Health and Safety
The safety of all members of the Church community is of paramount importance. We believe that effective Health and Safety management is essential to a successful church; ethically, morally, spiritually, legally and financially.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSW Act) came into force in April 2016. A guiding principle of HSW Act is that workers and other persons should be given the highest level of protection against harm to their health, safety, and welfare from work risks as is reasonably practicable. The main purpose of HSW Act is to provide for a balanced framework to secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces.
As a result of this legislative change, a revised Diocesan Health and Safety Policy has been approved by Standing Committee.
While the HSW Act is clear that health and safety is everyone’s responsibility, it is also clear that key organisations and the officers of those organisations owe a duty of care not to expose people to risks. Ministry units are responsible to do whatever is reasonably practicable to ensure the health and safety of all people who come into contact with the Church.
Diocesan guidelines for understanding the HSW Act and preparing your ministry unit to comply with the new legislation can be found below.
If you need any assistance, including support with how to make a WorkSafe notification should you need to, please contact the Diocesan Manager.
Key Resources
- Diocesan Health and Safety Policy
- HSW Act 2015—an introduction to the legislation by WorkSafe NZ
- Keeping Them Safe—Policy only (Policy only document)
- Keeping them Safe (Full document including policy, procedures and additional material)
- Safety Performance Review —A self-audit tool that helps to assess your safety performance against a basic minimum standard
- Safer Recruiting Guide —Guidelines to assist with recruiting safe personnel (taken from Keeping them Safe 2019)
- Privacy Policy Template for parishes