The HSWA Amendment Act 2026: what changes for tradies, and when
The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 9 July 2026 and commences on 1 April 2027. It amends HSWA 2015 and the General Risk and Workplace Management Regulations 2016: a sharper focus on critical risks, a defined small PCBU category for businesses with fewer than 20 employees, and a deemed-compliance pathway for following an Approved Code of Practice. Until 1 April 2027 nothing changes: your current duties, and your SSSP, apply exactly as they do today.
The one date that matters: 1 April 2027
Royal Assent on 9 July 2026 made the Amendment Act law, but the changes do not take effect until 1 April 2027. That gap matters on site. Between now and then, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and the General Risk and Workplace Management Regulations 2016 apply exactly as written today: the primary duty of care (section 36), overlapping duties with the main contractor (section 34), hazard identification (reg 5), the hierarchy of control measures (reg 6), and notifiable events (sections 56 and 57).
If someone tells you the rules have already changed, they are early. A main contractor reviewing your SSSP this year is reviewing it against the current law, and so is WorkSafe New Zealand.
What changes from 1 April 2027
- •Critical risks come first: the amended Act sharpens the focus of duties onto risks of death, serious injury or serious illness, so effort is aimed at the hazards that can end a life rather than spread thinly across everything
- •A defined "small PCBU" category: businesses with fewer than 20 employees get a category of their own, designed to make duties more proportionate for small crews
- •A deemed-compliance pathway: a PCBU that follows an Approved Code of Practice for its work will be treated as having complied with the relevant duty, which gives small operators a clear, followable standard
- •Clarified notification requirements: the rules around notifying WorkSafe New Zealand are tidied up so it is clearer what must be reported and when
What the critical-risk focus will mean on the tools
Most tradies already think this way: the reason a hazard register exists is the fall from the roof, the trench collapse, the live circuit, not the tidy site rules. The amended Act points the law at the same place. Expect main contractors and WorkSafe New Zealand to ask harder questions about how you identified the risks that could kill or seriously harm someone (reg 5) and what controls sit against them in the hierarchy order reg 6 requires: eliminate first, then minimise.
A good SSSP already does exactly that. A hazard register that gives its best thinking to the highest-consequence work, with task analyses for those tasks, is what the critical-risk focus looks like on paper.
The small PCBU category, honestly read
Most trade businesses in New Zealand have fewer than 20 employees, so the small PCBU category will cover a large share of the industry. Proportionate does not mean exempt: the primary duty of care in section 36 still sits with the PCBU, whatever its size. What the category and the deemed-compliance pathway offer a small crew is certainty: follow the Approved Code of Practice for the work and you have a recognised way of showing you have met the duty, instead of guessing what "enough" looks like.
The full shape of that pathway will depend on which Approved Codes of Practice exist and are updated by commencement, so treat any confident detail beyond the Act itself as speculation for now.
Why your SSSP still matters, before and after
Nothing in the Amendment Act removes the reason main contractors ask for an SSSP. Overlapping duties under section 34 still require every PCBU on a shared site to consult, co-operate and co-ordinate, and the SSSP is how a subcontractor shows its part of that. Worker engagement (sections 58 and 59), the emergency plan (reg 14) and notifiable-event reporting (sections 56 and 57) all carry through.
If anything, a plan built around the site's critical risks positions you for the amended Act a year early. Written well, the same document satisfies the law today and reads the way the law is heading.
Common questions
Do I need to change my SSSP now because of the Amendment Act?
No. The Amendment Act commences on 1 April 2027, and until then HSWA 2015 and the 2016 Regulations apply unchanged. A current, site-specific SSSP with its effort on the highest-consequence risks meets the law today and is already aligned with where the law is going.
What counts as a small PCBU under the Amendment Act?
A business with fewer than 20 employees. From 1 April 2027 the amended Act gives that category more proportionate treatment, including the deemed-compliance pathway when following an Approved Code of Practice. The primary duty of care under section 36 still applies to every PCBU, whatever its size.
What is the deemed-compliance pathway?
From 1 April 2027, a PCBU that follows an Approved Code of Practice for its work will be treated as having complied with the relevant duty. It gives small operators a clear standard to follow instead of working out from scratch what reasonably practicable means for their trade.
Do notification rules change before April 2027?
No. The current rules apply: notifiable events must be notified to WorkSafe New Zealand as soon as possible (section 56) and records kept for at least five years (section 57), and particular hazardous work such as a fall of 5 m or more or an excavation deeper than 1.5 metres must be notified at least 24 hours before it starts.
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