Agsafe Weekly Rural Report

Finance:. NZ dollar remained steady to slightly easier over the week & is closing in on that 60cents against the US dollar. The Brent Crude increased with more attacks on Iran and is currently $US96.22.

Wool: Last week’s wool auction saw a lift in both the crossbred and finer wools. There is growing optimism in the sector.

Beef, Sheep & Venison schedules: The meat schedules remain steady to slightly easier across all categories. The international demand for red meat is very strong pushing the local prices higher. There are grumbles about the price of mince in NZ!!!.

Dairy Prices. The g/DT lifted 0.9% with a very large volume offered. WMP eased by 0.1% while SMP lifted 5.3% to $US3695/ton and is now dearer than WMP. Butter slipped 0.8% and cheese was down 6.6%. Overall, a good result.

Ray has reviewed the Health & Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 and the matters of importance are in the Rant below for this week. The changes are not substantial and there will be minimal changes required to the polices we have developed. The changes have a more pragmatic approach to the Act and it clarifies our understanding of recreational areas.

Jims Rant, by Ray!!

This amendment intends to give legislative effect to the Governments review of the work health and safety system. The Act will take effect on 1 April 2027.

Changing the Purpose of the Act

The changes represent a deliberate shift away from a system that requires all risks to be considered to one that prioritises the prevention of serious harm.ie prioritises the critical risks that arise from work.

The definition of critical risk captures two categories of hazards one involves any hazard likely to result in death, a notifiable injury, illness, incident or an occupational disease. Likely to result means a chance that death, a notifiable injury or illness, incident or occupational disease will result. It does not refer to the likelihood of an event actually occurring. If a risk is not critical it should not carry the same level of importance.

Duties for Small and Large PCBUS

A new definition is included a small PCBU is defined as having fewer than 20 workers for at least nine months of a financial year. Larger PCBUs are those with 20 workers or more. The threshold counts workers, not just employees so businesses should consider contractors, subcontractors, labour hire workers and other workers when assessing their size. Small PCBUs will be required to ensure that critical risks are identified managed and prioritised rather than all workplace risk. It requires PCBUs to address critical risks first to review and monitor controls for those risks more frequently and to allocate a greater proportion of health and safety resources to their management. PCBUs will be required to manage only critical risks when meeting duties relating to information training instruction supervision and PPE. Core welfare facilities such as lighting washing facilities and first aid remain mandatory. This amendment is a welcome change to reduce red tape for Small PCBUs.

Overlapping Legislation

The Health and Safety at Work Act (HSW Act) addresses concerns about the duplication between the Act and other regulatory systems. Where a person complies with equivalent risk management requirements under another enactment they will be taken to have complied with the corresponding duty under the HWS Act eg The Building Act 2004

Recreational use of land

The PCBUs who manage or control land do not owe duties to people lawfully accessing the land for recreational purposes unless (a) the activity is connected with the PCBUs work or (b) work is being carried out at the same time and place as the recreational activity. This addresses the ambiguity around recreational users of PCBU land following the White Island disaster.

Strengthened approved Codes of practice (ACOPs)

If a PCBU follows an ACOP for a specific risk they are considered to have met their obligations in respect of a health and safety risk. This has been criticised that it could have flow on effect of standardising compliance to a lower standard than is demanded for worker safety.

Due diligence Obligations

The amendment provides where an individual holds multiple roles eg as a director and as chief executive an officer’s duty is limited to a person’s role as an officer. The Act includes some amendments to the due diligence requirement imposed on officers by replacing the current list with a comprehensive list of requirements.

Notification Requirements

PCBUs have a duty to notify the regulator of certain serious workplace events including specified injuries illnesses and incidents. The Amendment aims to reduce uncertainty around this obligation by expanding current definitions and adding clear examples for which notification is required such as (a) head (fractured skull, blood clot or bleeding, or an injury resulting in a temporary or permanent loss of consciousness or memory) (b) eye (loss of an eye, an object entering the eye, or an eye injury resulting in total or partial loss of vision ) (c) burn (a burn that requires a skin graft or a compression garment ) (d) spinal (an injury to the spinal cord any spinal disc or any cervical ,thoracic ,lumbar or sacral vertebra) (e) loss of function (loss of consciousness, a sense, speech, movement of a limb, or the function of an internal organ) to illustrate when the threshold is met.

What needs to be done before 1 April 2027

(a) A risk register that identifies your critical risks by severity of outcome rather than by how often something goes wrong.
(b) confirm your worker numbers to determine whether the small or large PCBU applies.