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Wellington, February 13, 2022
The requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 continue to apply to Covid-19-related and usual workplace risks.
All workers (including volunteers) should have access to the right information about keeping themselves well. This will mean that they are able to maintain good work and hygiene practices. It cannot be assumed that workers will just know how to do this. They need to have or know where to get official information.
Work processes and risk controls
Businesses and workers should be prepared to learn and adapt to find the best ways to maintain physical distancing, and good hygiene and cleaning practices.
This will involve engaging with workers to learn what is working and what is not working and how things could be improved. Businesses should have good processes in place to encourage workers to engage in work health and safety matters.
The Health and Safety at Work Act requires businesses to ask their workers and health and safety representatives about health and safety issues, not just assume that they will speak up.
Many businesses and organisations will already have effective incident reporting approaches that can be adapted to assess how well their Covid-19 controls are working.
If a business does not have an incident reporting approach or its usual practices are not right for the circumstances, then it must find a way to ensure that Covid-19 controls are working.
Wearing face masks at work
Face masks can help reduce the spread of Covid-19 and public health rules require face masks in certain situations. More information about what is required by the public health orders is available on the United against Covid-19 website.
Face masks may be necessary at work because a public health order requires workers to wear a face mask at work or a business may set its own policies on face masks for its own reasons.
Where face masks are necessary, because of a public health order, employers should consider providing them and ensure workers wear them while working.
If the health order does not require face masks but a business has set its own policy on face masks, the businesses should provide them to workers who need them.
Other safety measures
A face mask is not the only means of dealing with the risk of Covid-19.
Social distancing, tracking and good hygiene must also play a role regardless of whether masks are necessary or not. Businesses and workers need to think about how they can effectively deal with the risks of Covi
There are new face mask requirements from February 4, 2022. Face masks must cover a person’s nose and mouth and be secured to their head by ear loops or a head loop.
At Red Setting under the Traffic Lights System, a worker must wear a medical-grade face mask when they are in contact with customers to which a vaccine mandate applies. This includes workers undertaking customer-facing work at (a) food and drink services (b) events and gatherings (c) proximity services (d) education entities (e) gyms and other physical activity facilities that require membership or are otherwise controlled (except those for exclusive use by residents of the premises).
Some exemptions
Some people do not need to wear a face mask. These include people with a disability or health condition that does not allow them to wear a face mask safely or comfortably. In these circumstances, businesses should work with their staff in good faith to see if there are other actions that could be taken to keep their staff safe.
If you cannot wear a face mask, your employer must assess how else to keep you safe and if they cannot, alternative arrangements may need to be agreed upon.
Source: Employment New Zealand, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
