Impact of Occupational Health and Safety on New Zealand Workplaces

This essay provides an in-depth analysis of occupational health and safety (OHS) in New Zealand, focusing on the future of work and its impact on workplace safety. It examines the 'Health and Safety at Work Act 2015' and its implications for reducing workplace incidents, the evolving trends in the labor...Read More

Running head: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
Occupational Health and Safety
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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The safety in the work place is very crucial for the workers of work place as it is
directly associated with the short-term and long term health condition of the workers in a
particular work place. Not only this, the safety issue in a work place is also associated with
the overall wellbeing of the employees and employers. In a safe and well work place
environment a worker can deliver his/ her best effort and it will simultaneously enhance the
productivity of the organization. In addition to this, a good and safe work place will allow
the worker to be in a good and safe condition and it will encourage the worker to attend
his/her work place and this will minimize the issue of absenteeism from the work place and
this will again affect the productivity of the organization in a positive way (Pashorina-
Nichols, 2016). Like other countries in the world, New Zealand also has a strong work place
health and safety legislation for protecting the workers as the work places are harmful for the
workers by many ways such as worker’s exposure to a unhealthy and harmful environment.
According to a report of New Zealand related to work place health and safety, it was reported
that, in each year, almost 600-900 people died due to work place related disease and in
addition to this more than 30,000 people serious non-fatal work related illness (Government
of New Zealand, 2018). From the investigation report, it is observed that, in most of the
cases those adverse incidents can be prevented. Therefore, various investigation showed that,
most of the work related injuries are associated with poorly managed work-related safety
measures. In 2015, in New Zealand, 43% of workers of New Zealand had faced the issues of
work related injuries which are accounted as high risk injuries and 11% of workers were
working in drunk condition. In addition to this, the most of the fatalities were reported in
case of those workers who were working in an overtired or drunk condition (Jayne, &
Valentine, 2016). As a result of such condition it is very evident that the safe condition of the
work place should be secured in a basis of high priority. For securing the health of workers
and future of the work, it is very important to maintain the safety at the work places. The

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Government of New Zealand is very determined to provide a safe and healthy work places to
the workers and so there are appropriate legislation for injuries and illness in the work places
(Government of New Zealand, 2018). Therefore, over the time the condition has changed and
compensation related injuries are also set by the government of New Zealand. In this essay,
the future of work and the impacts of occupational health and safety on the work, coverage of
illness and injury due to unhealthy work place and reforms of occupational legislation are
described in a brief manner.
Question 1.
The new work place health and safety legislation named ‘The Health and Safety at
Work Act 2015’ ( HWSA) is the current legislation for New Zealand’s work place health and
safety and this new act was come into effect from 2016. This new act will be responsible
for the future of work and related safety issues in New Zealand. According to this new act,
the country is aiming to reduce the cases of work place adverse incidents (Work place injury
and death incidents) by 25% at the end of 2020 (Government of New Zealand, 2018). The
HWSA implies mandatory duties on the persons conducting a business or undertaking
(PCBU) so that the health of the workers are protected. While discussing the future of work
and its impact on the work place health and safety, it can be said that, the by 2026, all the
industries may work in a collaborative manner so that, the work related hazards and safety
issues can be managed in an effective manner. The PCBU within this time period will comply
all the required health and safety requirements in the work places so that the chances of
accidents can be minimized. In addition to this, the by this time all the PCBU will have
required knowledge to provide a safe and secure work places to their workers . According to
the report of Government of New Zealand (2018), it is evident that, the participation of the
work force in various industries has been enhanced and more number of women are entering
the labour work forces. In addition to this, the engagement of the Maori population in the

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labour work force has also enhanced with time. As a result of this, there are a few OHS
challenges are also come into play. This higher employment rate in terms poses problems like
more number of injury related insurance claim in the country and with growing time, this
trend will enhance. It is reported that men workers have more number of injury related
insurance claims and the rate of injury is also higher among the male workers than that of the
female workers as well. This changing trends of labour engagement in the industry will
affect the future of work as more recruitment of young labours in the work place requires
more attention for the younger workers as they have lack of experience in their relevant
works and this may affect the work related injury cases among the young labours (Howard,
2015). In addition to this, another trend of future of work in New Zealand is the changing
content of works due to the transformation of occupational and industrial structure of the
labour work force. Like other developed countries in the World, New Zealand is also
focusing towards more industry specific occupational and transformation so that they can
reduce the significance of work in forestry, agriculture, manufacturing and fishing and
simultaneously the numbers of people in occupations such as hospitality work, retail , care
will enhance in number (Government of New Zealand, 2018). According to the report of
New Zealand government it is reported that, the in less than 10 years, the number of labours
working in heavy and physical labour industry has decreased and in recent times, the number
of people involved in professional occupations has enhanced. However, in case of
construction industry, the scenario is not the same like other profession. In this industry, the
work force is enhanced over the time. The trend of reduction in the work forces of heavy
industry also affects the incidents of classical occupational diseases in a negative way and it
is reported that, over the time, the number of such traditional disease has decreased. In
addition to this, in the industries it is reported that, workers are more interested in the non-
manual type tasks such as machine operator or plant operator and this simultaneously affects

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the incidents of adverse incidents towards a negative way. With the changing nature of works
in the New Zealand, the also affect the occupational health and safety processes in a different
way (Government of New Zealand, 2018). Although the new service sectors of the New
Zealand, is quite safer in terms of previous type of work, still the safety challenges pose
different risks to the workers in the particular different type of works. Therefore, the new
trends of work in New Zealand, may cause issues like prolonged standing or prolonged
seating, repetitive movements of any particular limbs, developing work related stress in terms
of physical and psychological and such issues are now creating different types of work
related stress among the workers of New Zealand. So, it can be said that, the issue of
prolonged sitting, standing, repetitive movement of limbs can also promote different types of
musculoskeletal disorders among the work force of the countries (Kifle et al., 2014;
Anderson et al., 2015). According to the study of Nur et al. (2014), it is observed that, the
repetitive movements of limbs can cause various disease. In Addition to this, prolonged
sitting or standing can be route cause of lower back pain (Kifle et al., 2014). In addition to
this, the future of New Zealand’s work is associated with the use of emergence of various
new technologies like other countries of this world. In the work places, is reported that, the
due to the advancement of various technologies, multiple number of new equipment are used
in the work places and most of the manual tasks has become technology based. This
advancement of technology, in the work places of New Zealand has also affects the nature of
work place health and safety of the workers. Moreover, this incorporation of the technology
in the work place has also impacted the demand of labour in the market and alteration of the
labour market trend is also affected by this advancement of technology as the trending
technology is greatly replacing the semi-skilled and low skilled employees (Government of
New Zealand, 2018). This incorporation of technology in the industry and mechanization of
the work forces again affect the health of the workers in a different manner and it is observed

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that, the due to automation of various works in the work places, the issue of obesity has
become a serious area of concerns for the workers (Cavuoto, & Nussbaum, 2014). In
addition to this, the use of various machineries in the work places are also associated with
repetitive movement in the work places and this trend of mechanisation is promoting the
issues of more numbers of strain and repetitive injuries such as repetitive strain injuries,
carpal tunnel syndrome, injury in head and neck region of the workers involved in using the
modern technology ( Nur et al., 2014). Not only are this, but the cases of fatigue, confusion,
disorientation also reported by the workers due to the use of complex modern technology
(Zhang et al., 2014).
Question 2
According to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA), there is a significant
differences in between the work related injury and illness in New Zealand. In this act, it is
described that injury or illness generally means the injuries such as amputation of body parts
of the worker, serious head injuries, a serious eye injuries or a serious burns and also those
conditions are mentioned as serious injury or illness condition in which the victims should be
hospitalized immediately. In addition to this, the conditions like separation of skin from the
underlying tissues of the body, spinal injuries and losing of body function can be mentioned
as serious injury or illness in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) (Government
of New Zealand, 2018). This act also mention that, the conditions as serious condition in
which the workers must require a hospitalization in an immediate manner to protect the
workers from getting a fatal case scenario. The conditions in which the victims need
hospitalization within the next 48 hours of the adverse incidents, such incidents are also
mentioned as injury or illness under this act. Not only the direct physical injuries, but if the
worker is affected by any serious infection , that can alter the work performance of the
workers, is also covered under this act. This infection condition may be due to by any

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microorganism, due to direct contact from an already infected person in their work places are
considered as illness of the workers. In addition to this, if a worker gets infected while
providing care to another infected person in the work place and from that situation the worker
may also have illness. Any work that is associated with handling of animal, animal skins,
animal hides, animal wools, animal waste products can cause illness among the workers
(Government of New Zealand, 2018). In addition to this handling of marine mammals or fish
can also cause illness among the workers. This act also depicts about the penalties regarding
any adverse events in the work place as well. However, if a does not take any steps against a
notifiable incidents in a work place then the individual will be fined an amount not more than
$10000 and in case of other person this amount is $50000. The PCBU cannot impose any a
levy or charge to a workers and the individual who does so, will be penalized by a fine not
exceeding $5000 (Government of New Zealand, 2018). . In addition to this, if a PCBU is
engages in such a work that he or she has not kept any record of an adverse incidents, then
the PCBU will be penalized by a monetary fine of $ 10,000. In addition to this, the PCBU
must take care about the improvement of work place related health and safety of the workers,
otherwise the PCBU will be penalized by a monetary fine of $20000. In case of not forming
a committee in the work place, the PCBU will be penalized by a monetary fine of almost $
5000 and in case of any other person, the amount of fine will be $25000. In case of
breaching the improvement notice, the PCBU will be penalized by a monetary fine of $
50000. It is observed that, 2011-12 most of the new claims of compensation was related to
treatment costs of the injury. On the other hand, rest of the new claims were associated with
compensation regarding loss of the daily earning related to the injury and according to the
act, the employee is liable to pay at the rate of 80% of the workers’ pre injury wage (Elliosn
& Watts, 2019). In addition to this compensation act of New Zealand also depicts that, the
employee is also liable to pay the home costs or the vehicle modification costs of the workers

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who is seriously injured due to the work. However, the worker will not get any
compensatory assistance from the ACC, if the worker is injured outside New Zealand.
However, the worker can have monetary assistance from ACC for injury related treatment
and rehabilitation process in New Zealand. In case of overseas injury, the workers must
produce relevant report to the ACC to get any compensation (NOHSAC, 2019).
Question 3
The work health and safety legislation has gone through a lot of changes and reform
over the time due to various incidents. In the work place health and safety act 1992, there
was no role mentioned for the duty of the managers regarding managing risks in the work
places. However, in HWSA 2015, the duty of risk managers are specified. The HWSA 2015,
introduced the concepts of “person conducting a business or undertaking” (PCBU). The act
of 2015, was initially originated to replace the 1992 act and Machinery Act 1950. This act
also replaces the previous legislation of Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996
and Compensation Act 2001 so that a better and safe work place can be offered to the
workers of New Zealand. In addition to this, the HWSA 2015 also aims to change the
Employment Relation Act 2000 to incorporate health and safety rights for securing the
employees’ protections and rights. The HWSA 2015 is a collaborative action of a number of
reforms. In 2013, the government of New Zealand has firstly proposed a blueprint of the new
act and this blue print suggested that, a new work place health and safety act would come into
play (Government of New Zealand, 2019). In addition to this, it was reported that, there was
no specific duties of the PCBU officers and in various incidents it was observed that, due to
lack of proper diligence practice, the workers are not getting benefits. In addition to this, the
self-employed persons are not covered under the work place health and safety related
legislation. The primary reason of this legislation reform is associated with the tragic
incidents of Pike River Coal mine incidents and it is observed that, the new reform bill is

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based on the Australian model Work Health and Safety Act (cibnz.co.nz, 2017). This new
reform bill also removes the distinction in between the contractors, employees and the other
workers and all these categories are named as only workers. From taking adequate learning of
various adverse incidents, the work related reform bill also takes the issue of taking steps
against an adverse incidents in a serious manner. Previously after any adverse events, the
employers can take ‘practicable steps’. However, in this new reform bill, it has been made
mandatory for the employers to take all the ‘reasonably practicable steps’ after an adverse
incidents in the work places and main reason behind this reform is that the number of
compensation claims are very high due to lack of taking adequate required steps followed by
an adverse incidents in a workplace (Workpro. Nz, 2019). Moreover, in various incidents it
was also reported that, the employers are not taking enough steps to minimize the risks in the
work places and due to these incidents, the new reform bill introduces the specific roles of
PCBUs in minimizing the risks as much as possible. In multiple incidents, it is reported that,
the workers face injury due to the unsafe work in their work places (International Labour
Organization, 2019). Hence the new reform provides the right to the workers to stop their
work if they consider it as unsafe (cibnz.co.nz, 2017).
Hence, it can be concluded that, the new HWSA 2015 is addressing almost all the
possible ways to address the safety issues of the workers in a work places. Moreover, the
changing labour market, type of works, use of technology in the work places of New Zealand
are greatly affecting the future trend of works in New Zealand, Simultaneously, with the
changing nature of works, the work related injuries or illness is also changing day by day.
Moreover, due to the incorporation of technology in the work places are introducing various
diseases such as physical inactivity, obesity apart from the traditional work related problems.
However, according to the HWSA 2015, the workers can have compensation due to various
work related injuries or illnesses and for that they have to claim their compensation in a

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proper way. Therefore, the current HWSA 2015 is result of reform of previous other acts.
The occurrence of multiple incidents showed that those acts were not adequate to protect the
workers in their workplaces and so that this new HWSA 2015 has introduced to protect the
workers in their workplaces.

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References
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