Serious harm revision revived

A revised definition of serious harm – a cornerstone of the HSE Act – is back on track after a hiatus following the change of Government at last year’s election.

The proposed definition to go before Parliament early next year differs only slightly from that announced last year by the previous administration.

In an announcement last week the Minister of Labour, Kate Wilkinson, said the proposed definition would set the threshold for serious harm at an appropriate level.

“This definition provides more certainty and will ensure that employers are not required to spend an inordinate amount of time dealing with what can be minor matters.”

The revised definition splits harm into three categories – trauma injury, acute illness or injury, and chronic or serious occupational illness of injury. The first category – trauma injury – will cover physical harm arising from a single accident or event and will comprise either permanent loss of bodily function (including amputation of any body part); or being unable to perform normal duties for a period of 10 or more calendar days (compared to seven days in last year’s proposal).

The second category – acute illness or injury requirement treatment by a medical practitioner, including loss of consciousness – will relate to harm caused by lack of oxygen; or absorption, inhalation or ingestion of any hazardous substance; or contact with any electrical, combustible, or mechanical energy source; or a fall from one height to another.

The third category – chronic or serious occupational illness or injury – will relate to physical or mental harm requiring hospital admission for more than 24 hours (last year’s proposal specified no time period); or requiring in-patient surgery; or diagnosed and confirmed as caused by exposure to a workplace hazard, by a medical practitioner who is a registered specialist operating within the appropriate scope of practice.

The Government expects to include the new serious harm definition with a number of other minor changes to the HSE Act, including:

• Providing a levy mechanism to enable the DoL to recover the cost of enforcing the HSNO Act in workplaces;
• Requiring businesses to collaborate to meet their HSE Act obligations where they share workplaces;
• Aligning the HSE Act’s rules of self-incrimination with those in the Evidence Act 2006.

This story appeared in Safeguard Update newsletter of 14 December.

For more stories visit the news story archive.

To get all the news every fortnight – subscribe now!