The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 13 July 2026, with the main changes taking effect 1 April 2027. It creates a new 'small PCBU' category for businesses with fewer than 20 workers, who will only need to actively manage 'critical risks' (those likely to cause death or serious injury/illness) rather than exhaustively documenting every hazard. Businesses that follow an approved code of practice are treated as compliant and shielded from enforcement on those matters.
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NZ Health & Safety Amendment Act lets small firms (<20 workers) focus on critical risks
Why this matters for founders
Founders running lean teams under 20 people can cut health-and-safety paperwork by scoping obligations to a defined list of critical risks and adopting an industry-approved code of practice as a compliance safe harbour. Use the runway to 1 April 2027 to map your critical risks now rather than maintaining sprawling generic risk registers.
Source: WorkSafe New Zealand
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