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Health and Safety Responsibilities of Landlords
The change to an Australian based health and safety model certainly is challenging for many businesses and is requiring a lot of clarification as to who has what responsibility for what.
This is now reaching into the areas of corporate bodies and rental properties and building, something that many businesses are operating from.
A little known fact is that it is the owner of the premises (the landlord) has a responsibility under the 2006 NZ Fire Safety and Evacuation of Buildings Regulations to develop, provide and to implement efficient emergency evacuation procedures for the prompt evacuation of their buildings or premises.
The following article written by Jessie Lapthorne, an associate at law firm Duncan Cotterill, sets out another set of responsibilities that clarifies the issue where a landlord employs contractors to undertake work on their property.
Rental properties are now classified as workplaces putting new responsibilities on landlords when undertaking repairs and maintenance
New legislation means landlords have a responsibility to ensure the health and safety of contractors they engage to carry out work on their property. Under the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSW Act), a landlord is classified as a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) and the property will be classified as a “workplace” if a person is undertaking work there.
To read the rest of this interesting article, please go to //www.interest.co.nz/property/81551/rental-properties-are-now-classified-workplaces-putting-new-responsibilities.
Jessie's article certainly clarifies a number of health and safety issues and is now taking this business responsibility to another level. Like it or hate it, the Health and Safety at Work Act is enacted. We now as a nation of responsible property and business owners have to make it work - it is no longer a negotiable option for any business or property owner.
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