Worker engagement, participation and representation
On this page you will find guidance about worker engagement, participation and representation (WEPR) in the maritime context.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) says that persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) must:
- engage with their workers about health and safety matters that affect them
- provide reasonable opportunities for workers to participate in improving health and safety.
On this page you will find guidance about worker engagement, participation and representation (WEPR) in the maritime context.
This document includes explanations of key concepts that might help you understand other documents.
Information for PCBUs
The information in this section might be useful to you if you are a PCBU.
What is a PCBU?
A PCBU is any person or organisation that conducts a business or undertaking. It is a broad concept that includes most work arrangements we think of as “businesses”, and some arrangements that are not profit‑making or commercial.
Examples of PCBUs operating on ships include:
- the owner of a commercial vessel who operates it or hires it to others
- the operator of a commercial vessel
- a company that operates passenger ferries.
Examples of PCBUs on major ports include:
- stevedoring companies
- log‑export companies
- trucking companies
- companies performing marshalling service
- port companies
- New Zealand government agencies.
Your WEPR duties and how to meet them
This document explains your engagement and participation duties as a PCBU under HSWA.
This document gives examples to help you check if your existing engagement practices as a PCBU meet HSWA requirements.
This document covers practical ways for PCBUs to engage with workers.
This document outlines good practices in worker participation.
This document briefly explains your duties as a PCBU around worker representation, including health and safety representatives and committees.
For more detailed information about PCBU duties related to health and safety representatives and committees, see WorkSafe’s guidance, including its Health and Safety Representatives page.
Information for workers
HSWA gives different health and safety responsibilities to different groups of people.
If you do any kind of work for a business or organisation, you are considered a worker. For example:
- a stevedore is a worker
- a deck hand is a worker
- someone who manages stevedores or deck hands is a worker.
You are a worker regardless of:
- your legal arrangement with the person you work for, such as employee, contractor, or sharefisher
- how you are paid.
The business or person you work for is called a PCBU. The term is broad so it can cover many arrangements.
The terms we use in worker guidance
On ships and major ports, the most common type of PCBU is a business, so our worker guidance often uses:
- business to refer to the PCBU
- employer to mean the PCBU you do work for.
You can belong to more than one group at the same time. For example, if you are a self‑employed contractor working on a port, you are likely to be both a worker and a PCBU.
It is important to understand:
- your rights around health and safety at work
- what your employer must do when they engage with you about health and safety.
Your rights for engagement, participation, and representation around health and safety
Read this guidance to learn about:
- your employer’s duty to engage with you on health and safety issues
- what HSWA requires of participation processes your employer sets up
- what your employer must do around health and safety representatives and committees.
Read this guidance to learn about when and how your PCBU must engage with you.