Workplace Relations minister Brooke van Velden at today's media conference. Photo: Screenshot
The minister for workplace relations says she is looking to cut health and safety red tape for low-risk businesses and create a hotline to enable reporting of overzealous road cone use.
Brooke van Velden spoke of the plan at this week's post-Cabinet press conference with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
Watch today's media conference in full here:
She said Cabinet had agreed to narrow the focus of the Health and Safety at Work Act to risks that could cause death, serious injury or illness in small enterprises.
Van Velden said small, low-risk businesses were unsure of what risks to focus on and had been struggling to meets the costs of complying with health and safety requirements.
She said the changes would reduce "tick-box and safety activities" by cutting notification requirements to critical incidents and minimising overlap between the Act and regulatory agencies.
"For example, a small clothing shop would still need to provide first aid, emergency plans, and basic facilities - such as suitable lighting - but wouldn't need to have a psychosocial harm policy in place.
"This will improve outcomes for businesses and workers by focusing the system on critical risks and getting rid of unnecessary costs, making sure there is less paperwork and more clarity on what will make workplaces safe," van Velden said.
Hotline to address 'sea of road-cones'
Van Velden said she had travelled across the country to hear health and safety concerns and a common issue raised was the over use of road cones on the country's road work sites.
She said a hotline for the public to report overzealous use of road cones would be set up and Worksafe would provide guidance where problems were identified.
"I am directing WorkSafe to confirm and provide guidance on instances of road cones overcompliance. Having WorkSafe focus on this will be a culture shift for the agency, but it signifies the broader direction this Government is taking with the health and safety system," van Velden said.
Van Velden said the changes would be the first step in a "a suite of system-wide changes" to reform health and safety laws and regulations.
She said the amended bill will be put before parliament by the end of the year and - if passed - would come into affect in early 2026.
Changes do not address reduce high rates of workplace deaths - safety experts
But the chair of the Institute of Safety Management said the government had squandered "a golden opportunity to improve [the country's] poor health and safety performance".
Mike Cosman said the 50-70 people that died in workplace accidents each year was more than four times the rate of workplace deaths than in the UK.
He said the proposed changes would do little to address that.
"The reforms are focused instead on costs to businesses of prevention and not the much greater costs of harm.
"This seems to be looking through the wrong end of the telescope to us because the cost of our poor health and safety record is north of $4.9 billion per year to say nothing of the impact on workers and their families," Cosman said.
Minister ignoring advice from experts, employers and high risk sectors
He said van Velden had ignored recommendations by employers, experts, unions, academics, and representatives of high risk sectors provided to the government in October.
"If the prime minister wants New Zealand be the best place in the world to live in by 2035 then he should make turning around our shameful workplace injury and illness record a top priority.
"If he wants to grow the economy, we need a healthy workforce to do it. An injured worker puts strain on businesses, ACC and the health system," Cosman said.
Cosman said workers should not face more risks because they worked for smaller businesses.
However Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said the changes would remove a "huge burden" on small businesses.
She said meeting the current health and safety requirements took up significant time and expense.
"There's all sorts of things that businesses are being asked for - especially if you have a near miss or someone comes around to inspect your property - they are wanting every i dotted and every t crossed for things that most people would consider common sense," Young said.
Young said the country's 27,000 small retailers would be freed up to focus on selling their products and preventing the harms that stemmed from retail crime.
Luxon said the government wanted every New Zealander to feel safe on the job, "but we also need coherent and common-sense rules that reflect the risk in different types of work".
"Many of us will be familiar with the piles of paperwork and the forests of warning signs that have invaded our offices and our staff rooms across the country. Those well-meaning regulations can often tie businesses and their employees in total knots, leaving them really unsure about what their actual legal obligations are.
"All of that confusion and uncertainty gets priced into the cost of doing business in New Zealand and ultimately affects our output.
"It's good to see we're bringing back common sense after health and safety, frankly, has gone mad."
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