• NOHSAC Technical Report 7
• Authors and Acknowledgements
• List of Tables
• List of Figures
• Executive Summary
• Summary of Issues
• 1   Introduction
• 2   Background
• 3   Occupational Health and Safety System
• 4   National Policy Framework
• 5   National Programmes
• Appendices
• References

Executive Summary

Purpose and audience | Methodology | General statistics about occupational health and safety | Findings

The National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Council (NOHSAC) commissioned the development of a comprehensive technical report setting out the parameters of New Zealand’s occupational health and safety system. This technical report has been prepared by Allen & Clarke Policy and Regulatory Specialists Ltd and feeds into the work undertaken by NOHSAC.

Purpose and audience  

This technical report:

• describes the history of occupational health and safety in New Zealand, with a particular focus on the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s in order to provide context for discussions of the service delivery today
• outlines some of the key principles underpinning New Zealand’s approach to preventing harm in the workplace
• details New Zealand’s current occupational health and safety system
• outlines key issues with the current system, as identified by stakeholders, which may restrict the achievement of health and safety outcomes
• provides the basis for developing a national profile documenting New Zealand’s occupational health and safety system (as per one of the obligations of International Labour Office Convention 155).

The technical report does not make recommendations or provide solutions to the issues identified by stakeholders.

The primary audience for this report is NOHSAC. The project team is aware that other stakeholders will have an interest in the findings of this report, including the Minister of Labour, key government agencies, social partners, and the occupational health and safety industry.

Methodology  

A two-phase methodology was used to collect the material informing this report:

• Semi-structured interviews with 49 key informants involved in occupational health and safety, including government agencies, researchers, health and safety professionals, training organisations, the government’s social partners, industry representatives and health professionals.
• A search of relevant literature on New Zealand’s occupational health and safety framework.

General statistics about occupational health and safety  

This report outlines a range of demographic and economic indicators that give context for discussions about work-related injury and disease. In addition, it provides a range of indicators about exposure rates, and the mortality and morbidity burdens created by work-related disease and injury. The most significant findings are that:

• the mortality burden is higher for work-related disease than injury
• the morbidity burden is considerably higher for work-related injury than disease
• the key causes of the work-related burden of disease are cancer, musculoskeletal diseases and injuries, falls, respiratory disease and circulatory diseases
• the economic cost of work-related disease and injury is approximately $5 billion per annum, but this figure climbs to $21 billion when the social costs are included.

Findings  

The key findings of this report are presented in two sections: first, short descriptions of the components of the occupational health and safety system, and second, a summary of issues identified by stakeholders during the interviews.

International obligations

New Zealand is a party to a small number of International Labour Office Conventions; however, most of these are older conventions, and New Zealand has not ratified many of the more recent International Labour Office documents. There may not be any advantages to ratifying these Conventions, as the text can provide for very prescriptive regimes that do not fit with the performance-based approach adopted in New Zealand’s legislative framework. Moreover, in many cases, the approach reflected in New Zealand’s legislation results in stricter controls than are provided by the Convention.

New Zealand is currently considering whether to ratify two Conventions – Convention 155: Convention on occupational safety and health, and Convention 138: Concerning the minimum age for admission to employment. Final decisions on these will be made once the Department of Labour has fully considered the implications of ratification on New Zealand’s legislative and policy framework.

New Zealand’s legislative framework

Three main Acts comprise New Zealand’s health and safety legislative framework:

• The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 is the principal health and safety statute, and it aims to prevent harm occurring in the workplace.
• The Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 provides for the management of hazardous substances and new organisms in the workplace.
• The Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Act 2001 establishes New Zealand’s compensation and rehabilitation system.

The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (the HSE Act) and the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (the HSNO Act) provide an enabling and performance-based system modelled on the Robens approach. Under each Act, duty holders are required to take all practicable steps to remove, control, or otherwise manage hazards in the workplace. To ensure compliance, the Acts also give specific duties to inspectorates.

Further detail on how to achieve required performance is provided through more prescriptive regulations, approved codes of practice, standards, industry codes of practice and guidelines, in keeping with the performance-based approach of the HSE and HSNO Acts.

The Injury Prevention, Rehabilitation, and Compensation Act 2001 (the IPRC Act) establishes New Zealand’s no-fault, 24-hour insurance scheme for work-related injury and disease. It also provides a mandate for the Accident Compensation Corporation to undertake activities aimed at preventing and reducing the incidence of injury at work, including the operation of specific incentives schemes for workplaces.

The three main Acts are supported by a number of other Acts and regulations which can have an impact on workplace health and safety (even though this is not a key purpose of these instruments): the Electricity Act 1992, the Gas Act 1992, the Smokefree Environments Act 1990, the Radiation Protection Act 1965, and the Health Act 1956 and regulations made under these Acts or other revoked legislation.

Overall, New Zealand’s legislative system provides for a relatively simple, performance-based, and consistent approach to preventing harm in the workplace. A small number of issues regarding the implementation of the performance-based framework and possible improvements to the legislative framework were identified by stakeholders. These are identified in the Summary of Issues (page ix).

National budget for occupational health and safety

The national budget for occupational health and safety activities is approximately $47 million. Approximately $37 million is provided through the Department of Labour for compliance and enforcement services (eg, funded through Vote: Labour). A further $10 million is provided to the Accident Compensation Corporation for injury prevention activities, including the operation of specific incentives and awareness-raising programmes. The cost of work-related injury and disease claims to the Accident Compensation Corporation is provided through a self-funded system of levies paid by employers and the self-employed and is not therefore included in this total.

The amount of funding provided to prevent workplace harm appears to be significantly less than what may actually be required to address these issues (eg, the cost of injury amounts to approximately 3.4 percent of GDP while the expenditure to prevent such harm amounts to 0.0033 percent). In addition, in real terms, the funding provided for health and safety services in 2005/06 is less than the amount provided for delivery of these services in 1989/90.

Resourcing issues are identified in the Summary of Issues (page ix).

The compliance and enforcement system

Duty holders’ compliance with the legislative provisions is achieved through a voluntary compliance regime, backed up by statutory enforcement mechanisms. While the compliance and enforcement system is based on the Robens principle of “One Act, One Authority”, the operational responsibility is, in reality, split over several organisations with inspectorate and enforcement powers:

• the Department of Labour (the lead agency responsible for ensuring compliance with the HSE and HSNO Acts in respect of all workplaces except operating aircraft and ships)
• Maritime New Zealand (the lead agency for enforcing legislative provisions onboard ships, with technical support provided by the Department of Labour)
• the Civil Aviation Authority (the lead agency for enforcing legislative provisions on operating aircraft and for enforcing the HSNO Act in respect of aerodromes)
• the Commercial Vehicle Investigation Unit (a unit of the New Zealand Police, which is responsible for enforcing the provisions of the HSNO Act in relation to the commercial vehicle fleet)
• the Ministry of Health (which enforces the Smokefree Environments Act 1990 and some older regulations made under the Health Act 1956 and the now-revoked Factories and Commercial Premises Act 1981).

The relationships between the Department of Labour and the other agencies are governed through a number of mechanisms, including formal Prime Ministerial delegation of functions and Memoranda of Understanding.

The Department of Labour is currently restructuring the operation of its regional health and safety inspectorate and the centralised supporting professional and technical services. Proposals include the merging of the health and safety inspectorate workforce with the employment relations inspectorate, and the creation of four regional delivery centres. Additional occupational health technical capacity has recently been appointed as part of this restructuring. Given that proposals have yet to be finalised, it is not possible to comment further on the potential impact that this restructuring exercise may have on the future delivery of the inspectorate function.

Issues associated with the compliance and enforcement system are identified on page ix.

The rehabilitation and compensation system

The lead agency for the rehabilitation and compensation system is the Accident Compensation Corporation. This agency is charged with delivering a 24-hour, no-fault, comprehensive insurance system for personal injuries that occur in New Zealand (including work-related injuries). The Accident Compensation Corporation also operates the claims system, which provides cover for any personal injuries arising from work (provided they meet the definition of personal injury governing cover under the Act). The Accident Compensation Corporation has a key function of preventing injury, which is given effect through the incentives programmes and other specific programmes targeted at reducing the impact of occupational injury and disease.

The coverage provided by the ACC system appears to be a good model for addressing work-related harm, although there are a small number of areas for potential improvement (including clarity over leadership in injury prevention activities and a broader scope to the work-related injuries and diseases covered by the system). These are identified in the Summary of Issues (page ix).

The education framework

The education framework covers a number of different components of the system, including the qualification of health and safety professionals (eg, occupational medicine practitioners, occupational hygienists and ergonomists), and the training available to health and safety representatives elected under the HSE Act. Further training is available through the private market.

Overall, there are a number of qualifications and unit standards available to people who wish to work in the occupational health and safety field. However, there are also limited training opportunities available for certain professional groups (eg, occupational physicians, occupational hygienists and general practitioners).

There are two key facilities that provide dedicated health and safety training: the Occupational (Health and Safety) Development Centre (ODC – a unit of the Department of Labour that provides practical training for the inspectorate) and a purpose-built training centre in Taranaki. Additional private training in a range of health and safety issues is provided by private trainers.

Health and safety representative training is available through 12 approved courses operated by a range of providers, including the unions, Business New Zealand, and industry-specific training providers such as Site Safe. Approximately 20,000 people have been trained in these courses. Funding to subsidise this training is available through the Employment Relations Education Contestable Fund.

Expert advice

There is a range of mechanisms and institutions that provide access to expert advice. These include ministerial advisory committees and panels to give advice on specific issues relating to occupational health and safety, specialist panels convened by government agencies to provide specific technical advice on issues, and a range of analytical and monitoring services provided by laboratories and other technical bodies. These services are provided at both the localised and national levels.

Collaboration and leadership

The occupational health and safety sector is diverse, and many players are required to take actions in order to support the prevention of work-related harm. New Zealand has a number of mechanisms to support collaboration and co-ordination at all levels. These include:

• political collaboration through the Injury Prevention Ministerial Committee
• informal relationships between key Crown agencies and their social partners
• collaboration between government agencies responsible for enforcing various components of the system (eg, through both formal mechanisms such as Memoranda of Understanding and interagency groups, and more informal, relationship-driven mechanisms)
• government and industry partnerships to promote health and safety
• industry groups formed to promote occupational health and safety.

With so many agencies involved in health and safety, leadership is vital. In New Zealand, leadership of the compliance and enforcement sector is provided through the Department of Labour. Leadership of the rehabilitation and compensation sector is provided by the Accident Compensation Corporation. Joint leadership is provided in regard to education and injury prevention activities related to the workplace.

Workforce

The health and safety workforce is very diverse, both in terms of the functions undertaken by specific classes of practitioner and in terms of the levels of qualification held. However, limited information was available for some professions, which would normally be included in such a discussion. As such, this report focuses only on the health practitioner workforce, selected health and safety professionals, the inspectorate workforce, and the Accident Compensation Corporation’s full-time equivalent (FTE) staff.

The inspectorate workforce comprises a range of professional warranted officers who undertake statutory functions under the HSE and HSNO Acts. These officers are employed by the Department of Labour, Maritime New Zealand, the Civil Aviation Authority and the Commercial Vehicles Investigation Unit. This amounts to approximately 270 FTE staff.

A small number of health professionals work in the field of occupational health, including occupational physicians, occupational health nurses and physiotherapists. These professionals operate in a range of settings, including working for key government agencies, in private practice and for industry. A small number of ergonomists and occupational hygienists also practise in New Zealand. These health and safety professionals are represented by a range of professional bodies that focus on training and continued professional development.

There are also a number of health and safety consultants operating. These consultants provide a range of professional services to industry and businesses. At present, health and safety consultants are unregulated, and it is not possible to estimate the size of this workforce with any accuracy. An assessment of the demand for services and their availability was therefore not made.

National policy framework

New Zealand is serviced by two key national policies to support the prevention of work-related injury and disease: the New Zealand Injury Prevention Strategy and the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy. These provide a clear set of strategic outcomes and detail the actions necessary to achieve them.

National programmes

There are three national programmes run by the Accident Compensation Corporation to reduce work-related injury. These programmes aim to support organisations in improving workplace health and safety practice through incentives in the form of ACC levy discounts or upwards adjustments in ACC levies. Other programmes supported by the Accident Compensation Corporation allow industry groups to meet and develop initiatives that address issues specific to their particular industry (eg, the Safer Industries programmes).

Surveillance

New Zealand’s surveillance system is characterised by an ad-hoc arrangement of multiple organisations running different data collection systems. Some of the key organisations involved are the Injury Information Manager, the Accident Compensation Corporation, the Department of Internal Affairs (through the Births, Deaths, and Marriages database), the Department of Labour (through the NODS database and WorkBench), the New Zealand Health Information Service (through the National Minimum Dataset, the New Zealand Cancer Registry and the New Zealand Mortality Collection), the Institute of Environmental Science and Research (through the EpiSurv database and the Chemical Injury Surveillance System), and the Civil Aviation Authority and Maritime New Zealand.

A number of issues with the surveillance system have been identified by NOHSAC. These are discussed in the Summary of Issues on page ix.

Research activities

Research into work-related health and safety issues is funded through two key channels: public funding (such as that provided via the Health Research Council and through other government agencies like the Department of Labour and the Accident Compensation Corporation or independent bodies such as NOHSAC), and private funding.

Research is carried out by both individuals and specific organisations including:

• the Centre for Public Health Research (Massey University) – research into occupational health topics
• the Injury Prevention Research Unit (University of Otago) – research into injury surveillance and initiatives to reduce injury incidence in both work and non-work settings
• the Injury Prevention Research Centre (University of Auckland) – limited injury-related research
• the Centre for Human Factors and Ergonomics – solutions-focused research into ergonomics and design
• the Sleep/Wake Centre (Massey University) – research into fatigue and shiftwork
• Centre for Ergonomics, Occupational Safety, and Health (Massey University) – research and consultancy and provision of specialist courses and information services in ergonomics and occupational safety and health.

Generally, New Zealand-focused research tends to canvas injury surveillance and prevention activities rather than occupational health and health monitoring. This is reflected in the research priorities identified for funding.

Awareness-raising activities

A significant number of awareness-raising activities are currently undertaken in New Zealand with regard to general injury prevention. These include publications, websites and electronic material, and public broadcasts such as television and radio advertisements. While much of this information is targeted at general injury prevention activities, it can also feed into behavioural and attitudinal change in the workplace.

ISSN 1177-2239
ISBN 0-478-28059-9

This document is available on NOHSAC’s website www.nohsac.govt.nz. It can be freely quoted, copied and circulated with appropriate acknowledgement. The suggested citation is: Allen & Clarke. Occupational health and safety in New Zealand. Technical Report prepared for the National Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Committee: NOHSAC Technical Report 7: Wellington, 2006.