1. Information is hard to get and hard to follow, particularly for small businesses

Anecdotally, it seems that compliance is low where the risk of enforcement action is seen as low, and where compliance is seen to be complicated or difficult.

Several reasons were observed for businesses not complying with the three pieces of health and safety legislation:

• they don't have clear, concise information about what the law requires
• they aren't motivated to seek information, because they think an enforcement officer is unlikely to visit
• they don't belong to an industry association that could provide information on the law and how to comply with it
• they are more worried about business survival than setting up the systematic
• health and safety practices required.

The situation is not helped when misleading or incorrect information circulated by lobby groups, consultants and others gives the impression that compliance is 'too hard' or 'too costly'.

Even when businesses know what the three pieces of legislation require, some may not comply because of the time and money needed to:

• identify and assess hazards, and find practical control methods (or pay a consultant to do this)
• put the control methods in place.

'We all break the law but often do not realise it. It is not blatant lawbreaking but the fact is that rules are not always clear, apparent, or publicised. We do have a concern that some of the laws are for the sake of it rather than for good reason.'

'... when developing manuals and procedures it's difficult to get hold of information or someone from DoL to test our procedures and get advice on what else we need to put in place.'

'...health and safety information is difficult to understand, and time could be saved if it were simplified and a more commonsense approach to health and safety adopted.'

'... ACC's hardcopy and online accounts are difficult to understand and ... ACC's requirements are not explained well.'

'... better information-sharing was needed and we should not have to learn about compliance requirements from media reporting.'

'....health and safety compliance regimes are well intended but not very practical. Setup costs to the company were around $4,000 and involved 3 or 4 staff days.'

2. The requirements for managing particular hazards are numerous and complex

Several businesses told us that the requirements for individual pieces of legislation are difficult to manage. It is made more difficult where there is a tension between the coverage of the HSE Act and the HSNO Act in a particular situation. The design and use of fuel storage on farms and the control of airborne substances were highlighted as specific examples.

Some businesses, when putting hazard management and other processes in place to meet ACC incentive programmes, are unclear about whether they have met, exceeded, or even in some cases not met, the requirements of the Health and Safety in Employment Act.

3. Agencies don't co-ordinate how they deal with businesses

You told us that compliance is made more difficult by agencies not co-ordinating

activities or not setting consistent requirements.

Smaller businesses in particular reported situations where they are unclear about:

• which agency they should be dealing with
• what a person they are dealing with is there to do
• the effect of what they are doing under one law on what they need to do under another
• the distinction between things they must do under the law, and things they can choose to do or not do
• the role and credentials of an increasing number of consultants, auditors and others advising on health and safety.

Respondents also felt that it was important that we evaluate the effectiveness of inspection, auditing, information and other programmes, and identify any alternatives.

1. Make all guidance material user-friendly

Businesses need clear, concise information that is easy to read and easy to understand. User-friendly information could include:

• information targeting particular types of business, explaining concisely what they need to do and how to do it
• short brochures in plain English aimed at specific types of workers
• consistent terminology when describing requirements under the different pieces of legislation.

'... difficulty in understanding health and safety requirements and whether requirements are being met. The complexity means it takes a long time to become familiar.'

'A staff member spent 9 hours with the auditor, who gave the impression that he was more interested in explaining how he could help the business rather than saying how it could comply.'

'ACC needs to be better integrated with health and safety law.'

2. Provide comprehensive information on all compliance requirements

Guidance information needs to cover not just individual pieces of legislation, but also the relationship between all relevant pieces of legislation for a particular business type or industry.

For example, guidance information should:

• clarify HSNO and HSE Act requirements for the management of substances in particular situations, e.g. fuel storage on farms, airborne substances (including dusts), and hazards where outdated regulations still apply
• clarify the roles and interaction of auditors, inspectors, and others either representing agencies or performing functions under the legislation agencies administer
• include information about and coordinated guidance to all three Acts (IPRC, HSE and HSNO) where appropriate.

We need to increase the level of coordination and collaboration by:

• improving information-sharing between agencies, particularly in the areas of field staff training, customer management processes, and website and call centre linkages
• better aligning accident and incident reporting and notification requirements
• increasing the role of employee representatives in health and safety management and return-to-work programmes.

Tapping into existing industry or business networks could also be a useful way of

reducing misinformation. We need to identify issues that will help improve the service and accountability of health and safety consultants, auditors and others in the marketplace.

'... once the information is located there can be an 'overload' ... more targeted information should be provided ...'

'Legislation should not be so intense or complex that responsible companies cannot comply with it without employing external consultants.'

3. Be more customer-focused

As much as possible, we need to help businesses effectively and efficiently achieve compliance, by:

• delivering easily accessible compliance information to businesses by making information available from a single point of contact, or through mentoring or coaching programmes
• where possible, advising businesses about whether their involvement in one injury prevention programme will mean they will meet legislative requirements
• enabling increased advice for businesses on identifying and managing health and safety hazards.

'... We did not get a proactive 'What do you want-how can we help?' approach from government agencies. Our company would prefer to be treated as a customer-in partnership rather than having to respond to threats of prosecution for infringements.'

'... we sought help from DoL, which was very helpful and provided guidelines, but then found that ACC said it wanted the same information presented in a different manner...'