Source: BusinessNZ
BusinessNZ welcomes the passing of the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill, saying the changes will help create a clearer, more practical system while maintaining every employer’s responsibility to provide a safe workplace.
Chief Executive Katherine Rich says BusinessNZ’s support for the legislation followed extensive consultation with small businesses across New Zealand.
“We didn’t reach this position lightly. Through our nationwide small business focus groups, our Reducing Compliance Burden on New Zealand Small Businesses report, and MBIE’s own nationwide health and safety roadshow, we heard a consistent message.
“Small businesses support good health and safety. They want to keep their people safe. What they have struggled with is a system that has become unnecessarily complex and difficult to apply in low-risk workplaces.”
Rich says the reforms rightly place greater emphasis on managing critical risks, while preserving the fundamental duty on every employer to provide a safe and healthy workplace.
“This is not about lowering standards or reducing employer responsibility. Every business continues to have a clear duty of care to protect its workers.
“What changes is that small, lower-risk businesses can spend less time on unnecessary paperwork and more time identifying and managing the risks that genuinely matter.”
BusinessNZ says a stronger focus on practical guidance and proportional regulation should improve compliance.
“When the rules are clearer and easier to understand, businesses are more likely to engage with them. Good health and safety is about understanding real risks, not ticking boxes.”
Rich says BusinessNZ will continue working with government, regulators and businesses to ensure the reforms are implemented in a way that delivers safer workplaces alongside a more practical regulatory system.
“The best health and safety system is one that businesses understand, workers trust, and that keeps people safe every day.”
The BusinessNZ Network including BusinessNZ, EMA, Business Central and Business South, represents and provides services to thousands of businesses, small and large, throughout New Zealand.