PCBU duties on an orchard: what PCBU means and who it covers

PCBU stands for "person conducting a business or undertaking". It is the term New Zealand's Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 uses for whoever carries the main health and safety duties at work. In practice a PCBU is usually a business, such as an orchard company, partnership, trust or sole trader, rather than an individual employee.

This guide explains what PCBU means, who counts as one on a working orchard, and what PCBUs owe the visitors and contractors who come onto the property. It applies to orchards of any crop. It is general information, not legal advice. For how the law applies to your own arrangements, read the official guidance and get advice.

What PCBU means

Section 17 of the Act says a PCBU is a person conducting a business or undertaking "whether the person conducts a business or undertaking alone or with others" and "whether or not the business or undertaking is conducted for profit or gain".

WorkSafe New Zealand calls it "a broad concept used throughout HSWA to describe all types of modern working arrangements which we commonly refer to as businesses." It says most New Zealand businesses, "whether large corporates, sole traders, or self-employed, are classed as PCBUs."

WorkSafe explains the two halves of the term:

• A business is usually run to make a profit and has "a degree of organisation, system and continuity".
• An undertaking has some organisation and system but is usually not commercial, such as a school, a council or a charity.

Who is not a PCBU

The Act lists who is not a PCBU. The ones that matter most on an orchard are:

• People employed or engaged solely as workers or officers. Your orchard manager, supervisors and pickers are not PCBUs because of the job they do for you. They have duties as workers instead.
• Volunteer associations, meaning groups of volunteers where nobody employs anyone to carry out work for the group.
• A home occupier who engages someone solely to do residential work, such as a plumber at the house.

Who is a PCBU on a typical orchard

Several businesses are often working on the same orchard at once, and each of them can be a PCBU. Depending on how your operation is set up, that might include:

• The grower, whether a company, partnership, trust or individual running the orchard as a business.
• An orchard management company, if one runs the orchard on the owner's behalf.
• Contractors, such as pruning, picking, spraying, mowing or shelter-trimming businesses. WorkSafe lists building contractors and self-employed people running their own business as examples of PCBUs.
• Labour-hire companies supplying seasonal workers.
• The packhouse or post-harvest operator, when its staff or trucks come onto the orchard.

Who holds which duty depends on who influences and controls the work. That is a question about your own arrangements, so get advice on it.

What a PCBU must do

The main duties are in sections 36 and 37 of the Act. In short, a PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of its workers, that its work does not put other people at risk, and, if it manages or controls the workplace, that the workplace is without risks to anyone. Visitors and workers have duties of their own too.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 for orchard visitors and contractors sets out those duties in full: the farm rule, what "reasonably practicable" means, what visitors and contractors owe, and how serious events are reported.

When more than one PCBU is on the orchard

Several PCBUs on one orchard each keep their own duty. WorkSafe's guidance for farms says "the more influence and control a farmer or contractor has over a health and safety matter, the more responsibility they are likely to have." Section 33 says each duty holder must comply "even if another duty holder has the same duty", to the extent it can influence and control the matter, and duties cannot be handed over to someone else.

The HSWA guide explains how businesses with overlapping duties consult, co-operate and co-ordinate, and WorkSafe's checklist for contractors on farms.

Officers: the people at the top

Section 44 says an officer of a PCBU must exercise "due diligence" to make sure the PCBU complies. Officers include directors, partners and anyone else with "significant influence over the management" of the business. Due diligence includes taking reasonable steps to keep up to date with health and safety, understand the business's operations and risks, and make sure it has the resources and processes to manage them.

The Act also says a person who "merely advises or makes recommendations" to an officer is not an officer.

What changes on 1 April 2027

WorkSafe says changes to the Act come into effect on 1 April 2027, and from then the size of a PCBU matters. A small PCBU has fewer than 20 workers. WorkSafe names farming as work where numbers go up and down, and says that if you expect more than 20 workers for more than three months of the year, you are a large PCBU. Contractors and labour-hire workers count as workers.

The HSWA guide covers the other changes, including critical risks. Until 1 April 2027 the current Act applies.

How GateBud helps

GateBud™ is QR visitor check-in for orchards. When several businesses work on the same orchard, it helps everyone see the same record of who came onto which site and what they were shown. It does not decide who is a PCBU or which duties apply.

• Visitors and contractors check in on their phone, each person individually. The check-in form asks who each person works for, and you can add your own questions for each site.
• People review the hazards, maps and documents for that site at check-in. GateBud saves the version each person confirmed. Check-in does not prove understanding.
• The Visitor log keeps every visit, filtered by site and date, and exports as PDF or CSV, so you can share the record with a business you work alongside.

Be clear about the limits. GateBud records arrivals at your own sites. It does not record a contractor's work on other people's properties, or the briefings a contractor gives its own crew.

For what a useful arrival record holds, read Visitor and contractor sign-in on NZ orchards. For the audit side, read GAP audits: what auditors look for.

Sources

Sources checked on 4 November 2026.

• New Zealand Legislation, Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (version as at 5 April 2025), sections 17, 18, 19, 31, 33, 36, 37 and 44.
• WorkSafe New Zealand, Who or what is a PCBU?.
• WorkSafe New Zealand, Contractors on farms.
• WorkSafe New Zealand, Officer duty and Am I a small or large PCBU? (October 2026).