If you run a New Zealand business with a small crew, the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 is aimed at you. It received Royal assent on 9 July 2026. It comes into force on 1 April 2027. Until then, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 still applies in full.
Assure’s clients are typically 4 to 50 people. That matters, because the new Act splits businesses at 20 workers. Under 20, you are a small PCBU. From 20 up, you are a large PCBU. Same workplace. Different duties.
This page is what the Act and WorkSafe have said so far. It is general information, not legal advice. WorkSafe has more guidance coming. We last checked the sources on 13 September 2026. Nothing here is a reason to drop a control you already have.
A small PCBU has fewer than 20 workers carrying out work in any capacity. If numbers move around (seasonal work is the example in the Act), you are still small if you reasonably expect fewer than 20 workers in at least nine months of the current financial year. The Act’s financial year is 1 July to 30 June. Anyone who is not small is a large PCBU.
If you sit near 20, or you take on extra hands over summer, write down how you are counting. Do not invent a method the Act does not give you.
From 1 April 2027, section 22A defines critical risk. It is:
WorkSafes wording: “likely to result” means the chance those outcomes will result when an incident or accident occurs. It does not mean how often you expect the event to happen.
Harm to mental health associated with the hazard is in that test.
Schedule 1A already includes work many 4–50 person businesses do: asbestos, remote or isolated work, atmospheres with a fire or explosion risk, substances hazardous to health, working at heights, scaffolding, and excavations. That is not a complete list, and it is not a “top ten for tradies”. Read the schedule if the work might sit there.
The judgement is not a guess. Section 25C says it must be based on what you know, or ought reasonably to know, about the business, the hazard, and those consequences. Get that call wrong, and the narrower small-business rules do not help you.
From 1 April 2027, section 25A narrows some duties (including most of the primary duty of care) so they apply only to critical risks. The duty to provide welfare facilities still applies on its own terms.
On every other part of the Act and regulations, you must prioritise critical risks: manage them first, review those controls more often, and put more of your effort there.
Failure to prioritise is not an offence. That is in the Act. It is not a free pass. You still have to run a sensible, safe operation. You still have to name the critical risks correctly.
You are a large PCBU. You still have to manage your risks. Section 25B requires you to prioritise critical risks when you comply with the Act. Failure to prioritise is not an offence.
WorkSafe’s summary: large businesses manage both critical and other risks, and give critical risks the highest priority when they decide what to do first and where time and money go. Crossing 20 does not mean you suddenly need a corporate H&S department. It does mean the narrower small-PCBU scope does not apply.
Until 1 April 2027, the current Act applies. Client prequalification, site inductions, and overlapping duties with the principal still apply. A certificate on the shelf is still not the whole job.
From 1 April 2027, following a qualifying approved code of practice is treated as meeting the duty for that risk (WorkSafe calls this safe harbour). Industry can draft codes. WorkSafe reviews them. Two existing forestry and ports codes already get that treatment. You do not have to follow a code.
No. Some duties narrow to critical risks. You still have to prioritise those risks on the rest of the Act. You still have welfare duties. Getting the critical-risk list wrong is the exposure.
No. From 20 workers you are a large PCBU. You still prioritise critical risks. You do not get the narrower small-PCBU scope.
No. WorkSafe has said asking for health and safety information before you hire a contractor is expected. Formal prequal is one way, not the only way, and it does not finish the job on site.
No. ISO 45001 is a voluntary standard. It is not the Health and Safety at Work Act.
If you want the critical-risk list and the system behind it kept current, that is what Assure membership is for. Advice, documentation, and a helpline for businesses in that 4 to 50 range.
This page is not legal advice. Read the Act and WorkSafe. Check both again before you brief a client or a board.
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