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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

Health and safety duties - Duties of officers, workers, and other persons

45: Duties of workers

You could also call this:

“Workers' responsibilities for health and safety at work”

When you’re at work, you have some important duties to keep yourself and others safe. You need to take care of your own health and safety in a reasonable way. This means being careful and thinking about what you’re doing.

You also need to make sure that what you do (or don’t do) doesn’t put other people’s health and safety at risk. This could be your workmates, customers, or anyone else at your workplace.

Your boss or the person in charge of the business (called a PCBU) might give you instructions about health and safety. You need to follow these instructions as best you can, as long as they’re reasonable. This helps your boss follow the law and keep everyone safe.

Lastly, your workplace might have rules or ways of doing things to keep everyone healthy and safe. If your boss tells you about these, you need to work with them and follow them. This could be things like wearing safety gear or following certain steps when you do your job.

Remember, these duties are part of the law, so it’s important to take them seriously and do your best to follow them at work.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5976914.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Work and jobs > Workplace safety
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44: Duty of officers, or

“Officers must ensure their organisation follows health and safety laws”

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46: Duties of other persons at workplace, or

“Stay safe and follow instructions at work to protect yourself and others”

Part 2 Health and safety duties
Duties of officers, workers, and other persons

45Duties of workers

  1. While at work, a worker must—

  2. take reasonable care for his or her own health and safety; and
    1. take reasonable care that his or her acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons; and
      1. comply, as far as the worker is reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction that is given by the PCBU to allow the PCBU to comply with this Act or regulations; and
        1. co-operate with any reasonable policy or procedure of the PCBU relating to health or safety at the workplace that has been notified to workers.

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