HSWA duties: what a PCBU must actually do
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) reshaped New Zealand health and safety around one central idea: the person conducting a business or undertaking — the PCBU — holds the primary duty of care. If you run a business, you are a PCBU, and the duty applies whether you have one worker or a hundred.
The primary duty
You must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and of others affected by your work. “Reasonably practicable” weighs the likelihood and degree of harm against what it takes to eliminate or minimise it — it is not a licence to do nothing because a control is inconvenient.
Engage with workers
HSWA requires you to engage with workers on health and safety and to have practicable ways for them to participate. That means genuine consultation on the things that affect them, not a poster on the wall.
Keep the evidence
Where the failure usually shows is evidence. Risk assessments that were never written down, training that can't be proven, certificates no one can find. Keeping records current — and being able to produce them — is how you show you met the duty if WorkSafe ever asks.
Questions, answered
Who is a PCBU?
A person conducting a business or undertaking — in practice, almost any business, whether a company, sole trader or partnership. Multiple PCBUs can share duties on the same site and must consult, cooperate and coordinate.
What does 'so far as is reasonably practicable' mean?
It weighs the likelihood and seriousness of harm against the cost and effort of controlling it. High-risk, high-likelihood hazards demand more; it never means ignoring a risk because a control is inconvenient.
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