What is the HASANZ Register?

My first job in health and safety came over a fence. My next door neighbour turned up with a beer in each hand and a problem: he and his business partner ran a small Christchurch building company that would lose its earthquake repair contracts unless they sorted out their health and safety. I said yes on the spot. I'd spent years around people getting hurt at work, however I couldn't have told you what a site specific safety plan looked like.

There was no register anyone could have checked me against. In plenty of businesses that's still how an adviser gets hired: someone knows someone, they sound like they know the Act and they start on Monday.

The HASANZ Register was built for exactly that gap. It's been running since July 2018 and it's the quickest way I know to find out whether the person you're about to trust with your people has actually been tested by their own profession.

What is the HASANZ Register?

HASANZ, the Health and Safety Association of New Zealand, is the umbrella body for the workplace health and safety professions here. Its register lists people who've met the registration standard of one of its member associations. Each association sets its own standard, covering qualifications, experience, continuing professional development, ethics, good character and insurance.

The register covers far more than general safety advisers. Advisers are listed under ten disciplines: health and safety generalists, occupational hygienists, occupational health nurses, occupational health physiotherapists, occupational and environmental medicine specialists, occupational therapists, organisational psychologists, human factors professionals and ergonomists, asbestos professionals and hazardous substance professionals.

Most businesses looking for day to day help want a health and safety generalist. If the problem is noise, dust or fumes you want an occupational hygienist. If it's asbestos you want someone registered in that discipline specifically.

How to check an adviser on the HASANZ Register

Checking an adviser takes about two minutes and it's free.

1. Go to Find an adviser on the HASANZ website.
2. Search the person's name or filter by discipline, the region they're based in and the regions they work in.
3. Open their profile and check the discipline matches the work you need done.
4. Check whether they're listed as a consultant or as an employee of another business.
5. Read their qualifications, then ask them for two references from businesses like yours.

What the HASANZ Register can’t tell you

HASANZ is straight about this in its own FAQ, where it says the register "is not a replacement for businesses undertaking their own due diligence". Registration tells you the person met a standard. It doesn't tell you how they'll work inside your business.

Before you engage anyone, registered or not, I'd ask three questions. Who will actually do the work, the person you met or someone you haven't? Who checks their work before it reaches you? What happens to your system if they leave in six months?

The third question is the one most businesses skip and it's the one that hurts.

The business with one load-bearing wall

The building company I joined over that beer had a safety system and its safety system was me. I was the one person holding up its entire safety performance and nobody in the business had noticed which wall was carrying the load. In my book Raise the Standard I call that a system with one load-bearing wall. It leaves a business one resignation away from exposure.

It's still one of the most common arrangements I come across in mid-sized businesses. A capable health and safety manager carries the critical risk register, the contractor approvals and the board report in their head, then they resign or go on leave for three weeks and the business finds out its system was a person.

In the book I call this wearing the superhero cape. The cape isn't a personality flaw, it's a structural vacancy. Registration tells you an adviser has met their profession's standard. It can't stop your business depending on one competent person.

How Advanced Safety uses the HASANZ Register

Every associate Advanced Safety places inside a business through Implementation Partner is on the HASANZ Register, as am I. That's the floor, not the selling point. What sits on top is the part the register can't show you: the associate works to our method, every piece of their work goes through a separate quality review and the system is set up to keep running when the person changes.

That's how Enatel kept its health and safety system moving and its ISO 9001 certification intact while it recruited a new health and safety manager.

If you've got a gap in your health and safety role right now or a system that only works when one person is in the building, a 15-minute call with me is the quickest way to work out whether Implementation Partner fits.

HASANZ Register FAQs

Is it a legal requirement to use a HASANZ registered adviser?

No, there's no law that requires your adviser to be on the register. When it launched in 2018, WorkSafe's then chief executive called it "a great first point of reference for businesses seeking quality, reliable and professional health and safety advice".

Is the HASANZ Register free?

Yes, it's free to search on the HASANZ website.

Does HASANZ registration guarantee an adviser is right for my business?

Registration doesn't guarantee an adviser is the right fit for you. It means the person met a member association's standard. HASANZ's own FAQ says businesses "must still check that the person they wish to engage is right for them".

What is the difference between NZISM and HASANZ?

NZISM, the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management, is one of the HASANZ member associations. HASANZ is the umbrella body that runs the register across all of them.

Are Advanced Safety’s consultants on the HASANZ Register?

Yes, Matt Jones and every Implementation Partner associate are listed on the HASANZ Register as health and safety generalists.