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Definitions

For the purposes of this Guide, the following definitions apply.

AED:
means Automated External Defibrillator.  A defibrillator applies a short powerful electric shock to the heart, allowing the heart to regain its natural rhythm.

All practicable steps:
has the same meaning as the definition provided in section 2A of the HSE Act.  For more information see www.legislation.govt.nz

CPR:
means cardio-pulmonary resuscitation.  CPR is a combination of mouth to mouth rescue breathing and chest compressions.  It keeps blood and oxygen circulating to the heart and brain of a person whose heart has stopped pumping effectively.

First aid certificate:
means a certificate issued by a first aid trainer.

First aid kit:
means a suitable box, cabinet or other container used to contain first aid items.  It may be static (fixed in one place) or portable.

First aider:
means a person or people in a place of work holding a valid first aid certificate based on National Qualifications Framework unit standards, and is designated by the employer as a first aider.  First aiders will also be credited with the appropriate NZQA first aid unit standards and have undertaken regular refresher courses.
Appropriate NZQA first aid unit standards are those registered on the National Qualifications Framework when the first aider was assessed.
 
First aid trainer:
means a trainer engaged by a provider who is accredited by the NZQA to assess first aid unit standards.

Good practice guide:
means recommended work practices or arrangements which have been developed with consultation, and represent the agreed good practice to be followed in defined circumstances.

Harm:
means injury, illness or both; and “harmed” has a corresponding meaning. It includes physical and mental harm caused by work-related stress.

Hazard:
(from section 2 of the HSE Act):
Means an activity, arrangement, circumstance, event, occurrence, phenomenon, process, situation, or substance (whether arising or caused within or outside a place of work) that is an actual or potential cause or source of harm, and includes:

1. a situation where a person’s behaviour may be an actual or potential cause or source of harm to the person or another person; and
2. without limitation, a situation described in (a) resulting from physical or mental fatigue, drugs, alcohol, traumatic shock or another temporary condition that affects a person’s behaviour.

Pharmacy-only medicine:
also referred to as “pharmacy medicine”, is medicine that may be sold in a community or hospital pharmacy, or a shop in an isolated area that is licensed to sell that particular medicine.  These medicines are listed in the First Schedule to the Medicines Act 1984 and amendments.

Place of work/workplace:
(from section 2 of the HSE Act):
means a place (whether or not within or forming part of a building, structure, or vehicle), where any person is to work, is working, for the time being works, or customarily works, for gain or reward; and, in relation to an employee, includes a place, or part of a place, under the control of the employer (not being domestic accommodation provided for the employee) –

1. where the employee comes or may come to eat, rest, or get first aid or pay; or
2. where the employee comes or may come as part of the employee’s duties to report in or out, get instructions, or deliver goods and vehicles; or
3. through which the employee may or must pass to reach a place of work.

Prescription medicine:
means a medicine that may only be supplied on the prescription of a medical or dental practitioner, midwife or veterinary surgeon.

Regulations:
means the Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995.  In relation to a particular set of circumstances, they specify what must be done to comply with the Act.

Safety data sheets
Means a document that describes the properties and uses of a substance, e.g. identity, chemical and physical properties, health hazard information, precautions for use, and safe handling information. These were previously known as Material Safety Sheets.

Significant hazard:
(from section 2 of the Act):
Means a hazard that is an actual or potential cause or source of:

1. serious harm; or
2. harm (being harm that is more than trivial) the severity of whose effects on any person depend (entirely or among other things) on the extent or frequency of the person’s exposure to the hazard; or

harm that does not usually occur, or usually is not easily detectable, until a significant time after exposure to the hazard.

Serious harm:
subject to section 2(4) of the Act, means death, or harm of a kind or description declared by the Governor-General by Order in Council to be serious for the purposes of the Act; and “seriously harmed” has a corresponding meaning.  Section 2(4) refers to the First Schedule of the Act, which describes serious harm.

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