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New Zealand law explained for everyone

Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

Health and safety duties - Offences relating to duties - Specific provisions relating to liability of certain persons

51: Liability of volunteers

You could also call this:

“Volunteers are not liable for most offences but must follow worker and workplace safety rules”

If you’re a volunteer, you won’t get in trouble for not following some of the rules in this law. The law says you can’t be charged with an offence for not doing certain things that are mentioned in other parts of the law. However, there are two important things you still need to do:

You must follow the rules for workers that are explained in section 45. These are the things workers have to do to stay safe and keep others safe at work.

You also need to follow the rules for other people at workplaces that are explained in section 46. These are the things anyone at a workplace needs to do to keep themselves and others safe.

Remember, even though you’re a volunteer, you still have some responsibilities to keep yourself and others safe when you’re helping out at work.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5976922.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Work and jobs > Workplace safety
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50: Liability of officers, or

“Officers can be held responsible for breaching their duties, even if their organisation isn't”

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52: Liability of certain office holders, or

“Certain elected or appointed officials are protected from health and safety liability”

Part 2 Health and safety duties
Offences relating to duties: Specific provisions relating to liability of certain persons

51Liability of volunteers

  1. A volunteer does not commit an offence under section 47, 48, or 49 for a failure to comply with a duty imposed by subpart 2 or 3, except a duty under—

  2. section 45 (duties of workers); or
    1. section 46 (duties of other persons at workplaces).

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