By the end of this course, participants will have a comprehensive understanding of New Zealand’s foundational health and safety legislation and its practical application in today’s workplaces.
What you’ll learn
- The historical context and underlying philosophy that shaped the Health and Safety at Work Act, including the societal and industrial factors that made it necessary and the fundamental principles of modern workplace safety regulation
- The distinction between prescriptive and performance-based legislation, and how the Act’s flexible, outcomes-focused approach lets organisations tailor safety measures to their workplace while maintaining rigorous standards
- How to accurately identify every duty holder within different organisational structures, from PCBUs (Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking) to officers, workers and other persons at workplaces, and the specific legal obligations each one owes
- The critical concept of ‘reasonably practicable’, and how to apply this risk-based standard to real decisions by balancing the likelihood and severity of harm against the availability, suitability and cost of control measures
- How to recognise and manage overlapping duties when several parties share responsibility for the same workplace risks, coordinating efforts and avoiding gaps in safety management
- Upstream duties under Sections 39 to 43 of the Act: how designers, manufacturers, importers, installers and suppliers contribute to workplace safety through their roles in the supply chain
Together, these duties create a comprehensive framework for preventing harm before it reaches the workplace, and this course gives you the clarity to play your part in it.
