The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (the Act) will come into force on 4 April 2016.¹
Despite the momentary explosions that took 29 lives in November 2010 in a remote coal mine on the West Coast of the South Island, the pace of achieving reform has been glacial. The new Act will come into force almost 5½ years after the few seconds that were Pike River. There is, happily, no transitional period for its core provisions.² A focus of practitioners and stakeholders between now and then will be familiarisation with the Act. We hope this webinar and accompanying booklet will help begin that process.
The Act will repeal and replace the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 and Machinery Act 1950. A series of detailed supporting Regulations, yet to be finalised, will underpin it. The Health and Safety Reform Bill passed its third reading on 27 August 2014 and the final stages of its passage have been marked by controversy and, at times, intense media interest and ridicule. Perhaps the new law was always fated to attract interest and close criticism due to its wide reach – most of us work or have done so at some stage of our lives – and because of its status as being borne of the shockwaves emanating from Pike River. Indeed, as the Bill was debated at the Committee stage in August 2015 there was criticism of Labour MP Sue Moroney for bringing into Parliament a cremation casket as a symbol of the Pike River families and their angst at what has been called a “watered down” Bill.^{3
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1} Health and Safety at Work Bill 2015, cl 2(2).
² Some provisions may come into force after 4 April 2016.
³ Andrea Vance, ‘MP Criticised for bringing ashes casket to Parliament debate,’ 20 August 2015, at: http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/71311762/mp-critcised-for-bringing-ashes-casket-to-parliament-debate.