Health and Safety Duties for Directors in Australia and NZ
Many directors think of health and safety as a management issue. Something the operations team handles, reported in a table at the back of the board pack.
That view is out of date. In both Australia and New Zealand, directors and other senior officers carry personal health and safety duties. They are not optional, they apply whether the seat is paid or unpaid, and they cannot be handed to management.
For finance leaders moving onto boards, this can feel like unfamiliar ground. You may have spent your career on numbers, risk and controls rather than hazards and incident reports. The good news is that the core idea is simple, and the skills you already have, such as asking for evidence and testing what you are told, are exactly what is needed.
This article covers why safety is a director issue, the duty in general terms in Australia and New Zealand, questions directors should ask, reports to expect and how to show safety governance on your board CV. It is general information only, not legal advice. The laws differ between the two countries and between Australian states and territories, and they change over time. Get legal advice and complete formal director training.
Why safety is a director issue
There are three reasons safety sits with the board.
It is about people. Every organisation has a duty to keep its workers and others safe. The board sets the tone for how seriously that is taken.
It is a legal duty. Directors and other officers have their own duty to take reasonable steps to make sure the organisation meets its safety obligations. If the organisation fails and the director did not do enough, the director can be personally responsible.
It is a business risk. A serious incident can lead to harm, regulator action, penalties, lost contracts, staff turnover and lasting damage to reputation. Boards that treat safety as a compliance tick miss how much it shapes culture and performance.
Safety also includes mental health and psychological risks, not only physical hazards. Safety laws in both countries cover mental health as well as physical health, and regulators increasingly expect organisations to manage risks such as bullying, excessive workload and harassment.
The duty in general terms in Australia
In Australia, health and safety laws are set by each state and territory and by the Commonwealth for its own workers. Most follow a similar model, although there are differences, including in Victoria. Penalties, offences and some details vary.
In general terms, directors and other officers must exercise due diligence to make sure the business meets its health and safety duties. This is commonly understood to include taking reasonable steps to:
Keep up to date with health and safety matters
Understand the nature of the operations and the main hazards and risks
Make sure the business has the right resources and processes to remove or reduce those risks
Make sure information about incidents, hazards and risks is received and acted on promptly
Make sure the business has processes to meet its legal duties
Check that those resources and processes are actually being used
The duty is personal. Officers can face penalties if they fail to meet it. In the most serious cases, involving a death or reckless conduct, the consequences can be severe, and several jurisdictions have specific offences for the most serious failures.
The duty in general terms in NZ
In New Zealand, there is one national health and safety law. It also places a personal duty on officers, including directors, to exercise due diligence to make sure the business meets its health and safety duties.
The steps expected of officers are broadly similar to those in Australia: knowing about safety matters, understanding the operations and hazards, making sure resources and processes are in place, making sure information on incidents is received and acted on, and checking that processes are used.
There are differences in detail, including in how penalties apply and which costs can be insured. New Zealand has also been reviewing parts of its safety law, so check the current position with a lawyer.
If you sit on boards in both countries, do not assume the rules are the same. Get advice on each.
Questions directors should ask
Good questions are the main tool directors have. These work well on most boards.
What are our five most serious hazards, and how are we controlling each one?
How do we know those controls are working, beyond what management tells us?
What incidents or near misses have we had in the last year, and what did we change?
Are we seeing any trends in psychological risks, such as workload or bullying complaints?
Do we have the people, budget and systems we need for safety?
How do contractors and labour hire workers fit into our safety system?
When did a director last visit a site and talk to frontline workers?
Has the regulator raised any concerns or issued any notices?
Ask for the answers to be minuted. Follow up when the answers are vague.
Reports to expect
A board should receive regular safety reporting. Good reports usually include:
Lead indicators. Measures of activity that prevent harm, such as hazard inspections, safety conversations, training and actions closed on time.
Lag indicators. Incidents, injuries, lost time and serious near misses. These matter, but they show what has already gone wrong.
Critical risk updates. The status of controls for the most serious hazards.
Serious incident reviews. What happened, why, and what is changing.
Regulator matters. Notices, investigations and correspondence.
Psychological safety measures. Engagement results, complaints and workload trends.
Be wary of reports that show only injury rates. Low injury numbers can hide serious risks that have simply not caused harm yet. Finance leaders often bring a useful habit here: asking what the numbers do not show.
How search consultants see it
When I worked in executive search, safety questions came up more and more in board processes, especially for organisations with physical operations. Chairs wanted to know whether a candidate had ever been close to a serious incident, how they had questioned safety reporting and whether they understood the personal nature of the duty.
Candidates from finance backgrounds sometimes said safety had not been their area. That answer rarely landed well. The stronger candidates could point to a time they had asked about safety spending, linked incident costs to the business case or visited sites to understand the risks. It showed they saw safety as part of their role as a leader.
Showing safety governance on your board CV
You do not need to be a safety specialist to show safety governance. Look for evidence such as:
Membership of a safety or risk committee
Approving or reviewing safety budgets and capital spending
Reviewing serious incidents and the changes that followed
Site visits and frontline engagement
Building safety measures into executive incentives or reporting
Leading a business through a regulator investigation or improvement program
Write it as a short, specific line. For example: “Member of the board safety and risk committee overseeing a workforce of 1,200 across eight sites, including review of critical risk controls and serious incident investigations.”
For more on how to present governance experience, see board positions on your resume and your board skills matrix experience.
A quick self-check
Can you name the five most serious hazards in each organisation where you are a director?
Do your board reports include lead indicators and critical risk updates?
Have you visited a site in the last year?
Have you had training or legal advice on your safety duties?
Your next step
Before your next board meeting, write down three safety questions from the list above and ask them. If you are preparing for a board role, add one safety governance example to your board CV this week.
If you want help with your board profile, my board resume writing helps senior leaders show their governance and risk experience in a way chairs recognise.
If you are moving onto boards and want to check your readiness, book a complimentary Clarity Session.
