Guided by evidence about acute, chronic, and catastrophic harm, we will prioritise high-risk sectors and high-risk activities. Across these priority areas, we will deliver enforcement, engagement and permitting activities to maximise our influence and achieve better, more equitable outcomes.

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Our priority plans bring our strategy to life by describing how we will deliver our role as Aotearoa New Zealand’s primary work health and safety regulator. The strategy defines our main role, which is to influence businesses and workers to meet responsibilities to ensure work is healthy and safe.

Our priority plans set out how we will deliver enforcement, engagement and permitting activities to maximise this influence and achieve better, more equitable outcomes.

We will focus on high-risk sectors – agriculture, forestry, construction, and manufacturing – and high-risk activities such as mining, adventure activities and some work involving hazardous substances.

WorkSafe can’t be everywhere, and we can’t improve health and safety outcomes on our own. We will continue to work with partners – including industry bodies, government agencies, iwi and unions – to understand risk and harm; measure our impact; and refine our plans over time.

Sector plans 

Our sector plans set out how we will target our engagement and enforcement activity to influence better, more equitable outcomes. The plans cover the sectors where most acute and chronic harm occurs.

We will allocate our effort and resources based on criteria including:

• the number of workers in each sector
• the number and rate of fatal and serious injuries
• the number of workers exposed to serious health risks.

Agriculture

Agriculture accounts for around 25% of acute work-related fatalities and serious injuries, while only 6% of employment is in this sector. Most serious harm occurs in dairy, sheep, and beef farming.

Farming is a way of life for many people in Aotearoa New Zealand, and health and safety must be part of this way of life. Our plan sets out how we will target the biggest risks and work with others to influence improved health and safety culture in agriculture.

Construction

Construction has among the highest rates of acute and chronic harm. It accounts for around 15% of work-related fatalities and serious injuries, and it has the largest number of kaimahi with exposure to toxic dusts and fumes.

To prevent harm on construction sites, businesses must keep up with constantly changing risks, especially where multiple businesses work together. Our plan sets out how we will target the biggest risks to achieve safe construction sites and influence large businesses to lead the way.

Forestry

Forestry has a very high rate of acute harm, mostly from felling trees. The fatality rate in forestry is about 20 times higher than the average for all sectors. Kaimahi that are harmed are more likely to be young, Māori, and from rural communities.

To reduce this harm, we need the whole sector to plan for and practise safe tree felling. Our forestry plan sets out how we will work with forest owners, managers, contractors, kaimahi and communities to achieve this.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is a large sector with high numbers of Māori and Pacific kaimahi. It has the largest total number of injuries of any sector, and some kaimahi have high exposure to toxic dusts and fumes. Health and safety performance has been poor compared to other sectors over the past decade.

Improving performance starts with getting the basics right, like safe machinery and good worker training. Our plan sets out how we will influence better risk management and worker engagement in the manufacturing subsectors where most harm occurs.

Our permit plan

The government has set rules and regulations for specific high-risk work. This includes mining, adventure activities, asbestos removal, some work involving hazardous substances, and operating equipment such as cranes and scaffolding. If these activities are not well managed, they can result in serious or catastrophic harm.

WorkSafe is responsible for overseeing the rules and regulations and checking that businesses and individuals permitted to undertake this high-risk work meet the safety requirements.

Our permit plan sets out how we will:

• improve the efficiency, transparency, and quality of the permitting process
• clarify expectations for regulated parties
• monitor whether this high-risk work is being carried out according to the rules.