Health and Safety Representative Training

Who is this training for?

It is for the workers elected or appointed as health and safety representatives in a New Zealand workplace, and for the managers who work alongside them.

Because it is built per site from your own hazards and SOPs, HSRs train on the real risks and procedures of their workplace, not a generic template.

Built around your site

Because it is bespoke, the content maps to your hazards and procedures.

What an HSR can actually do, and the part most employers get wrong

Plenty of businesses elect a health and safety representative, give them a lanyard and a seat at the monthly meeting, and think the job is done. Under HSWA 2015 an HSR is considerably more than that, and the powers split into two tiers in a way that catches people out.

First, the thing that gets muddled most often. You do not need any training to be an HSR. A worker elected by their work group is an HSR from the moment they are elected, and they hold the full set of core functions below straight away. The NZQA unit standard is not a prerequisite for the role. It is the gate on two additional powers, and nothing else.

What every HSR can do from day one, with no training at all

On election, an HSR can represent workers on health and safety matters, make recommendations, investigate complaints and risks, monitor the measures the business has put in place, and give the PCBU feedback on whether it is meeting its duties. They can request information the business holds about hazards, risks and worker health and safety, though not personal information about individuals unless those people consent. They can enter and inspect any area of the workplace at a reasonable time, with notice, and without notice after an incident or where there is a serious risk. With a worker's consent they can sit in on interviews with an inspector or the PCBU.

The two powers that need the unit standard

Two powers unlock only after the HSR has completed the NZQA unit standard training, and these are the ones that carry real weight:

• Issue a provisional improvement notice. A PIN directs a duty holder to fix a specific contravention of the Act or the regulations. The recipient has seven days to ask WorkSafe to review it.
• Direct work to cease. Where the HSR reasonably believes work would expose someone in their work group to a serious risk from an immediate or imminent hazard, they can direct that work to stop. They should consult the PCBU first, but where the risk is severe enough they can act immediately.

That second power is the reason the unit standard is worth pursuing in its own right. An HSR without it who sees something dangerous can raise it, escalate it and refuse unsafe work themselves. An HSR with it can direct the work to stop.

To be completely clear about what this course is. Those two additional powers come from the NZQA unit standard, delivered by an accredited training provider. Capability Solutions does not deliver the unit standard, and this course is not it. What we build is practical, site-specific training around your own hazards, procedures and layout, so your HSR understands the role and can do it well on your floor. If your HSR needs the power to issue a PIN or direct work to cease, they need the unit standard as well, from an accredited provider. The two are complements, not alternatives, and we would rather tell you that up front than have you find out later.

The obligation businesses most often miss

When an HSR asks for training, the PCBU must fund it and must respond to the request within three months. This is not optional and it is not a favour. If you have had an elected HSR for a year and they have never been trained, you have both left the useful powers on the table and missed a duty.

It is also, quietly, the cheapest risk control in the building. You are being offered someone who works on the floor, sees the near misses you never hear about, and is willing to raise them.

One change worth knowing about

The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill narrows the scope of provisional improvement notices for smaller businesses so they apply to critical risk breaches. If you run a business with fewer than 20 workers, the direction of travel is to focus effort on the risks that can kill or seriously harm rather than on paperwork. The HSR role itself remains.

Five questions worth asking about your own HSR arrangements

1. Do we have an elected HSR, and do our workers know who it is without checking a noticeboard?
2. Have they completed the NZQA unit standard, which is separate from this course, and if not, when did they ask?
3. Does the HSR know they can stop work, and does the supervisor on shift know it too?
4. What has our HSR raised in the last six months, and what happened to it?
5. If our HSR issued a PIN tomorrow, would that be a sign of failure or a sign the system is working?

The honest answer to the last one tells you most of what you need to know about your safety culture.

Sources: WorkSafe New Zealand, HSR functions and powers and HSR training. Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill 2026.

Common questions

Why is this built per site?

A health and safety representative needs to know the hazards and procedures of their own workplace. Building the training around your site makes it immediately useful.

Who should attend?

The workers elected or appointed as health and safety representatives, and the managers who work with them.

Does it cover the HSR role under the HSWA?

Yes. It covers the functions and responsibilities of an HSR under the Health and Safety at Work Act, applied to your workplace.

How do we get started?

Contact us and we will scope the training around your site’s hazards and standard operating procedures.

Do you need the unit standard to be an HSR?

No. An elected HSR holds the role and all of its core functions immediately, with no training required. The unit standard adds exactly two powers: issuing a provisional improvement notice, and directing work to cease where there is a serious risk from an immediate or imminent hazard. Our course is not the unit standard and does not confer those two powers. What it does is make someone effective in the role on your site, which is a separate and more everyday problem.

Do we have to pay for HSR training?

Yes, and it is worth being precise about which training. When an HSR requests the NZQA unit standard training, the PCBU must fund it and must respond to that request within three months. That is a duty, not a discretion, and it is not satisfied by this course. Our site-specific training sits alongside the unit standard, it does not replace it.

Is this course the NZQA unit standard?

No. Capability Solutions does not deliver the unit standard. This is practical training built around your own site, hazards and procedures, so your HSR can carry out the role well day to day. The unit standard, which unlocks the powers to issue a PIN and to direct work to cease, comes from an accredited provider and is a separate piece of work.

Can an HSR stop work without telling us first?

They should consult the PCBU first. Where the risk is serious enough, arising from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard, they can direct work to cease straight away. If that happens, the useful question is not whether they were entitled to, it is why the risk was still there.