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Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

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

52: Liability of certain office holders

You could also call this:

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

When you hold certain public offices, you don’t get in trouble for not following some rules about health and safety at work. These offices are:

  1. A member of a territorial authority or regional council that people vote for
  2. A member of a local board that people vote for or that gets appointed
  3. A member of a community board that people vote for or that gets appointed
  4. A member of a school board that people vote for or that gets appointed

These office holders don’t commit an offence if they don’t follow the duties that officers usually have to follow. The law that talks about these duties is called section 44.

The law also explains what some words mean:

  • A ‘board’ for a school means the same thing as in the Education and Training Act 2020
  • A ‘community board’ is a group set up by the Local Government Act 2002
  • ‘Local authority’ and ‘local board’ mean the same thing as in the Local Government Act 2002

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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=DLM5976923.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Workplace safety
Government and voting > Local councils
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Part 2 Health and safety duties
Offences relating to duties: Specific provisions relating to liability of certain persons

52Liability of certain office holders

  1. An office holder listed in subsection (2), when acting in that capacity, does not commit an offence under section 47, 48, or 49 for a failure to comply with the duty imposed by section 44 (duties of officers).

  2. The office holders are—

  3. a member of the governing body of a territorial authority or regional council elected in accordance with the Local Electoral Act 2001:
    1. a member of a local board elected or appointed under the Local Electoral Act 2001:
      1. a member of a community board elected or appointed in accordance with the Local Electoral Act 2001:
        1. a member of a school board appointed or elected under the Education and Training Act 2020.

          1. In this section,—

            board, in relation to a school, has the same meaning as in section 10(1) of the Education and Training Act 2020

              community board means a board established under section 49(1) of the Local Government Act 2002

                local authority and local board have the same meanings as in section 5(1) of the Local Government Act 2002.

                Notes
                • Section 52(2)(d): replaced, on , by section 668 of the Education and Training Act 2020 (2020 No 38).
                • Section 52(3) board: inserted, on , by section 668 of the Education and Training Act 2020 (2020 No 38).
                • Section 52(3) board and trustee: repealed, on , by section 668 of the Education and Training Act 2020 (2020 No 38).