RA Health and Safety Programme

The Restaurant Association’s Health and Safety Programme provides health and safety guidance for your hospitality business. The information contained in this package is based on the requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (the Act). The Act marked a change in New Zealand’s health and safety landscape, putting a greater responsibility on everyone when it comes to health and safety at work.  The Act also been updated with the provisions outlined in the Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Act 2023(external link) 

A key principle of the Act is to give workers the highest level of protection against harm to their health, safety and welfare from hazards and risks that come from their work.  

The hospitality industry might have lower risks than some other industries, but there are still serious risks and hazards that need to be managed. The purpose of this Health and Safety programme is to help businesses and their workers to navigate their obligations and keep everyone healthy and safe at work.  

The idea of this system is to break down all of the information that is required to make up a complete health and safety workplace policy for your business, with complementary policies and operational change suggestions. It is here to support you in the journey to managing compliance with the Act and creating a safe and healthy workplace.

Lessons

The entire programme is broken into short lessons. As you read through the lessons you can click complete on each section, tracking and recording your progress.

Quizzes

Each topic has a short quiz at the end, testing your knowledge and confirming you understand what needs to be achieved. These tests are also used to track your progress.

File Storage

Throughout the programme there is access to the H&S file storage area. By uploading completed templates you always have a place to go to retrieve them. Please do not store sensitive information in this service.

Documents

The programme includes all of the templates, forms and checklists you need to create your own full Heath and Safety system for your workplace. As you work through the programme, files are available to download for the relevant section along with a full explanation and how to implement them.

This programme is divided into several main subjects, which you will find above under the curriculum tab: Duties, Worker Engagement, Policy & Procedure, Risk Management & Hazards, Accidents & Injury and Culture. Within each subject, you will find individual lessons covering different topics with documents and instructions. At the end of each subject, there is a short quiz to check your knowledge and you can keep track of how you are progressing with developing your Health & Safety workplace programme. By the time you have completed the programme you should have a good understanding of your Health & Safety obligations and the policies and documents needed

At any point, if you find you need help please don’t hesitate to contact the Association, either by phoning the RA Helpline on 0800 737 827, or via email here. We are here to help.

Our Health and Safety support for members is produced with support from Worksafe.