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Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

Worker engagement, participation, and representation - Engagement with workers and worker participation practices - Worker participation practices

61: Duty to have worker participation practices

You could also call this:

“Businesses must involve workers in improving workplace health and safety”

If you run a business or organisation, you need to make sure your workers can help make their workplace safer and healthier. You must give your workers fair chances to take part in improving health and safety at work. This means you need to set up ways for your workers to share their ideas and concerns about safety.

When you’re setting up these ways for workers to participate, you need to follow any rules that apply to your type of business. You also need to think about any official advice on how to do this properly.

What’s considered a ‘fair chance’ for workers to participate depends on a few things. This includes how many workers you have, where they work, what risks they face at work, what kind of work they do, how their work is organised, and what type of work agreements they have. It also depends on whether your workers and their representatives want to be involved in safety practices. If you have employees, you also need to act in good faith, as required by section 4 of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

If you don’t give your workers fair chances to participate in improving health and safety, you’re breaking the law. If you’re found guilty, you could be fined. If you’re an individual, you could be fined up to $20,000. If you’re a company or other type of organisation, you could be fined up to $100,000.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM5976960.

Topics:
Work and jobs > Worker rights
Work and jobs > Workplace safety
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60: When engagement is required, or

“When you must talk with workers about health and safety at work”

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62: Election of health and safety representatives, or

“How workers can request and employers must arrange health and safety representative elections”

Part 3 Worker engagement, participation, and representation
Engagement with workers and worker participation practices: Worker participation practices

61Duty to have worker participation practices

  1. A PCBU must have practices that provide reasonable opportunities for workers who carry out work for the business or undertaking to participate effectively in improving work health and safety in the business or undertaking on an ongoing basis.

  2. In complying with subsection (1), the PCBU must—

  3. comply with prescribed requirements relating to worker participation, including requirements relating to a particular industry, sector, or kind of workplace:
    1. take into account any relevant approved code of practice.

      1. In this section, reasonable opportunities means opportunities that are reasonable in the circumstances, having regard to relevant matters, including—

      2. the number of workers working in the business or undertaking; and
        1. the number of different workplaces of the business or undertaking, and the distance between them; and
          1. the likely risks to work health and safety in the business or undertaking and the level of those risks; and
            1. the nature of the work that is performed and the way that it is arranged or managed; and
              1. the nature of the employment arrangements or contracting arrangements, including the extent and regularity of employment or engagement of temporary workers; and
                1. the willingness of workers and their representatives to develop worker participation practices; and
                  1. in relation to employers and employees, the duty to act in good faith as required by section 4 of the Employment Relations Act 2000.

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

                    2. for an individual, to a fine not exceeding $20,000:
                      1. for any other person, to a fine not exceeding $100,000.

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