Boosting Health and Safety with ISO 45001: Government Incentives
The main New Zealand government incentive linked to ISO 45001 sits inside ACC's Accredited Employers Programme (AEP), which has accepted ISO 45001 certification as a way to meet its health and safety requirements since 1 April 2025.
Three points are worth knowing up front:
What ACC’s Accredited Employers Programme offers as a government incentive
The financial benefits businesses can realistically gain from it
Where ISO 45001 supports what health and safety law already requires
Understanding ACC’s Accredited Employers Programme
The AEP lets employers take on the management of their own workers' injury claims in return for lower ACC levies. Since 1 April 2025 ISO 45001 certification has been one way to meet its health and safety requirements and that's where the standard and the programme meet.
Key Features of the AEP
The AEP lets participating employers take on the management of their workers' injury claims, including cover decisions, claims payments and rehabilitation support. By taking on the financial liability for those injuries an employer can reduce its ACC levies compared with standard ACC arrangements.
Employers can choose between two plans when they join the AEP:
The Partnership Discount Plan, where the employer manages claims for a set claims management period
The Full Self Cover Plan, where the employer takes on a greater share of the financial liability for claims
To join, an employer has to show strong health and safety systems, effective injury prevention and sound claims management, assessed against ACC's audit standards for safety practice, injury management and continuous improvement. Entry requires passing an audit by an ACC approved auditor.
Since 1 April 2025 valid ISO 45001 certification from an accredited certification body can be offered for the health and safety part instead, with ACC having the final say on whether it's accepted. Employers can also bring in a third party administrator to help with claims management, with ACC's approval.
Benefits of the AEP
The savings in the AEP come from paying for actual injury costs instead of a standard levy. Being directly involved in return to work tends to help injured workers recover faster and cuts downtime. The programme also gives a business more control over how injury management runs. ISO 45001 certification now sits alongside ACC's own audit as a way to show the health and safety system is working.
Challenges and Obligations
Managing injury claims takes real expertise, time and resources and not every business has them. Accredited employers have to keep their systems up to standard and pass regular audits. Because they carry the financial liability for workplace injuries, poorly managed claims become a direct cost to the business.
For eligible businesses the AEP can improve injury management and cut costs, although it only works with strong systems, consistent compliance and the right people resourced to run it.
Learn about our ISO 45001 certification ready four step process.
The AEP and ISO 45001: Aligning for Enhanced Workplace Safety
The Accredited Employers Programme has aligned more closely with ISO 45001 as part of changes designed to strengthen health and safety standards and give accredited employers more flexibility.
Since 1 April 2025 accredited employers have been able to use ISO 45001 certification to meet the AEP's health and safety requirements. The certificate has to be issued by an accredited certification body and ACC has the final say on whether it's accepted.
For employers that already hold certification, accepting ISO 45001 can mean one less separate audit regime to prepare for each year.
Employers can now choose between the updated ACC health and safety audit process and ISO 45001 certification, picking whichever suits how they operate.
Including ISO 45001 as an alternative pathway is a significant change for the AEP because it ties the programme to an international standard that's already widely used.
Conclusion
The Accredited Employers Programme now gives employers a choice of health and safety pathways, with ISO 45001 certification accepted since April 2025.
For businesses already working toward ISO 45001 that makes certification count twice, once for the standard itself and once toward the AEP's health and safety requirements.
Certification is still only as good as the system behind it. In the AEP the employer carries the cost of its own claims and a system that only works on paper gets expensive quickly.
Discover in our fourth blog post in this series how ISO 45001 is relevant to SMEs and MEs, not just enterprise businesses.
ISO 45001 Certification That Doesn't Rest on One Person
In Raise the Standard I describe a business whose safety performance depends on a single committed person as one resignation away from exposure. The documents look complete and the audits pass, however the system is really that person's knowledge and effort. When they leave the certificate stays on the wall and the system walks out the door with them.
That risk matters more once ISO 45001 is carrying your AEP accreditation as well. Surveillance audits happen every year. In the AEP the employer is also managing real claims for injured workers and the system needs owners right across the business, not one name against every corrective action.
Before you commit to certification, the free Compliance Compass Self-Check gives you a quick view of where your health and safety system really stands.
Frequently Asked Questions About ISO 45001 Incentives
What is the ACC Accredited Employers Programme?
The AEP is an ACC programme that lets employers take on the management of their own workers' injury claims, including cover decisions, payments and rehabilitation, for a set claims management period. In return they pay reduced ACC levies. Entry depends on meeting ACC's health and safety, injury management and financial requirements.
Can ISO 45001 certification be used for ACC accreditation?
Yes, since 1 April 2025 accredited employers can use valid ISO 45001 certification to meet the AEP's health and safety requirements instead of the ACC health and safety audit. The certificate must be issued by an accredited certification body and ACC has final approval over whether it's accepted.
How often is an ISO 45001 certificate audited?
An ISO 45001 certificate lasts three years. Within that cycle there's an initial certification audit, at least one surveillance audit in each of the next two years and a recertification audit before the certificate expires.
About the Author
Matt Jones is the founder of Advanced Safety and a HASANZ-registered health and safety consultant. He's a Professional Member of NZISM and holds a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health.
He leads Advanced Safety's ISO 45001 work, built on the same question as his Compliance Compass audit: does the system work the way it reads on paper? That question runs through his book Raise the Standard: Why Good Organisations Go Blind and How Leaders Restore Visibility and its three frameworks.
He also hosts the Health & Safety Unplugged podcast.
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The smart place to start is where you really stand. The ISO 45001 gap review is Compliance Compass run against the standard and you come away with the gaps in priority order, a straight answer on whether certification is the right goal for you yet and a 90-day roadmap.
Read how Civtec was taken through ISO 45001 recertification.
Latest update: 5 November 2026
