The facts, the duties, the penalties — and what your business must have in place
Every New Zealand business (every PCBU) must manage workplace health and safety under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA). In practice that means having a working health and safety management system. Getting it wrong can cost up to $3 million in fines — and 70 people still died from work-related injuries in 2024.
Every Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) in New Zealand must comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
A PCBU is, in plain terms, almost any business or organisation — whether you are a sole trader, a company, a partnership, a not-for-profit or a government agency. If you run a business of any size, you hold the primary duty of care under the HSWA. That duty means you must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of:
Company directors and others in governance roles (“officers” under the HSWA) have a separate, personal duty of due diligence to make sure the business meets its obligations.
It means doing what a reasonable business would do to manage a risk, weighing how likely harm is and how serious it could be against what it takes to control it.
You are expected to identify your hazards and risks, put sensible controls in place, and keep records that show you did so. The HSWA does not require perfection — it requires you to take reasonable, proactive steps and to be able to demonstrate them. That “demonstrate them” part is exactly why a documented health and safety management system matters: without records, you cannot easily show a regulator (or a court) what you did.
The HSWA sets three tiers of duty offences. The maximum penalties range from a $50,000 fine up to $3 million and, for the most serious offences, up to five years' imprisonment.
The exact maximum penalty depends on the offence and on who the duty holder is. The figures below are the maximum penalties for health and safety duty offences under sections 47–49 of the HSWA.
| Offence | Worker / other individual | PCBU or officer (individual) | Organisation (company) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reckless conduct exposing a person to risk of death or serious injury/illness (s47) | 5 years' prison and/or $300,000 | 5 years' prison and/or $600,000 | $3 million |
| Failure to comply with a duty that exposes a person to risk of death or serious injury/illness (s48) | $150,000 | $300,000 | $1.5 million |
| Failure to comply with a health and safety duty (s49) | $50,000 | $100,000 | $500,000 |
Maximum penalties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. This is general information, not legal advice. See our HSWA overview or the official WorkSafe guidance for detail.
A workable OHS management system gives you the policies, registers, procedures and records that prove you are meeting your HSWA duties.
At a minimum, a New Zealand health and safety management system should include:
Many New Zealand businesses also need to meet pre-qualification schemes such as PreQual, SiteWise or Totika to win work — and a well-kept system is what gets you a strong rating.
Book a demo and we'll show you how it works — free 30-day trial included.
There is no law that says you must buy a specific “system”, but every PCBU must manage health and safety risks and be able to show how. In practice, a documented health and safety management system is how businesses meet, and prove, their HSWA duties — which is why it is treated as essential.
The maximum fine under the HSWA is $3 million, which applies to an organisation convicted of reckless conduct (the most serious duty offence, section 47). Individual PCBUs or officers can face up to $600,000 and five years' imprisonment for the same offence.
Around 70 people died from work-related injuries in New Zealand in 2024 — an average of more than one death every week — according to WorkSafe data compiled in the Business Leaders' Health & Safety Forum's State of a Thriving Nation 2025 report. New Zealand's work-related fatality rate is about 1.6 times Australia's and roughly 6.5 times the United Kingdom's.
A PCBU (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) is almost any business or organisation — a sole trader, company, partnership, not-for-profit or government agency. The PCBU holds the primary duty of care for the health and safety of workers and anyone else affected by its work.
Cost varies with the size and type of business. NZOHS pricing is scaled to your business so you only pay for what you need, and a free 30-day trial is available so you can try the system before you buy. You can request a free, no-obligation quote.
