“HR Vs HealTh & SAfety: Time to Share a Lunch Table!”
When HR Meets Health & Safety: Why these two groups need to Stop Sitting at Separate Lunch Tables!
Human Resources (HR) and Health and Safety (H&S) haven’t always been best mates. HR’s often stuck wrangling contracts, recruitment, and culture-building, while the safety team is out in the yard doing toolbox talks and chasing reports. But here’s the kicker: under New Zealand’s Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA), these two functions are most definitely on the same team.
So, let’s unpack where HR and H&S collide, pull up a seat at the same lunch table and more importantly, discuss how they can work better together.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
HSWA defines health as physical and mental, meaning psychosocial risks (stress, bullying, fatigue) fall squarely into H&S territory. But who deals with that in most businesses? HR.
This is where the partnership matters. HR might roll out an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), but if there’s no risk assessment around workload, unrealistic KPIs, or toxic leadership? It’s just treating the symptoms. Safety professionals bring the structure—hazard identification, risk management, and controls. Together, HR and H&S can help design safer, healthier work from the outset.
Employment Agreements & Health and Safety Duties
Every employment agreement in NZ needs to include a section about health and safety responsibilities. Why? Because every worker, manager, and officer has duties under HSWA and these need to be clearly understood from day one.
If your employment agreements are silent on safety, you’re missing a chance to set expectations early. Onboarding isn’t just about “where the coffee machine is”, it’s about making sure new staff understand how they contribute to a safe working environment. HR sets the tone, and H&S backs it up with systems and processes.
Performance Management & Safety
Here’s where things can get tricky. Say someone keeps ignoring a critical safety procedure, what happens? HR gets involved, usually with a performance management lens. But under HSWA, ignoring known safety protocols isn’t just poor behaviour - it could be reckless conduct.
HR and H&S need to work together here. Is it a competency issue? A training gap? Or a wilful breach? Having a joined-up approach makes sure the response is fair, legally sound, and proportionate.
Why the Intersection Matters
When HR and H&S work in silos, things fall through the cracks. Stress goes unreported. Training gets missed. High-risk behaviour gets handled like a simple HR issue, instead of the safety red flag it is.
But when they work together?
Investigations are better.
Inductions are smarter.
Culture is stronger.
And ultimately? People go home safe and retire healthy
So, HR and H&S - slide your trays down to the same end of the lunch table, when you work together, it’s not just the business that wins. It’s the people.
For independent advice in the areas of HR and Health & Safety contact our Business Partners today.