Summary/citation: New Zealand is a unitary state - its provinces were abolished in 1877.
Occupational safety and health in New Zealand is principally regulated by a single statute, the Health and Safety and Employment Act 1992, as amended. The Act covers all health and safety issues across all work activities in all workplaces (that is, all industries), from factories, officers and shops, to railways, aircraft and ships, to mines.
The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 protects the environment and the health and safety of communities by preventing and managing the adverse affects of hazardous substances and new organisms.
The Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Act 2001 establishes a compensation and rehabilitation scheme that covers covers work-related injuries and disease.
Other legislation affecting OSH in New Zeland include the Electricity Act 1992, the Gas Act 1992, the Smokefree Environments Act 1990, the Radiation Protection Act 1965 and the Health Act 1956.
The Ministry of Buisiness, Innovation and Employment oversees the Health and Safety and Employment Act 1992, and ensures that the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 is complied with in workplaces.
The Health and Safety and Employment Act 1992 places general duties on employers to employees and people who are not employees, on persons selling or supplying plant for use in a workplace, on persons who control workplaces, on self employed persons, on principals in relation to contractors and subcontractors or their employees, and on employees. It further sets out general duties protecting volunteers and loaned employees. These duties require duty holders to take 'all practicable steps' to to remove, control or otherwise manage work hazards. The Act also provides for the making of regulations to supplement the general duties with provisions regulating specific work situations. For example, the Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995 apply to all workplaces and regulate facilties for the OSH of all employees, precautions to be taken with particular hazards and other specifc matters. A raft of regulations address hazardous machinery; the control of hazardous processes; the petroleum and gas and mining industries; and adventure activities.
The provisions of the Act and of the regulations are further supplemented by approved codes of practice. These must be approved by the Minister of Business, Employment and Innovation, and once approved set out preferred practices or arrangements that will be accepted by the courts as evidence of good practice. The Department of Business, Innovation and Employment also developes guidelines, which are not formally approved, but which provide guidance to all parties on how to comply with the provisions of the Act and regulations. Codes of practice and guidelines might call up and incorporate other standards, such as New Zealand Standards or joint Australian/New Zealand Standards. Whereas a contravention of a general duty or a provision in a regulation may result in a prosecution or the issuing of an infringement notice, contraventions of approved codes of practice or guidelines are not, in themselves, enforceable.
• Health and Safety in Employment (Prescribed Matters) Regulations 2003 (SR 2003/90).
• Accident Compensation Act 2001 (2001 No. 49).
• Health and Safety in Employment (Asbestos) Regulations 1998 (SR 1998/443).
• Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (1996 No. 30).
• Electricity Act 1992 (1992 No 122).
• Gas Act 1992 (1992, No. 124).
• Smoke-free Environments Act 1990 (1990 No 108).
• Radiation Protection Act 1965 (1965 No 23).
• Health Act 1956 (1956, No. 65)
• Noxious Substances Regulations 1954 (SR 1954/128).
