Infringement Notice - Setting the fee for an
Health and safety inspectors can issue infringement notices for breaches of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. Every notice issued will impose a fee.
This factsheet has been given to you by a Health and Safety Inspector who:
- believes that you (or the body corporate you can speak for) has committed an infringement offence
- believes that you (or the body corporate you can speak for) has had a prior warning and
- has advised you that they are considering issuing an Infringement Notice.
It contains information on the process of issuing notices and how you can provide information that may affect the level of the fee. It also gives you some other information on infringement notices.
This information has been given in response to an alleged infringement offence at:
The Act allows for your financial circumstances to be taken into account when setting the fee.
You are not required to provide details of your financial circumstances, but if you do, this will help to ensure that the inspector may take into account your financial circumstances when setting the fee.
You can, if you wish, provide other relevant information on the other things the inspector will take into account when setting the fee (see “Setting the Fee” section below).
If you wish to provide details to be considered, please respond by email, fax or letter to:
Address: _______________
Phone: _______________
Fax: _______________
Email: _______________
before ___ / ___ / ___
Any information received after the above date will not be taken into account by the issuing inspector.
Infringement offences
An infringement offence is any offence described in section 50(1) of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992. It includes most breaches of the legislation.
There are two categories of infringement fee:
- ($800 - $4,000); Failure to systematically identify hazards in terms of section 7(1) or
- ($100 - $3,000) Most other breaches of section 50 (1) of the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 or its regulations.
Setting the fee
The issuing inspector must use their discretion to determine the fee. In doing so, they will take into account:
- Whether or not harm resulted from the offence and
- The extent of any harm and
- What potential harm could have resulted from the offence and
- The size of the business if an employer, principal or contractor and
- The financial circumstances of the person and
- The safety record of the person
For a breach of section 7(1) the issuing inspector need only consider the last three points.
For more information, refer to the Summary of Rights on the back of the infringement notice, the factsheet “General Information about Infringement Notices”, or visit the website at www.dol.govt.nz
