The Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017 come into force today, Friday 1 December, along with a number of corrections and minor amendments.
The amendment Regulations, and the updates to the Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations, are available on the Legislation website. The amendment Regulations were also notified in the New Zealand Gazette on Thursday 30 November.
Changes to the rules for working with hazardous substances provide a unique opportunity to improve workplace health and safety across New Zealand.
The Regulations will set out the requirements for the work-related manufacture, use, handling and storage of hazardous substances, and increase the focus on proactively identifying and managing the risks of hazardous substances in the workplace to protect workers from harm.
Moving the rules from the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (HSNO) to the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) will align the approach to managing hazardous substances at work with other obligations under New Zealand’s workplace health and safety law.
HSNO is administered by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). HSWA is administered by WorkSafe.
Hazardous substances are in a third of our workplaces, so this is a huge opportunity to make a real difference to the health and safety of New Zealand workers.
The regulations bring a new focus to managing the critical risks – health-related and catastrophic – posed by hazardous substances.
Over the past three years we have already seen the benefits of the integration of hazardous substances with the certification regime being under the regulator for workplace health and safety.
Our website has information, guidance and FAQs on these new Regulations. The online Hazardous Substances Toolbox also has a range of tools to help manage your hazardous substances.
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