The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 for orchard visitors and contractors

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) is New Zealand's main workplace health and safety law. It puts the main duty on the business, called a PCBU, to keep its workers safe and to make sure its work does not put anyone else at risk. That includes visitors and contractors on your orchard. Visitors and contractors have duties of their own too.

This guide explains what the Act says about the people who come through your orchard gate, in plain English, with links to the Act and WorkSafe's guidance. It applies to orchards of any crop. It is general information, not legal advice. For how the law applies to your own business, read the official guidance and get advice.

The Act in one paragraph

The Act came into force on 4 April 2016. Its main purpose is a "balanced framework to secure the health and safety of workers and workplaces", including by protecting workers and other people from harm "by eliminating or minimising risks arising from work". WorkSafe New Zealand is the main regulator. Most of the Act's duties are limited by the words "so far as is reasonably practicable", explained below.

Who the Act talks about

Four words do most of the work.

• PCBU means a "person conducting a business or undertaking". In practice it is usually the business, such as your orchard company, partnership or trust. Read PCBU duties on an orchard for a full explanation.
• Worker means anyone who "carries out work in any capacity for a PCBU". The Act lists employees, contractors and subcontractors, their employees, labour-hire workers, apprentices, trainees, people on work trials and some volunteers. A picking crew from a contractor are workers too.
• Workplace means "a place where work is being carried out, or is customarily carried out, for a business or undertaking", and any place a worker goes while at work. Vehicles count as places.
• Officer means a director, partner or similar person, or anyone with "significant influence over the management" of the business, such as a chief executive.

Anyone else at your workplace, such as a visitor, a courier or a family member, is what WorkSafe calls an "other person".

What the Act asks of the orchard business

Your workers, including contractors

The primary duty of care in section 36 says a PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its workers, and of workers "whose activities in carrying out work are influenced or directed by the PCBU". That second group can include contractors and their crews when you direct where and how they work.

Section 36 also lists what this covers, including:

• a work environment without risks to health and safety;
• safe plant, structures and systems of work;
• adequate welfare facilities for workers;
• "any information, training, instruction, or supervision that is necessary to protect all persons from risks to their health and safety".

Everyone else on the orchard

The same section says a PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, "that the health and safety of other persons is not put at risk from work carried out" by the business. WorkSafe's position on visitors says a business "must take reasonable care to keep everyone at the workplace healthy and safe", and should give visitors "an appropriate and proportionate level of health and safety information and protection." What that looks like depends on the work.

The workplace itself, and the farm rule

Section 37 says a PCBU who manages or controls a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace, "the means of entering and exiting the workplace", and anything arising from it are without risks to anyone.

For a farming business, the Act narrows this duty. It applies to the farm buildings and the area immediately around them that is needed for the business. It does not apply to the main house, or to "any other part of the farm, unless work is being carried out in that part at the time."

The farm rule only changes the section 37 workplace duty. The section 36 duty still applies wherever your work is being done.

Working with other businesses

On most orchards several businesses work at once: the grower, an orchard management company, contractors, labour hire, the packhouse. The Act calls these overlapping duties. Section 34 says each business with a duty for the same matter must, so far as is reasonably practicable, "consult, co-operate with, and co-ordinate activities with" the others.

You cannot hand a duty to someone else. Section 31 says a duty "may not be transferred to another person". Each business keeps its own duty, to the extent it can influence and control the matter.

WorkSafe's farm guidance puts it simply: farmers and contractors "must work together to meet their overlapping duties every time a contractor comes on farm." Its checklist asks whether you checked where the contractor will be working, got their contact details, told them about risks and emergency procedures, agreed time in and time out reporting, and "made a note of what I told them".

Reporting serious events

Section 56 says a PCBU must notify WorkSafe as soon as possible after becoming aware of a notifiable event, such as a death or a serious injury. Section 57 says a record of each notifiable event must be kept for at least 5 years.

What "reasonably practicable" means

Section 22 of the Act defines it as what "is, or was, at a particular time, reasonably able to be done in relation to ensuring health and safety", weighing up things like:

• how likely the risk is;
• how bad the harm could be;
• what you know, or ought to know, about the risk and how to control it;
• what ways of controlling it are available and suitable;
• the cost, including whether it is "grossly disproportionate to the risk".

Section 30 says you must eliminate risks so far as is reasonably practicable, and if you cannot, minimise them. Our free orchard hazard register template is a printable way to write down the hazards on your orchard and how you manage them.

What the Act asks of visitors and contractors

The duties do not all sit with the orchard.

• Workers, including contractors' crews, must take reasonable care for their own safety and for others, follow reasonable instructions, and "co-operate with any reasonable policy or procedure" that has been notified to them (section 45).
• Other people at the workplace, including visitors, must take reasonable care for themselves and others, and follow reasonable instructions from the business (section 46). WorkSafe says this includes wearing protective gear when asked.
• Contractors are often PCBUs themselves. A contracting business has its own duties to its own crew and to the people around its work, alongside yours.

This is why the gate matters. A reasonable instruction only helps if the person was given it.

What changes on 1 April 2027

Parliament passed the Health and Safety at Work Amendment Bill at the start of July 2026. WorkSafe says the changes come into effect on 1 April 2027. The ones most relevant to orchards are:

• Critical risks first. WorkSafe says a critical risk is one likely to lead to death, a notifiable injury or illness, a notifiable incident or a listed occupational disease, or one managed by regulations, such as hazardous substances, certain machinery and working at heights.
• Small and large PCBUs. WorkSafe says a small PCBU has fewer than 20 workers, and its main duties are limited to managing critical risks. A large PCBU must manage all risks and prioritise critical ones.
• Seasonal work counts. WorkSafe names farming as work where numbers go up and down. If you expect more than 20 workers for more than three months of the year, WorkSafe says you are a large PCBU. WorkSafe also says contractors and labour-hire workers count as workers.
• Working together. WorkSafe says small PCBUs must cooperate with other businesses on critical risks, and large PCBUs on all relevant risks. Businesses still "cannot contract out of or transfer their duties."

WorkSafe says more detailed information is coming. Until 1 April 2027 the current Act applies. Check WorkSafe's changes page before relying on any summary, including this one.

A gate routine that matches the Act

None of this requires a particular tool. It does require a routine. Most of it happens at the gate:

• Everyone who comes onto working areas checks in, each person individually.
• Each person sees the hazards that matter today, and the rules they must follow.
• Contractors tell you what they will be doing and where, and you agree time in and time out.
• You can show what you told each person, and which version of your site information they saw.
• You know who is on site if there is an emergency.
• People working alone give an expected finish time, and someone checks it.

For a full routine, read Visitor and contractor sign-in on NZ orchards. For the contractor briefing, read Summer orchard access: a contractor briefing checklist.

How GateBud helps

GateBud™ is QR visitor check-in for orchards. It helps with the record-keeping side of the routine above. It does not make an orchard safe on its own, and it does not decide what your duties are.

• Visitors and contractors scan a QR code at the gate and check in on their phone. No app, password or account.
• At check-in, people review the hazards, maps and documents for that site. GateBud saves the version each person confirmed. Check-in does not control physical access or prove understanding.
• You set the check-in questions for each site, such as where someone is working or how long they expect to be on site.
• On site now shows visits recorded as checked in and not yet checked out, and the Evacuation roll call lists everyone checked in.
• The Visitor log keeps every visit, filtered by site and date, and exports as PDF or CSV.

Be clear about the limits. GateBud records what happened at your own sites. It does not assess your risks, run your inductions, notify WorkSafe of an event, or record what a contractor's own business has told its crew.

Sources

Sources checked on 4 November 2026.

• New Zealand Legislation, Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (version as at 5 April 2025), sections 2, 3, 16 to 20, 22, 30, 31, 34, 36, 37, 45, 46, 56 and 57.
• WorkSafe New Zealand, Changes to health and safety law (updated 30 October 2026) and Understanding the changes to the health and safety law.
• WorkSafe New Zealand, Am I a small or large PCBU?, What is a critical risk? and Working with other PCBUs to manage work risks (October 2026).
• WorkSafe New Zealand, What to know about 'other persons' at work.
• WorkSafe New Zealand, Contractors on farms.