Health and Safety Reform Update

Tuesday July 14, 2026 08:47

What businesses need to know

On the 1st of July 2026, Parliament passed the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill through its third and final reading under urgency. This represents the biggest change to New Zealand's health and safety legislation since the Health and Safety at Work Act was introduced in 2015.

The Government says the reforms are intended to reduce unnecessary compliance, provide greater clarity for businesses, and sharpen the focus on managing the risks that are most likely to cause people serious harm or death.

What has changed?

The reforms include:

• A stronger focus on critical risks – Businesses are expected to concentrate their efforts on managing risks that could result in death, serious injury or serious illness, rather than spending time on low-level administrative risks.
• Clearer legal duties – The legislation provides greater clarity around what businesses (PCBUs), officers and workers are responsible for, particularly where duties overlap. The amendment introduces several clear distinctions to remove legal ambiguity:
  • Separation of Governance and Operations: If a person is both an officer of the PCBU and a worker who performs a separate or additional role in the business or undertaking (i.e. a CEO also working as onsite project manager), the person’s duty under this section applies only to their role as an officer.
  • Exhaustive "Due Diligence" List: The current open-ended list of expectations is replaced with a three-step exhaustive list. Officers must take reasonable steps to:
    • Understand and stay up to date with the business’s operations, hazards, and general health and safety risks.
    • Ensure the business provides and uses the proper resources and processes to manage these risks and respond to incidents.
    • Verify that those resources and processes are actually being provided and used correctly in the workplace.
  • Greater recognition of approved Codes of Practice (ACOPs) – The process for developing and approving ACOPs has been strengthened, with the intention that they become more practical and provide greater certainty about what good compliance looks like.
  • Updated purpose of the legislation – The purpose of the Act has been revised to better reflect the Government's objective of preventing serious work-related harm while reducing unnecessary compliance costs.
  • Changes to regulator priorities – WorkSafe's functions are intended to place greater emphasis on critical risk management and supporting businesses to prevent serious harm.

What does this mean for your business?

For most organisations, the fundamentals of good health and safety remain the same:

• Identify your critical risks.
• Ensure effective controls are in place.
• Train and supervise your workers.
• Maintain equipment and safe systems of work.
• Review your controls regularly to ensure they remain effective.

Businesses with strong, risk-based health and safety systems are unlikely to need significant changes. Organisations that rely heavily on paperwork rather than managing real workplace risks may wish to review where they are spending their effort.

What happens next?

An amendment was made during the final stages of the HSWA Bill to delay the law's start date. The legislation's commencement was pushed back by five months, moving the date the changes take effect from November 1, 2026, to April 1, 2027

The legislation will come into force following Royal Assent and any staged commencement provisions. Guidance from WorkSafe and updates to Approved Codes of Practice are expected over the coming months to help businesses understand how the reforms will operate in practice.

How Securo can help

Over the coming months we will be reviewing these changes in detail and helping clients understand any practical implications for their business.

If you would like an assessment of how the reforms may affect your organisation, or assistance reviewing your health and safety system against the new legislative framework, feel free to get in touch with your Securo Consultant or contact Securo head office on 0800 55 33 44.