Important Code of Practice announcement

STANZ has been working with the Ministry of Education, WorkSafe, NZASE and a number of other interested parties on the issue of the new Hazardous Substances Regulations.

At a meeting in Wellington during the October holidays we were able to secure a continuance for our Code of Practice for School Exempt Laboratories past the 1st of December this year. This is due to the fact that the new guidance and compliance documents will not be ready by then. However, due to changes in the new Hazardous Substance Regulations linked to the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, schools will no longer be able to use adherence to the CoP as a legal defence in the event that an incident occurs. Under HSWA 2015 EVERYONE in a workplace is considered to be responsible for health and safety not just the PCBU (employer) and must take all practicable steps to prevent an incident from occurring. Other than that the new regulations are pretty similar to HSNO.

This continuance means that you can continue to use the CoP (and the guide to the CoP) as a guide of best practice for hazardous substance management.

The Ministry has released an official statement today: http://education.govt.nz/ministry-of-education/specific-initiatives/health-and-safety/news-updates-for-health-and-safety/

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“Removal of the Code of Practice for School Exempt Laboratories

Hazardous Substances Regulations come into effect on 1 December. At this time, the Hazardous Substances Codes of Practice will no longer be applicable.

For school laboratories, the Ministry of Education is working with WorkSafe New Zealand to develop guidance and compliance documents to replace the Code of Practice for School Exempt Laboratories. Until they are released, the Ministry of Education and WorkSafe suggest schools continue to use this Code,  as well as the Ministry of Education’s guidance to the Code, (which outlines your responsibilities as a board) as their guidance documents for hazardous substance management.

The Ministry of Education is working with a number of organisations to ensure that schools and their Boards are supported in complying with the regulations.

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Don’t forget to utilize our safety documents page: //stanz.nzase.org.nz/safety-documents/

We will  be keeping you updated as things change.