An emergency plan is a written procedure that tells people what to do in an emergency.

You must prepare an emergency plan for the workplace.

The plan must include:

• emergency procedures
• plans for testing these procedures
• information, training and instruction for workers implementing the emergency procedures.

For more information about these requirements, see our guidance Workplace emergency plans

First aid facilities and equipment, and access to first aiders

You must provide adequate first aid equipment to the workplace.

For volunteer workers

You must make sure volunteer workers have access to first aid equipment and facilities.

You must ensure that you have an adequate number of workers trained as first aiders or that volunteer workers have access to other first aiders.

For more information about these requirements, see our guidance First aid [PDF, 48 KB]

Training, instruction and supervision

There are requirements for training and supervising your volunteers.

For volunteer workers

You must ensure that volunteers workers:

• have adequate knowledge and experience to carry out the tasks safely or
• are adequately supervised by someone with that knowledge and experience.

Volunteer workers must receive training in the safe use of the equipment, machinery, or substances they will use.

There are requirements for ensuring the training is suitable and adequate. For more information on these requirements, see our guidance Providing information, training, instruction or supervision for workers

For casual volunteers

You must give casual volunteers the information, training, instruction or supervision they need to protect them from health and safety risks arising from the work.

The duties for personal protective equipment can be found in Section 5.4

4.3 What are your duties to young volunteers?

There are restrictions for what young volunteers (generally under 15-years old) can do.

If you have young volunteers, you must make sure:

• young volunteer workers do not carry out certain work activities. For example, construction work
• young people (volunteer workers or casual volunteers) are not present in certain work areas. For example, areas where hazardous substances are being made or used.

However, there are exceptions to these requirements. For more information, see our guidance Young people

4.4 What other duties could you have?

For certain types of work there are requirements specified in health and safety regulations. For example, if your work involves hazardous substances or remote or isolated work.

For more information see Section 5.4

4.5 What should you read next?

Section 5 provides guidance on managing health and safety risks.

5.0 How can you manage risks?

You must manage risks to the health and safety of all volunteers.

If your organisation is new to managing health and safety risks, this section can be used to guide you to:

• identify hazards (sources of harm) and health and safety risks
• assess health and safety risks
• decide what control measures to use
• record how you are managing the risks.

5.1 What is your duty to manage risk?

Managing risks to health and safety is something that every PCBU must do.

As described earlier, you must first try to eliminate a risk so far as is reasonably practicable. If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, it must be minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.

5.2 What approach can you take to managing risk?

The steps below describe a way to manage risk.

For more information about each step, see our quick guide Identifying, assessing, and managing work risks [PDF, 404 KB]

1. Identify what could go wrong

Identify what could harm the health or endanger the safety of your volunteers or others (hazards), and the potential health and safety risks that could result. For more information, see Section 5.3

2. Assess the work risks

For each risk think about:

• Who might be exposed?
• What could happen?
  • How severe could the resulting injuries be?
  • How could people’s health be affected?
  • How likely are these consequences?

Decide which risks to deal with first.

For example, risks with potentially significant consequences such as serious injury or death, chronic ill-health, or those with a high likelihood of occurring should be dealt with first.

3. Decide how to manage each risk

Think about at how you are going to manage each risk.

Choose the most effective control measures. For more information, see Section 5.4

4. Put control measures in place

Put the control measures in place.

Instruct and train volunteers about the control measures, including why it is important to use them and how to apply them.

5. Review and improve control measures

With your volunteers, regularly monitor control measures to confirm that the measures are effective. Also review the control measures if the work changes, a new risk is identified, or when you are asked to.

Control measures should remain effective, be fit-for-purpose, be suitable for the nature and duration of the work, and be used correctly.

5.3 How can you identify what could go wrong and assess work risks?

There are a number of ways you can identify hazards (sources of harm) and identify and assess the health and safety risks that could result.

This includes by:

• following your volunteers through their tasks
• talk to them about what they do, and hazards and risks they see in each task
• running focus groups or a small survey asking for input. Anonymous input can sometimes identify hazards and risks that might not have be found otherwise
• talking to other organisations or volunteering bodies to see what they do. Talk about any incidents that you could learn from.

Use the questions below to prompt your thinking when you are identifying hazards and identifying and assessing risks.

These questions are examples only and not a complete list. You need to consider your own situation.

Could your volunteers be exposed to…

…harm from using equipment or machinery?

Ask:

• Does any equipment you use have moving parts or blades that could cause injury?
• Is equipment in poor condition, or installed in a way that it could cause injury?
• Is equipment set up so that operators need to reach or stretch to use or clean it?
• Does any equipment create excessive noise, dust, fumes, vibrations, or heat that could result in injury or illness?

…harm from vehicles?

Ask:

• Do volunteers drive vehicles (yours or their own) as part of their role?
• Are the vehicles being used safe and road legal?
• Is the carpark or access way to your work location used by both pedestrians and vehicles at the same time?

…harm when working at height?

Ask:

• Do volunteers use ladders or stepladders to access items stored at height or to change lightbulbs?
• Are ladders used for gardening or maintenance tasks? Are they used on sloped or slippery ground?
• Do you have playgrounds or equipment people could fall off?

…harm from tripping, slipping or falling?

Ask:

• Are there any sharp objects (for example, broken glass, metal, splinters) on the outside grounds?
• Are there trip or slip hazards such as open drains, or potholes?
• Are there any slippery or uneven surfaces?
• Do steps or paths have uneven or rough edges?
• Do carpets or flooring surfaces have any loose edges or trip hazards?
• If there was a spill, how would it be cleaned up? Could it cause a slip before it was cleaned?
• Are aisles and hallways clear and unobstructed?
• Is furniture stable to use and free of sharp edges?
• Are decks, railings and ramps stable and free from damage or holes?

…harm from electric shock?

Ask:

• Are all external power lines secure and free from obstacles (for example, tree branches)?
• Are all plugs, sockets, and switches in good working order?
• Is all electrical equipment in good working order?
• Could young children or other vulnerable people access power points?
• Are any portable electric heaters in use? If left on could they cause a fire?
• Are smoke alarms installed and operating correctly?

…harm from exposure to solvents or hazardous substances?

Ask:

• Are hazardous substances stored or used on site (for example, cleaning products, pesticides, rodent control)?
• Could children or other vulnerable people access these substances?
• Do any of your work processes create harmful fumes?

…harm from lifting or shifting heavy items?

Ask:

• Are heavy items lifted or shifted manually?
• Are there any repetitive tasks?

…harm from extreme temperatures or exposure to UV?

Ask:

• Could volunteers be exposed to the sun or excessive heat?
• Could volunteers be exposed to excessive wind or cold?

…harm from violence or other traumatic events?

Ask:

• Could volunteers be exposed to violence or threatening behaviour?
• Do any of your volunteers work alone?
• Could someone break-in or access the work area and challenge one of your volunteers?
• Could your volunteers be exposed to traumatic events?

…harm from stressful work?

Ask:

• Could volunteers feel stressed due to work responsibilities, workloads, or deadlines?
• Could volunteers feel stressed due to work conflicts or a lack of support?

…harm from bullying or harassment?

Ask:

• Are volunteers exposed to work-related harassment or bullying?
• Are volunteers exposed to sexual or racial harassment?

5.4 What control measures should you use to address risks?

You must first try to eliminate the risk so far as is reasonably practicable. This can be done by removing the source of harm – for example, removing faulty equipment or a trip hazard.

If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, it must be minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.

Use the following hierarchy of control measures (Figure 3) to help work out the most effective control measures to use to manage your risks.

Hierarchy of control measures

Open larger image

Text alternative for Figure 3: Hierarchy of control measures

The image describes control measures starting with the most effective down to the least effective. The first and most effective control measure is elimination. The rest of the control measures are about minimising the risk.

First try elimination

Eliminate risks

Remove sources of harm.

Examples: remove faulty equipment, noisy machines, trip hazards. 

If elimination is not reasonably practicable

Substitute

Swap with something that has a lower risk.

Example: use non-caustic cleaning products.

Isolate

Separate people from the source of harm.

Example: use safety barriers.

Apply engineering control measures

Change physical components of the plant, structure or work area (for example, machinery, tools, equipment, workplace design) to reduce or eliminate exposure to hazards.

Examples: replace a petrol-powered lawn mower with a non-corded electrical one.

If there is still risk

Apply administrative control measures.

Use safe methods of work, procedures or processes.

Examples: put emergency plans in place; allow only trained volunteers to undertake certain tasks.

If risk still remains – PPE is the last line of defence

Use personal protective equipment (PPE)

Use or wear items (including clothing) to minimise risks to personal health and safety.

Examples: use or wear safety glasses, protective clothing, hearing protection, hi-vis vests, sun protection.

End of text alternative for Figure 3.

 

You may need to use multiple control measures to deal with a risk.

Choose control measures that protect many people at the same time (for example, safety barriers, safety nets) if you can.

Requirements for personal protective equipment (PPE)

There are requirements to meet if you intend to use PPE to manage risks.

You must, so far as reasonably practicable, provide the following:

For volunteer workers

You must provide volunteer workers any PPE required.

There are exceptions when another PCBU provides the PPE instead or when the volunteer worker genuinely and voluntarily chooses to provide their own PPE.

There are also requirements around selecting and maintaining PPE, making sure volunteer workers wear/use PPE, and providing information, training and instruction.

For casual volunteers

You must ensure the PPE worn or used by casual volunteers:

• is capable of minimising health and safety risks
• is worn or used by them.

For more information about the PPE requirements, see our guidance Personal protective equipment – a guide for businesses

Volunteer workers and casual volunteers also have their own PPE duties. See Section 7.3 for more information.

5.5 Should you record how you are managing your risks?

You should keep written records of how you are managing your risks.

Written records mean you can more easily review how you are dealing with risks if something changes. You can also use these records to train your volunteers about work risks and the control measures put in place to manage them.

Records can be simple for less risky work. You could note the main points about the risks you identified and what you decided to do. More risky work will require more complex records.

5.6 What are examples of managing risks?

The following fictional examples show how to manage risks using the approach in section 5.2

5.7 What should you read next?

Section 6 explains your officers’ health and safety duty.

6.0 What is your officers’ health and safety duty?

Officers have a role in ensuring organisations meet their health and safety duties.

This section explains who officers are, and what their health and safety duty is.

6.1 Who is an officer?

An officer of an organisation could be a board member or someone who has a significant influence over how it runs.

An officer is classed as a ‘volunteer officer’ if they hold this position on a voluntary basis.

6.2 What must an officer do?

Officers, including volunteer officers, must exercise due diligence that includes taking reasonable steps to ensure that the organisation meets its health and safety duties.

This includes:

• keeping their health and safety knowledge up-to-date
• understanding the organisation’s operations and the risks associated with those operations
• making sure and verifying that the organisation has appropriate resources and processes to meet its duties.

While volunteer officers have the same due diligence duty as other officers, they do not commit an offence if they fail to meet it.

For further information, see our fact sheet Information for volunteer officers

6.3 What should you read next?

Section 7 explains your volunteers’ health and safety duties.

7.0 What are your volunteers’ health and safety duties?

Volunteers must take reasonable care of their own health and safety.

Volunteer workers and casual volunteers have different work health and safety duties. This section explains these duties.

7.1 What are duties of volunteer workers?

As workers, volunteers workers must:

• take reasonable care of their own health and safety
• take reasonable care that what they do or do not do, does not adversely affect the health and safety of others
• cooperate with any reasonable policies or procedures that you have in place on how to work in a healthy and safe way
• comply with any reasonable instruction that you give so that you can comply with HSWA requirements.

For more information on workers’ rights and responsibilities, see Your rights and obligations

7.2 What are the duties of casual volunteers?

As ‘other persons’ at a workplace, casual volunteers must:

• take reasonable care of their own health and safety, and not adversely affect the health and safety of anyone else
• comply, as far as they are able, with reasonable instructions relating to work health and safety.

7.3 Are there other work health and safety duties?

Depending on the nature of the work, there may be other requirements for volunteer workers and casual volunteers to comply with. These requirements may differ.

8.0 Summary of duty holders and their duties

PCBU

Who is a PCBU?

A PCBU is a person conducting a business or undertaking. A PCBU can be an individual or an organisation.

An organisation with volunteers is not a PCBU if:

• it is a group of volunteers with a community purpose and
• no one is employed to work for the group (see Figure 1).

What must a PCBU do?

A PCBU has many duties.

For example, a PCBU must:

• ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the health and safety of workers and other persons are not put at risk by its work
• manage work health and safety risks
• so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, cooperate, and coordinate activities with other PCBUs they share duties with
• provide certain facilities, equipment and training
• notify WorkSafe when certain events occur.

Volunteer worker

Who is a volunteer worker?

A volunteer worker is a volunteer whose work:

• is with your agreement or knowledge
• is on an ongoing and regular basis
• is an integral part of your organisation, and
• does not only involve helping with fundraising or sports or recreation, helping with activities for an educational institute outside its premises or caring for another person in the volunteer’s home (for example, foster care) (see Figure 2).

What must a volunteer worker do?

A volunteer worker must:

• take reasonable care of their own health and safety
• take reasonable care that what they do or do not do, does not adversely affect the health and safety of other
• cooperate with any reasonable policies or procedures that you have in place on how to work in a healthy and safe way
• comply with any reasonable instruction that you give so that you can comply with HSWA and the regulations.

Officer

Who is an officer?

An officer of an organisation could be a board member or someone who has a significant influence over how it runs.

What must an officer do?

An officer must exercise due diligence that includes taking reasonable steps to ensure that the organisation meets its health and safety duties.

Casual volunteer

Who is a casual volunteer?

Casual volunteers are volunteers that do not meet the definition of ‘volunteer workers’ (see Figure 2).

What must a casual volunteer do?

A casual volunteer must:

• take reasonable care of their own health and safety, and not adversely affect the health and safety of anyone else
• comply, as far as they are reasonably able, with reasonable instructions relating to health and safety at the workplace.

For further information, see Appendix 2

Appendices

Appendix 1: Glossary

For this guidance the following terms and definitions are used:

Community purpose

A community purpose includes the promotion of art, culture, science, religion, education, medicine, or to support a charity, sport or recreation activity.

Control measure

A control measure is a way of eliminating or minimising risks to health and safety.

Employee (Employ)

An employee is a person employed to do any work for hire or reward under a contract of service (commonly called an employment agreement). The hire or reward is almost always a wage or salary.

Hazard

A hazard is a source of harm. It could include an object, situation or behaviour.

HSWA

HSWA means the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

This is the key work health and safety legislation in New Zealand. HSWA applies to all work and workplaces unless specifically excluded.

You can find the full text of the Act on the New Zealand Legislation website.

PCBU

A PCBU is a ‘person conducting a business or undertaking’.

An organisation is a PCBU if it meets certain criteria. See Figure 1 for further detail on how to tell if you are a PCBU with work health and safety duties.

Also see Appendix 2

PPE

PPE means personal protective equipment.

PPE includes anything worn by someone (including clothing) to minimise risks to their health and safety.

It includes respiratory protective equipment, hearing protection, eye protection, protective clothing, and safety harness systems.

Primary duty of care

A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, and that other persons are not put at risk by its work. This is called the ‘primary duty of care’.

Risk

Risks arise from people being exposed to a hazard (a source of harm).

Volunteer

A volunteer is someone not paid for the voluntary work they do. Volunteers can be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses (for example, for your petrol expenses if the volunteer work requires they drive).

They can be either a casual volunteer, or a volunteer worker. Refer to Figure 2 for further detail.

Appendix 2: Health and Safety at Work Act duties

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015(external link) (HSWA) is New Zealand’s key work health and safety law.

All work and workplaces are covered by HSWA unless they have been specifically excluded. For example, HSWA does not apply to the armed forces in certain situations.

HSWA sets out the work health and safety duties that duty holders must comply with.

There are four types of duty holder under HSWA:

• a person conducting a business or understanding (PCBU)
• an officer
• a worker
• an ‘other person’ at the workplace.

Most duties under HSWA relate to how work is carried out. However some duties are linked to where work is carried out: the workplace.

DUTY HOLDER: Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU)

Who they are?

A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) may be an individual person or an organisation.

The following are not PCBUs:

• officers
• workers
• other persons at a workplace
• volunteer associations that do not have employees
• home occupiers (such as home owners or tenants) who pay someone to do work around the home section 17 of HSWA(external link)

Examples

• a business
• a self-employed person
• partners in a partnership
• a government agency
• a local council
• a school or university.

What are their duties?

A PCBU has many duties. Key duties are summarised below.

Primary duty of care – section 36 of HSWA(external link)

A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, and that other persons are not put at risk by its work.

For more information see:

• Introduction to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
• Appendix 3 of this guidance for an explanation of ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’.

Managing risks – section 30 of HSWA(external link)

Risks to health and safety arise from people being exposed to hazards (anything that can cause harm). A PCBU must manage work health and safety risks.

• A PCBU must first try to eliminate a risk so far as is reasonably practicable. This can be done by removing the source of harm
  • for example, removing faulty equipment or a trip hazard.
• If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, it must be minimised so far as is reasonably practicable.

For more information see:

• Identifying, assessing and managing work risks [PDF, 404 KB]
• Section 5 of this guidance.

Overlapping duties: working with other PCBUs – section 34 of HSWA(external link)

A PCBU with overlapping duties must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with other PCBUs they share duties with.

For more information see Appendix 4 of this guidance.

Involving workers: worker engagement, participation and representation – Part 3 of HSWA(external link)

A PCBU must, so far as is reasonably practicable, engage with their workers (or their workers’ representatives) about health and safety matters that will directly affect the workers.

A PCBU must have worker participation practices that give their workers reasonable opportunities to participate in improving health and safety on an ongoing basis.

For more information see Appendix 5 of this guidance.

DUTY HOLDER: Upstream PCBU

Who they are?

A PCBU in the supply chain.

Examples

• a designer
• a manufacturer
• a supplier
• an importer
• an installer, constructor, or commissioner.

What are their duties?

Upstream PCBU – sections 39–43 of HSWA(external link)

An upstream PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the work they do or the things they provide to other workplaces do not create health and safety risks.

For more information see Introduction to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

DUTY HOLDER: Officer

Who they are?

A specified person or a person who exercises significant influence over the management of the business or undertaking section 18 of HSWA(external link)

Examples

• a company director
• a partner or general partner
• a chief executive.

What are their duties?

Officer – section 44 of HSWA(external link)

An officer must exercise due diligence that includes taking reasonable steps to ensure that the PCBU meets their health and safety duties.

For more information see Introduction to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

DUTY HOLDER: Worker

Who they are?

An individual who carries out work for a PCBU section 19 of HSWA(external link)

Examples

• an employee
• a contractor or sub-contractor
• an employee of a contractor or sub-contractor
• an employee of a labour hire company
• an outworker (including homeworker)
• an apprentice or trainee
• a person gaining work experience or on work trials
• a volunteer worker.

What are their duties?

Worker – section 45 of HSWA(external link)

A worker must take reasonable care of their own health and safety, and take reasonable care that they do not harm others at work.

A worker must cooperate with reasonable policies and procedures the PCBU has in place that the worker has been told about.

A worker must comply, as far as they are reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction given by the PCBU so the PCBU can meet their legal duties.

For more information see Introduction to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

DUTY HOLDER: Other person at the workplace

Who they are?

An individual present at a workplace (not a worker).

Examples

• a workplace visitor
• a casual volunteer (not a volunteer worker)
• a customer.

What are their duties?

Other person at the workplace – section 46 of HSWA(external link)

An ‘other person’ has a duty to take reasonable care of their own health and safety, and not adversely affect the health and safety of anyone else.

They must comply with reasonable instructions relating to health and safety at the workplace.

For more information see:

• Introduction to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
• What to know about ‘other persons’ at work

Appendix 3: So far as is reasonably practicable

section 22 of HSWA(external link)

Certain PCBU duties (the section 36–43(external link) duties including the primary duty of care) must be carried out ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’.

What to consider when deciding what is ‘reasonably practicable’

Just because something is possible to do, does not mean it is reasonably practicable in the circumstances.

Consider:

• What possible actions can be taken to ensure health and safety?
• Of these possible actions, at a particular time, what is reasonable to do?

Think about the following questions.

What is known about the risk?

• How likely is the risk to occur?
• How severe is the illness or injury that might occur if something goes wrong?
• What is known, or should reasonably be known, about the risk?

What is known about possible control measures?

• What is known, or should reasonably be known, about the ways (control measures) to eliminate or minimise the risk?
• What control measures are available?
• How appropriate (suitable) are the control measures to manage the risk?
• What are the costs of these control measures?
• Are the costs grossly disproportionate to the risk? Cost must only be used as a reason to not do something when that cost is grossly out of proportion to the risk.

For more information, see our guidance: Reasonably practicable [PDF, 44 KB]

Appendix 4: Working with other PCBUs – overlapping duties

section 34 of HSWA(external link)

More than one PCBU can have a duty in relation to the same matter. These PCBUs have overlapping duties – this means that the duties are shared between them.

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Duties regularly overlap:

• in a shared workplace (for example, a building site or a port) where more than one business has control and influence over the work on site.
• in a contracting chain, where contractors and subcontractors provide services to a head contractor or client and do not necessarily share the same workplace.

A PCBU must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with all other PCBUs they share duties with so that all PCBUs can meet their joint responsibilities.

A PCBU cannot transfer or contract out of their duties, or pass liability to another person.

However a PCBU can make an agreement with another PCBU to fulfil specific duties. Even if this occurs, all PCBUs are still responsible for meeting their legal duties.

For more information, see our guidance: Overlapping duties [PDF, 173 KB]

Appendix 5: Worker engagement, participation and representation

Part 3 of HSWA(external link)

Note: You do not need to comply with the worker engagement, participation and representation requirements for volunteer workers. However, we recommend you regularly talk with all your volunteers and involve them in health and safety discussions.

Engage with workers and enable their participation

A PCBU has two main duties related to worker engagement and participation:

• to engage with workers on health and safety matters that affect or are likely to affect workers, so far as is reasonably practicable, and
• to have practices that give workers reasonable opportunities to participate effectively in the ongoing improvement of work health and safety.

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A PCBU can engage with workers by:

• sharing information about health and safety matters so that workers are well-informed, know what is going on and can contribute to decision-making
• giving workers reasonable opportunities to have a say about health and safety matters
• listening to and considering what workers have to say at each step of the risk management process
• considering workers’ views when health and safety decisions are being made
• updating workers about what decisions have been made.

A PCBU must engage with workers during specified times, including when identifying hazards and assessing risks.

A PCBU must have clear, effective, and ongoing ways for workers to suggest improvements or raise concerns.

Worker representation

Workers can be represented by a Health and Safety Representative (HSR), a union representing workers, or a person that workers authorise to represent them (for example, a community or church leader, or another trusted member of the community).

HSRs and Health and Safety Committees (HSCs) are two well-established methods of participation and representation. If workers are represented by an HSR, worker engagement must also involve that representative.

For more information

WorkSafe guidance

Good practice guidelines

Worker engagement, participation and representation

Interpretive guidelines

Worker representation through Health and Safety Representatives and Health and Safety Committees

Pamphlets

Worker representation [PDF, 892 KB]

Health and Safety Committees [PDF, 778 KB]

Health and Safety Representatives [PDF, 1.2 MB]