Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992

5 Object of Act

• The object of this Act is to promote the prevention of harm to all persons at work and other persons in, or in the vicinity of, a place of work by—

  • (a) promoting excellence in health and safety management, in particular through promoting the systematic management of health and safety; and

  • (b) defining hazards and harm in a comprehensive way so that all hazards and harm are covered, including harm caused by work-related stress and hazardous behaviour caused by certain temporary conditions; and

  • (c) imposing various duties on persons who are responsible for work and those who do the work; and

  • (d) setting requirements that—

    • (i) relate to taking all practicable steps to ensure health and safety; and

    • (ii) are flexible to cover different circumstances; and

  • (e) recognising that volunteers doing work activities for other persons should have their health and safety protected because their well-being and work are as important as the well-being and work of employees; and

  • (f) recognising that successful management of health and safety issues is best achieved through good faith co-operation in the place of work and, in particular, through the input of the persons doing the work; and

  • (g) providing a range of enforcement methods, including various notices and prosecution, so as to enable an appropriate response to a failure to comply with the Act depending on its nature and gravity; and

  • (h) prohibiting persons from being indemnified or from indemnifying others against the cost of fines and infringement fees for failing to comply with the Act.

  Section 5: substituted, on 5 May 2003, by section 7 of the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Act 2002 (2002 No 86).