Safer Ports

What this means for ports

Notify incidents online at: maritimenz.govt.nz

Report any event, incident or situation to us as soon as possible.

• In life-threatening situations that require immediate emergency services, dial 111 or radio MAYDAY.
• After-hours serious incidents: on weekends, NZ public holidays and on weekdays between 4.30pm and 9am NZT call 0508 22 55 22 to notify about an actual or potential loss of life, serious injury, serious damage to a vessel or port, or serious pollution.
• WorkSafe continues to regulate major hazard facilities, New Zealand’s inland ports, manage HSWA authorisations and exemptions, and enforce specific laws like the Electricity and Gas acts (1992).

View maps of the regulated areas

We have created port profiles – aerial maps of each port – to show the areas covered by the extended HSWA designation. These were developed with jointly with the port sector and WorkSafe. 

View port profile maps

Our approach to port safety

From 1 July 2024, Maritime NZ is the regulator responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with health and safety legislation on ports, as well as on ships.

Ports are complex, dynamic, and high-risk environments where there are a number of drivers of harm. Extending Maritime NZ’s Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) designation provides us with the legal mandate and additional resourcing to take a wider view of how port businesses are managing risks, developing systems, performing safety operations, and engaging with workers.

This approach will give us better insight and understanding of how port businesses are developing their systems, and allow us to bring consistency to training approaches and standards, information sharing practices, traffic management and fatigue management plans, reporting, and more.

It will also allow us to employ a targeted harm prevention approach to improve safety culture, embed new health and safety practices, more effectively work with and regulate port-based businesses, and ultimately reduce harm to the people employed both on ships and at ports.

Look out for our staff on ports

Our dedicated Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) team has specialists based in five locations - Auckland, Tauranga, Napier, Nelson and Christchurch. The team is working alongside our Maritime Officers, Maritime Inspectors and Investigations teams, building on our existing HSWA capabilities.

Benefit from expert safety insights

New guidance and policies for ports are available, including information on Worker Engagement, Participation and Representation (WEPR).

Safer Ports collateral

We developed posters, flyers, digital wallpapers and TV screen images for the port sector to help inform people about the extension of the HSWA designation.

• Sign
• Poster A2
• Poster A3
• Poster A4
• Flyer - A4 single-sided black and white / A5 2-sided colour
• Wallpaper - option 1 / option 2
• TV screen images - option 1 / option 2

Partnering with WorkSafe

Maritime NZ and WorkSafe are committed to supporting the port sector to improve their safety outcomes through effective collaboration.

WorkSafe retains responsibility for regulating major hazard facilities on ports and for granting, varying, and cancelling authorisations and exemptions under HSWA. It also retains oversight of inland ports across New Zealand, and any regulatory activity where it is expressly named in legislation or regulations, such as in the Electricity and Gas acts (1992).

In performing its regulatory role on major ports, Maritime NZ will inform WorkSafe of any issues with Authorisations and Exemptions it becomes aware of. Maritime NZ’s compliance monitoring on ports will include ensuring businesses and workers hold the necessary permits and licences.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and schedules

Given the role each agency plays on our major ports, we have agreed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and associated schedules that outline how we will work together from 1 July 2024.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) provides a framework for our cooperation, with the associated four schedules providing specific details about the boundaries of Maritime NZ's designation and the areas WorkSafe will continue to regulate, how the authorisation and exemption arrangements will work, the data and information sharing processes, and the general cooperation provisions.

• Memorandum of Understanding (PDF - 311 KB)
  Outlines the framework for how WorkSafe and Maritime NZ will cooperate, collaborate, and coordinate activities, particularly in areas of common interest.
  
  
• Port Profiles Schedule (PDF - 2.14 MB)
  Clarifies the physical boundaries of Maritime NZ’s designation at New Zealand’s major ports including where the major hazard facilities are, and how pipelines and transport operations are to be handled.
  
  
• Authorisations and Exemptions Schedule (PDF - 265 KB)
  Confirms the roles of each agency with respect to regulating authorisations and exemptions on major ports. Specifically, it details the powers retained by WorkSafe, each agencies' role relating to authorised third parties and general regulatory activities, and any joint activities, notifications, and cooperation.
  
  
• Data and Information Sharing Schedule (PDF - 563 KB)
  Details the processes for WorkSafe and Maritime NZ to share information relevant to each agency's regulatory responsibilities on major ports. Specifically, this schedule outlines what information will be shared, how it will be shared, safeguards for information protection, legal obligations, and how associated costs are covered.
  
  
• Operational Cooperation Schedule (PDF - 680 KB)
  Outlines how Maritime NZ and WorkSafe will work together operationally from 1 July 2024 to achieve better health and safety outcomes on New Zealand’s major ports. It defines how our organisations will cooperate where there is regulatory overlap, in situations where harm has occurred or is likely to occur, where technical support is needed, and during emergencies on board a ship or at a major port.

Port Health and Safety Leadership Group

In May 2022, following two fatalities in New Zealand ports, the previous Minister of Transport asked the Port Health and Safety Leadership Group to provide advice on what actions could can be taken to address health and safety harms at ports.

The Leadership Group, which consists of employers, unions, the Port Industry Association, and government agencies, worked together to create the Port Sector Insights Picture and Action Plan which is a foundation for the group’s multi-year harm prevention programme.

Through the Action Plan, the Leadership Group recommended that the health and safety activities Maritime NZ already performs on ships be extended onto the land side of New Zealand’s 13 major ports.