In New Zealand, health and safety representatives give workers a formal voice on the health and safety issues that affect them. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) workers can ask for one to be elected. The law then sets out clear duties for the PCBU. Whether you’re leading a small team or managing a large organisation, understanding the purpose, powers and practicalities of health and safety representatives helps you build a safer, more productive workplace.
What Are Health and Safety Representatives?
Health and safety representatives (HSRs) are elected workers who represent their peers on health and safety matters in the workplace. They provide a formal, visible avenue for worker participation and are a key part of any effective safety management system.
HSRs are elected by the members of their work group, not appointed by management. Their job is to make sure workers’ concerns are heard and dealt with quickly.
Becoming a Health and Safety Representative in New Zealand
Under HSWA and its accompanying Worker Engagement, Participation and Representation Regulations, a health and safety representative must be:
A worker, elected by members of their work group.
Formally elected through a lawful process that includes nominations, voting, and clear communication.
When a worker asks for an HSR, the PCBU must initiate the election within two months of receiving the request. Only members of a work group can vote in that work group’s election. Candidates must belong to the work group they’d represent.
Functions and Powers of Health and Safety Representatives
The law sets out both the functions and the powers of HSRs. Most powers are available to any elected HSR, while two of them, issuing provisional improvement notices and directing unsafe work to stop, are only available once the HSR has completed initial training.
Functions of Health and Safety Representatives
Represent workers on health and safety matters.
Investigate complaints and risks.
Monitor safety measures taken by the PCBU.
Provide feedback on the effectiveness of those measures.
Make recommendations to improve health and safety outcomes.
Powers of Health and Safety Representatives
Every HSR can enter and inspect the workplace, request relevant information from the PCBU and attend interviews with workers who consent. Once trained, they can also:
Issue a Provisional Improvement Notice (PIN).
Direct a worker to cease work that would expose them to serious risk.
Used well, these powers let an HSR act quickly on a real problem while still working with management to fix it.
Health and Safety Representative Training and Qualifications
To use those extra powers, a health and safety representative must complete initial training that leads to NZQA unit standard 29315.
Key Points:
Training must be delivered by NZQA-approved providers.
Once trained, an HSR can issue PINs and direct unsafe work to stop.
PCBUs must pay training fees and reasonable costs and allow each HSR up to two days’ paid leave a year for health and safety training. The total paid training days a PCBU must allow across all its HSRs is capped by the number of workers.
In later years, HSRs can use their annual entitlement for further training. The HSR chooses the course in consultation with the PCBU on timing, location and cost. The PCBU must give its decision on a training request within three months of receiving it.
Health and Safety Representatives and the Election Process
Forming Work Groups
Before an election, the PCBU must determine work groups, taking workers’ views into account. A work group is a logical grouping of workers based on factors like task, location, shift or level of risk.
Temporary work groups can work well on complex sites where workers from different businesses are together for a limited time.
The Election Process
Elections must be fair and open.
Anyone from the work group can nominate themselves or others.
A secret ballot must be used if the PCBU, a candidate or a member of the work group asks for one.
Elected HSRs serve terms of up to three years and can be re-elected.
Key Responsibilities of Health and Safety Representatives
A health and safety representative must balance advocacy and compliance. Their key responsibilities include:
Proactively monitoring risks.
Acting as a communication bridge between workers and management.
Participating in workplace inspections and incident investigations.
Contributing to the development and review of health and safety policies.
Attending interviews with WorkSafe inspectors (with worker consent).
Using the Powers: PINs and Ceasing Unsafe Work
Once trained, HSRs can:
Issue Provisional Improvement Notices (PINs)
Issued to a person or PCBU that the HSR reasonably believes is breaching HSWA or its regulations (or is likely to). The HSR must consult them before issuing it.
Sets out the problem and a date to fix it at least eight days after the notice is issued.
The person or PCBU that receives it can ask WorkSafe to review it within seven days.
Direct Unsafe Work to Cease
A trained HSR can direct a worker to stop work if they reasonably believe it would expose the worker to a serious risk from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard.
The HSR should consult the PCBU first and give it a reasonable time to deal with the risk.
If the risk is serious enough, the HSR can give the direction straight away without consulting first. Either way, the HSR must let the PCBU know a direction has been given.
Supporting Health and Safety Representatives: PCBU Obligations
Under HSWA, PCBUs must support HSRs by:
Facilitating fair elections.
Providing paid leave for training and paying the fees and reasonable costs of attending.
Consulting with HSRs on health and safety matters.
Providing timely feedback on HSR recommendations.
Keeping an up-to-date list of HSRs and their contact details that workers can readily access.
Ensuring access to relevant (non-personal) health and safety information.
Falling short on these obligations erodes worker trust quickly and can also leave the PCBU open to enforcement action.
Protections for Health and Safety Representatives
HSRs are legally protected from negative treatment due to their role.
These protections include:
Protection from discrimination or unfair treatment.
Safeguards against misleading or pressuring them regarding their role or powers.
Protection from threats intended to make them use a power, hold back from using it or give up the role.
WorkSafe can step in where a PCBU or anyone else discriminates against, coerces or misleads an HSR.
When a Health and Safety Representative Ceases to Hold Office
A health and safety representative may cease their role if:
They resign in writing.
Their term ends and they are not re-elected.
They stop being a member of the work group they represent, for example by moving teams or leaving the business.
A simple majority of their work group resolves that they should no longer represent it.
WorkSafe removes them for not performing the role satisfactorily, for example using a power for an improper purpose or disclosing someone’s personal information without consent. A PCBU can ask WorkSafe to consider removal and the decision rests with WorkSafe.
Health and Safety Representatives and Continuous Improvement
The strongest HSRs keep developing as your business grows. You can help that along by doing the following:
Encourage ongoing training beyond initial certification.
Involve HSRs in annual reviews and strategic planning.
Include them in health and safety committees.
Track their impact using key metrics like incident reporting rates and staff engagement.
Health and Safety Representatives and Worker Engagement
Worker engagement is a core part of HSWA. Health and safety representatives are one of the main ways it happens in practice. When HSRs are supported, trained and visible:
Workers are more likely to report hazards.
Near-miss reporting increases.
Safety conversations become more collaborative.
That engagement gives you better data, stronger buy-in and safer outcomes across the board.
Conclusion: Health and Safety Representatives Are Essential
Health and safety representatives are a cornerstone of New Zealand’s approach to safer workplaces.
What My Union Years Taught Me About Health and Safety Representatives
Before I worked in health and safety I was a union organiser. One story from that time is in Raise the Standard. A worker in a fast-food kitchen in a small town at the top of the South Island collapsed from the heat after months of campaigning to get the broken air conditioning fixed. HR brushed the concerns aside, the fix only came when the store was refurbished and the worker never came back. I found out weeks later and drove home in tears, more from exhaustion than anger.
The concern had been raised more than once through the channels that existed. What failed was the response. That’s the part of the HSR system I’d ask every PCBU to look at hardest, because an elected representative whose recommendations go nowhere teaches the whole work group that speaking up isn’t worth it.
HSWA already requires PCBUs to give feedback on HSR recommendations, so treat that as the minimum. Track how long it takes to respond and tell the work group what changed, so their HSR has something to show for speaking up.
The free S.A.F.E.T.Y. Leadership Worksheet is a good place to test this. It takes you through the six elements of S.A.F.E.T.Y., including Feedback (information that moves honestly) and Trust (the relational floor that makes the truth speakable).
Frequently Asked Questions About Health and Safety Representatives
How long is a health and safety representative’s term of office?
An HSR holds office for up to three years. The PCBU and the work group can agree a shorter term. HSRs can be re-elected multiple times and stop holding office earlier if they resign, leave the work group, are removed by a simple majority of the work group or are removed by WorkSafe.
How much training is a health and safety representative entitled to?
Each HSR is entitled to up to two days’ paid leave a year for health and safety training, with the PCBU paying training fees and reasonable costs such as travel. The total number of paid training days a PCBU must allow across all its HSRs is capped according to how many workers it has. Initial training has to lead to NZQA unit standard 29315 before an HSR can issue a PIN or direct unsafe work to stop.
Can a health and safety representative stop work?
Yes, a health and safety representative can direct a worker to stop work once they’ve completed initial training. They need to reasonably believe the work would expose the worker to a serious risk from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard. They should consult the PCBU first unless the risk is serious enough to act straight away. Either way, the PCBU must be told a direction has been given.
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 created Compliance Compass, the independent audit Advanced Safety uses to show leaders what's actually happening on site against what the documents say. The thinking behind it sits in his book Raise the Standard: Why Good Organisations Go Blind and How Leaders Restore Visibility, built on three frameworks: G.A.P.E.™ finds where visibility is lost, S.A.F.E.T.Y.™ designs the leadership architecture that closes the gap and F.E.E.D.™ keeps it closed.
He also hosts the Health & Safety Unplugged podcast.
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Latest update: 5 November 2026
