Welcome to the first in a series of email updates about the Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017 that will come into force on 1 December.

To help you prepare, between now and December we will produce initial guidance, provide further information on our web pages and update you through these emails.

This issue focuses largely on visibility and awareness of hazardous substances - knowing what you’ve got, how to manage it and ensuring that others know too. We also outline what’s changing for approved handlers.

If you are one of the 150,000 businesses across New Zealand that manufacture, use, handle or store hazardous substances in the workplace then you should know how to safely manage the risks associated with them.

And there are risks – every year around 600-900 people die prematurely from workplace-related disease including from exposure to hazardous substances.

The new Regulations will come into force on 1 December. Until then the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act remains in force in its current form. For a quick look at what’s changing visit our website.

Like all work-related health and safety risks, you can’t manage them if you don’t know what they are. One of the biggest changes affecting businesses is the mandatory requirement to have an inventory of all their hazardous substances. Find out more about inventories and learn about the tools that can help you.

Where do you find information about your hazardous substances? First look at their safety data sheets. These are becoming mandatory for all hazardous substances in your workplace. Find out more about how safety data sheets help you, how you get them and what your obligations are.

People, including workers, emergency services and visitors, need to know what hazardous substances you have on site and the precautionary measures they should take.

Signs and labels provide clear, concise information and are often the first warnings people will have about your hazardous substances.

‘Certified handler’ is the new term for what we currently call an ‘approved handler’. These are people certified to handle very hazardous substances in your workplace. Find out when you will need a certified handler under the new Regulations.

In August we will go out for public consultation on 13 safe work instruments. They will be made available on our website. We will also send you an email update when the documents are available. In the meantime you can find out more about what safe work instruments are and how they are used.