The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) imposes a range of significant and proactive legal obligations on New Zealand employers and businesses. Health and safety it a core governance and operational responsibility, with serious legal, financial and reputational consequences for non-compliance.

Health and safety compliance should be treated very seriously by employers and businesses across all industries. This quick guide outlines the key concepts under the HSWA, including ‘PCBU’, ‘Officer’ and ‘Worker’ duties, explains what “reasonably practicable” risk management requires at a high-level, and highlights common compliance failures using recent WorkSafe enforcement case law examples.