For health and safety representatives to carry out their job effectively, they need to be well informed about health and safety matters.

The Act facilitates this by allowing health and safety representatives to take paid leave to do health and safety training.

Approved health and safety training

Health and safety training for representatives needs to be useful and to be suitable to the work that the employees they represent do.

The Minister of Labour has delegated to the Employment Relations Education Ministerial Advisory Committee authority to approve or otherwise, submitted course applications. The Employment Relations Service will administer all the processes of course approval. You will need to leave this website to access theapplicant guidelines for course approval under the Health and Safety in Employment Act.Use your browser back button to return to this site.

Course approval applications may be made at any time.

A list of approved courses is available from the Employment Relations Service website.

For further information please contact the Executive Officer ERE, Workplace Group, Department of Labour, PO Box 3705, Wellington. Phone: (04) 915 4512; fax: (04) 915 4710; e-mail: ere@ers.dol.govt.nz

Funding of approved health and safety training

You may be eligible to apply for funding from the Employment Relations Education Contestable Fund for approved courses. The Fund is contestable.

To be eligible an applicant must be: a registered union; a union organisation; an employer; an employers' organisation; or any other provider recognised under the Education Act or by NZQA. If you do not meet these criteria you may wish to approach an eligible organisation to work with them to develop your proposal. The eligible organisation should apply for the funding and take overall responsibility. Further information is available.

Timing of and application for leave

Health and safety representatives should discuss the timing of leave with their employer to avoid disruption to business. At least 14 days notice must be given to the employer, and if the potential disruption is unreasonable the employer can refuse the leave at a particular time. Where the training course has not been specified in the agreed system the employee's request must contain a description of the approved course being undertaken.

Under an agreed system, the system can set out how much leave representatives can take to do this training.

If the default employee participation system applies:

• each health and safety representative is entitled to two day's paid leave per year to do training; but
• the total number of days leave required for the whole workplace is capped by a formula set out in the Act.

The training must be approved by the Minister (see above). This training may take place in the representative's own workplace, or it may be held in another place.

Atrained health and safety representativecan issue hazard notices.

Entitlement to paid leave for training

If employers, employees and any unions representing them agree on an employee participation system involving health and safety representatives, this system can set:

• the number of days' paid leave that each representative is entitled to in order to undertake approved health and safety training
• the total number of days' leave that will be allowed overall for all representatives.

If a workplace has been unable to agree on an employee participation system, the Act requires employers to allow each health and safety representative up to two days' paid leave a year to undertake approved health and safety training. However, the total number of days' leave that an employer is required to allow for health and safety training is capped by the Act.

Go to

• Involving employees in health and safety matters
• Developing an employee participation system
• Fact sheet: What is employee participation?pdf file [size: 30KB]
• Fact sheet: Employee participation systemspdf file [size: 31KB]
• Fact sheet: Health and safety representativespdf file [size: 31KB]