Creating a resilient New Zealand requires effort from all of society. Organisations, in particular, have the potential to be a catalyst in building a resilient nation. Organisations that effectively manage natural hazard risk provide safety for their employees, minimise economic losses through downtime, and are able to support community recovery by providing key services, employment, and economic stimulus. Organisations have a number of regulatory obligations to protect their employees and other stakeholders, such as those in the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA). The HSWA has a core purpose to “protect workers and other persons against harm to their health, safety, and welfare by eliminating or minimising risks arising from work….”. On the surface, the legislation is well placed to promote seismic risk reduction activities, however we currently have little understanding of how organisations interpret and act on obligations within the HSWA to reduce seismic risk. Similarly, it is unclear how the HSWA would be enforced in relation to seismic hazards.
In this EQC-funded project, we will investigate the application of HWSA to seismic risk. We will seek to understand the legislative and policy environment and compare this with organisations’ a) understanding of likely earthquake impacts, b) steps taken to reduce risk, and c) enablers and barriers to action by organisations. The research will help policy-makers and regulators understand how organisations are managing seismic risk and how existing legislative tools, such as HSWA, can be better leveraged to promote disaster risk reduction.