How often does health and safety training have to be repeated in New Zealand?

The short answer

Neither the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 nor the General Risk and Workplace Management Regulations 2016 says how often training must be repeated. Section 36(3)(f) requires the training that is necessary to protect people. Regulation 9(2) requires it to be suitable and adequate, having regard to the nature of the work and

the nature of the risks associated with the work at the time the supervision or training is provided

Training that was adequate when someone started can stop being adequate when the equipment, the process, the risks or the person's role changes. When that happens it has to be refreshed, whatever date is on the certificate.

WorkSafe leaves the interval to the business. Its guidance on training says:

Consider what refresher training is required, and how often, to ensure your workers are still following safe work practices.

The fixed periods that do exist

A small number of New Zealand instruments set an expiry.

• Certified handler compliance certificate for hazardous substances, five years. Regulation 4.2(3) of the Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017 says the certificate expires after 5 years.
• Asbestos removal licence and asbestos assessor licence, five years. Set by the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016, which also let WorkSafe add licence conditions requiring retraining or reassessment during the term.
• Certificate of competence for mining and quarrying roles, five years, with continuing education requirements. Set by the Health and Safety at Work (Mining Operations and Quarrying Operations) Regulations 2016.
• Health and safety representatives, a term of office of up to three years under regulation 18 of the Worker Engagement, Participation, and Representation Regulations 2016. The initial training itself has no expiry.

Outside those, and outside sector rules like the Ministry of Education's requirement for early learning first aid qualifications to be refreshed every two years, no law puts an expiry date on health and safety training.

Where two years for first aid comes from

From WorkSafe guidance and training practice. WorkSafe's guide First aid at work says a first aid certificate is generally valid for two years, and its first aid page says first aiders should get refresher training after two years. It also refers to the Australian and New Zealand Committee on Resuscitation recommendation that CPR skills are refreshed at least annually.

Regulation 13, which sets the first aid duty, gives no period. The New Zealand Qualifications Authority's rules for first aid providers set the minimum length of a refresher course for someone whose certificate is no older than two years and three months, which is how the two year cycle became standard across providers.

The unit standards themselves are changing. Unit standards 6401 and 6402 have a last date for assessment of 31 December 2027, and are replaced by skill standards 41052 and 41053. Businesses planning first aid refreshers through 2027 and 2028 should check which standard their provider is assessing against.

Where three years for forklifts comes from

From an Approved Code of Practice for training operators and instructors of powered industrial lift trucks, published in 1995 under the old Health and Safety in Employment Act. Section 5.3 says:

It is recommended that retraining be undertaken every three years and that the certificate issued should reflect this.

That is a recommendation in a code written for a repealed Act, and WorkSafe's forklift page notes the guidance has not been updated to reflect current law. Some websites say the operator's certificate must be renewed every three years and that the Act makes you follow the code. The code itself only recommends it. The F endorsement on a driver licence, which is needed to drive a forklift on a road, is land transport law and a separate matter.

Three years remains a sensible default for forklift operators, and a high risk site may want a shorter cycle.

Training records

WorkSafe's training guidance says businesses are not required to keep training records, and describes them as useful to show what training has taken place and when refresher training is needed.

There are exceptions. Regulation 4.5 of the Hazardous Substances Regulations 2017 requires a record of hazardous substances training and instruction for each worker. For everything else, a record is how a business proves the training happened, and how it knows when refreshers are due.

Setting your own refresher cycle

1. List the training each role needs, and mark any that carry a fixed expiry under the regulations above.
2. For the rest, set an interval based on how serious the risk is, how often the task is done and how quickly skills fade. A task done once a year needs refreshing more often than one done every shift.
3. Add event triggers: new equipment or processes, a change of role, an incident or near miss, a control that is not working, or a worker returning after a long absence.
4. Watch the work. WorkSafe's guidance says training should be reviewed when it is not being followed or gaps are reported.
5. Keep records with due dates, and send reminders before training lapses.

Common questions

Sources

• Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, section 36
• Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016, regulations 9 and 13
• Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, regulations 4.2 and 4.5
• Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016
• Health and Safety at Work (Worker Engagement, Participation, and Representation) Regulations 2016, regulation 18
• WorkSafe, Providing information, training, instruction or supervision for workers
• WorkSafe, Approved Code of Practice for Training Operators and Instructors of Powered Industrial Lift Trucks
• NZQA, unit standards 6401 and 6402