NZ Regulatory Framework
New Zealand’s workplace health and safety system is built on a hierarchy of legislation and regulations. Understanding which rules apply to your organisation — and how they relate to each other — helps you use SteadyOn more effectively.
This page is not legal advice. For specific compliance questions, consult a qualified health and safety advisor or lawyer.
The legislation at a glance
Section titled “The legislation at a glance”| Legislation | What it covers | Who it applies to |
|---|---|---|
| HSWA 2015 | Primary duty of care, officer due diligence, notifiable events | All PCBUs with workers |
| GRWM Regulations 2016 | Risk management, emergency plans, workplace facilities, remote work | All PCBUs |
| Worker Engagement Regulations 2016 | Health and safety representatives, committees, worker participation | PCBUs with workers |
| First Aid Regulations 2016 | First aid equipment, trained first aiders, minimum provision | All PCBUs |
| FENZ Act 2017 + Evacuation Regulations 2018 | Evacuation schemes, fire safety, warden training | Most workplaces with buildings |
| Privacy Act 2020 | Handling incident data, health records, employee personal information | All organisations handling personal data |
How the layers fit together
Section titled “How the layers fit together”The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) is the foundation. It sets the overarching duty of care — that every PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its workers and others affected by its work.
Below the Act sit a series of regulations — these translate the broad duties in the HSWA into specific requirements. The most significant for most workplaces are:
- GRWM Regulations — the day-to-day operational requirements: how to manage risk, what to do in an emergency, what facilities workers must have access to
- Worker Engagement Regulations — how to involve workers in health and safety decisions through representatives, committees, and participation practices
- First Aid Regulations — the minimum first aid provision every workplace must have
Alongside these, two further laws apply in specific contexts:
- FENZ Act and Evacuation Regulations — apply when you occupy a building and must maintain an evacuation scheme; managed in cooperation with Fire and Emergency New Zealand
- Privacy Act 2020 — applies whenever you collect, store, or use personal information about workers or incident parties, including health and wellbeing data
How SteadyOn addresses each area
Section titled “How SteadyOn addresses each area”| Area | SteadyOn module |
|---|---|
| Identifying and managing hazards | Hazard Register |
| Documenting risk controls | Hazard Register — Controls field |
| Emergency procedures (documented) | Documents module |
| Incident recording and investigation | Incident Register |
| Notifiable event tracking | Incident Register — Notifiable flag |
| Worker hazard reporting | Hazard and Incident reporting (all roles) |
| Public / contractor incident reporting | Public Incident Reporting link |
| Corrective actions and follow-up | Corrective Actions module |
| Workplace inspections | Inspections module |
| First aid training records | Training module — First Aid category |
| Evacuation warden certification | Training module — Fire Safety category |
| Audit trail for due diligence | Audit Log |
| Board / officer compliance visibility | Dashboard and Reports |
A note on “so far as is reasonably practicable”
Section titled “A note on “so far as is reasonably practicable””The HSWA and its regulations use this phrase extensively. It means you are required to take precautions that a reasonable person in your position, with knowledge of the risks, would take — balancing the likelihood and severity of harm against the cost and difficulty of the precaution.
SteadyOn’s risk assessment tools (the 5×5 risk matrix, BRAG status, and corrective action priority levels) are designed to help you make and document these judgements consistently. A documented risk assessment is evidence that you considered the risk and made a reasoned decision about how to manage it.
See Risk Assessment for full detail on how the risk matrix works.