How to notify us over the holiday period.
Notifications
If someone has been seriously injured, become seriously ill, or died as a result of work – phone us on 0800 030 040 straight away. We have staff available to respond to these 24/7.
If you’re not sure what a notifiable event is, including your obligation to hold a scene, visit What events need to be notified?
Notifications made through our online form won't be monitored between 12pm on Tuesday 24 December 2024 and 8.30am on Monday 6 January 2025.
If you’re not sure if you need to notify us, use our online notification system and we’ll respond to you after 6 January 2025.
Health and safety concerns
If you have a health and safety concern that isn’t urgent, use our online form and we’ll respond to you after 6 January 2025.
Raise a health or safety concern
General enquiries
General enquiries made by phone or email after 12pm on Tuesday 24 December will be responded to from Monday 6 January 2025. This does not apply to notifications made by phone on 0800 030 040.
We wish you a safe and relaxing holiday.
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This policy’s purpose
This policy sets out how we respond when a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) isn’t compliant with hazardous substances disposal controls or ecotoxic controls.
It should be read alongside our Hazardous Substances Emergencies policy.
What disposal controls and ecotoxic controls are
Disposal controls are rules set by the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to manage risks created by disposing of hazardous substances.
Ecotoxic controls are required by the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 to control a hazardous substance’s effects on the environment.
Most of these controls are in the EPA Hazardous Substances (Hazardous Property Controls) Notice 2017 [PDF, 1.2 MB](external link)
The EPA also sets additional and modified requirements in group standards(external link) and individual hazardous substances approvals(external link)
More information about hazardous substances is available on this website.
Our role
We’re responsible for enforcing the:
- Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017 (the Regulations), and
- Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (HSNO) in workplaces. This includes disposal and ecotoxic controls.
When we become aware of non-compliance with these controls, our focus is on the risks to the health and safety of workers and other people.
We may take enforcement action, being a compliance order under HSNO, where appropriate and in line with our Enforcement policy
We also work with other agencies when needed, including:
- EPA
- Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ)
- public health agencies, and
- local government.
How we respond to incidents
We prioritise incidents involving substances that may affect human health and safety.
When deciding whether to intervene we do so in line with our When we intervene policy.
This means we consider things like:
- the health and safety of our staff
- our legislative powers
- the health and safety of workers and other people
- the responsibilities held by the PCBU and its capabilities, and
- whether it’s appropriate for the PCBU to retain control of the site.
We also consider the potential role of other agencies, particularly FENZ or the local authority.
We contact FENZ when we respond to a hazardous substance incident and one of the following applies:
- we declare a HSNO emergency
- the PCBU is unable or can’t be expected to safely resolve the situation
- the PCBU refuses to contact FENZ when asked to do so by an enforcement officer, or
- there are wider concerns for public safety or environmental damage and the PCBU can’t remedy them.
We may also contact the local authority, regional council, or regional public health agency if the incident could have an impact beyond work health and safety.
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