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Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

Health and safety duties - Offences relating to duties

48: Offence of failing to comply with duty that exposes individual to risk of death or serious injury or serious illness

You could also call this:

“Penalties for not following health and safety duties that risk lives or cause serious harm”

You can break the law if you don’t follow your health and safety duties at work. This happens if you have a duty under subpart 2 or 3, you don’t do what you’re supposed to, and because of that, someone could die, get seriously hurt, or become very sick.

If you’re found guilty of breaking this law, you might have to pay a fine. How much you pay depends on who you are. If you’re just a regular person at work, you might have to pay up to $150,000. If you’re the boss or in charge of a business, you could pay up to $300,000. If it’s a company or organisation breaking the law, they might have to pay up to $1.5 million.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5976918.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Work and jobs > Workplace safety
Crime and justice > Criminal law
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47: Offence of reckless conduct in respect of duty, or

“Punishment for knowingly risking someone's life or health at work”

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49: Offence of failing to comply with duty, or

“Penalties for not meeting workplace health and safety responsibilities”

Part 2 Health and safety duties
Offences relating to duties

48Offence of failing to comply with duty that exposes individual to risk of death or serious injury or serious illness

  1. A person commits an offence against this section if—

  2. the person has a duty under subpart 2 or 3; and
    1. the person fails to comply with that duty; and
      1. that failure exposes any individual to a risk of death or serious injury or serious illness.

        1. A person who commits an offence against subsection (1) is liable on conviction,—

        2. for an individual who is not a PCBU or an officer of a PCBU, to a fine not exceeding $150,000:
          1. for an individual who is a PCBU or an officer of a PCBU, to a fine not exceeding $300,000:
            1. for any other person, to a fine not exceeding $1.5 million.

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