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Keeping Safe at Work - A Guide for Employees

What the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 means for you

We all have a role to play in making a safe and healthy workplace

Employers and employees need to set goals around health and safety and then work together as a team to achieve them.

Health and safety in the workplace should be at the front of everyone’s minds.

Definitions

Serious Harm – an incident resulting in death, permanent loss of bodily function, or temporary severe loss of bodily function

Health and Safety Representative - someone you can go to when you have any problems around health and safety, they will work with your employer to find a solution

Good Faith – Sincere and honest intention, trust between two parties

Hazards – an object or event which can cause injury or damage

Near miss – an incident which did not result in injury, illness or damage, but could have potentially done so

Safety System – Employers and employees working together to prevent and control hazards in the workplace

A Workplace - Anywhere your employer requires you to be as part of your job, whether on-site or off-site. This includes places like the lunchroom, the car park, any motor vehicle you drive as part of work, and any equipment you use such as a crane or a ladder. Your vehicle is also a workplace while you drive from job to job.

Creating a safe and healthy workplace is a basic part of the relationship between you and your employer

Two laws support this relationship:

What does your employer have to do under the Health and Safety Act 1992?

Employers must:

  • be responsible for providing a safe working environment
  • ensure you are properly trained and supervised so you can work safely
  • work with you to:
  • identify hazards in the workplace, and
  • ensure that those hazards are eliminated, isolated or minimised.
  • eliminate hazards where possible, depending on how much harm it could cause and how difficult and expensive it would be. Where a hazard cannot be eliminated you have the right to know about the hazard and what you need to do (or not do) to work safely.

The aim is to do things better in order to achieve a safe and healthy workplace – not just because that’s what the law says, but because it’s better for everyone.

Problems that can happen are not only to do with an injured or sick person. A serious injury can also:

You have a right to the information and equipment you need to be safe at work

A workplace is anywhere your employer requires you to be as part of your job, whether on-site or off-site. This includes places like the lunchroom, the car park, any motor vehicle you drive as part of work, and any equipment you use such as a crane or a ladder. Your vehicle is also a workplace while you drive from job to job.

Your employer must:

Your employer needs to constantly manage health and safety and keep systems and processes for informing and involving staff up-to-date. You can contribute to this.

What do you have to do as an employee?

As an employee, you have responsibilities for keeping yourself and others safe.

You can make your workplace safer by:

Are you a hazard to others at work?

If you are:

your practices may become unsafe, putting yourself and others at risk.

Avoid behaviour that puts you or others at risk.

Tell your employer or health and safety representative about anything that might affect your ability to perform your work safely. That’s in the best interests of everyone.

Never think “just this once, because the job has to be done”. Taking a risk once is once too often.

If you’re concerned about a safety issue, make your concern heard so it can be fixed before problems occur

All jobs have hazards, although some may be taken for granted because they are so familiar, or overlooked in order to “get the job done”.

The way to make workplaces safe is to prevent harm by controlling hazards. This is often known as a “safety system”, and both employer and employees need to make the system work.

If you see a hazard in your workplace that you feel hasn’t been addressed, you should raise it immediately. You should also be alert for:

You can help to solve the problem before people are harmed. A good health and safety system at work will make sure you know who to tell and your concerns are taken seriously. This will usually be your supervisor, and/or your health and safety representative.

Sometimes workplace hazards can lead to illnesses, not just accidents. If you become aware of a possible problem such as a pattern of illnesses among the staff, let the right person know.

Reporting hazards and accidents is everyone’s responsibility

Everyone has a part to play in improving the health and safety of New Zealand workplaces. Reporting hazards or accidents (including near misses) is part of this shared responsibility.

Any accident in your workplace, either to an employee or to a visitor, must be recorded by your employer. These records are important to identify patterns of injury or illness so that safety can be improved.

Take responsibility for making sure your employer knows about any accidents you are involved in or aware of.  Reporting processes should be explained to you when you first start a new job.

You have a right to refuse unsafe work

Where you have genuine concerns about your immediate safety you have the right to refuse unsafe work. This should only happen when other avenues to deal with the problem have not been successful. During the time your concerns are being investigated, you may be required to perform other duties in the workplace.

You have a right to be involved in improving health and safety

Because every workplace is different, employees are in a unique position to know how they and others in the workplace can be kept safe. That’s why the law gives you the right to be involved in health and safety issues at work and gives you access to information and training.

With your fellow employees, you may elect a health and safety representative for your workplace. This is someone that you can go to when you have any problems around health and safety and they will work with your employer to find a solution. In larger workplaces, you may elect the employees’ representatives on a health and safety committee that also includes representatives of your employer.

Your health and safety representative can have a number of roles. These could include:

Everyone benefits when employees and their unions help to develop health and safety systems, and when those systems are part of the daily life in the workplace.

When that happens, the employer, the employees and the whole community are better off. An investment in safety is an investment in the well-being of the business and its employees.

For help

Your health and safety representative:

Name: _________________________________

Phone: _________________________________

Email: _________________________________

Further information and assistance is available from the Department of Labour’s website, calling us on 0800 20 90 20, or from your union.