New act increases landlords’ and trustees’ liability

New act increases landlords’ and trustees’ liability

Far-reaching effects of in-coming health and safety reforms

AUCKLAND, APRIL 4, 2016

Legislative reforms coming into force today will see directors and officers – including landlords and trustees – have increased liability when it comes to health and safety.

Colliers International’s National Facilities Manager for Real Estate Management (REM), Kane Tarrant, says property owners, managers and body corporate committees are among those with new “Coming into force today is the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, as well as compulsory Health and Safety at Work regulations.

“If you are a property owner or body corporate, under these regulations you are deemed to be a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) who manages or controls a workplace – and you must follow established, legally-required steps in order to protect the health and safety of those people associated with your workplace.”

Colliers’ REM division has been preparing for a long time for the regulations and legislation to come into force, Tarrant says.

“While we recognise the absolute need for regulation around health and safety, we also sympathise with those companies faced with the significant expenditure these changes may cause, and as a company we are looking to provide affordable options for property owners and body corporates to mitigate any risks.

“At the same time we are extremely diligent and always make sure to dot I’s and cross T’s when it comes to compliance.”

Tarrant says the changes will see increased due diligence falling on the shoulders of landlords.

“The regulations include obligations on property owners and body corporates to identify hazards, include and maintain a hierarchy of control measures as well as the introduction of more onerous duties to provide information, supervision, training and instruction.

“These regulations now require a greater level of sophistication and knowledge by PCBUs who manage “Directors and officers – including landlords and trustees – will need to acquire and keep up-to-date with knowledge of the health and safety management matters for the property. Ignorance of what is happening at ‘ground level’ will be no defence.”

Tarrant says Colliers provides clients with regular reports including health and safety and general risk management. Agreement is then reached on action points and timelines - this satisfies the landlords due diligence obligation.

Colliers’ REM division has two key strategies around managing risk.

“Health and Safety New Zealand (HSNZ), an independent auditor, will visit the site to identify hazards, then Colliers facilities managers ensure the agreed actions are undertaken and document the hazard control measures.

“The ControlPoint system provides baseline safety induction training to workers online. There are already 10,000 workers on the database, and these contractors use their mobile phones to login and logout,” Tarrant says.

“ControlPoint also now has a mobile app that only allows contractors to start work onsite if they’ve completed the relevant safety training. ControlPoint also has a HomeSafe feature which we are adopting to manage loan-worker welfare.”

Colliers best practice and risk mitigation processes also include standardised hazard control templates, standard operating procedures (SOPs) and critical date management on centralised information systems.

Ends.

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