Recently a forestry company boss was charged with manslaughter for the death of a worker on a forestry block: www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/10460126/Arrest-over-forestry-death-a-surprise

Next year, the Health and Safety Reform Bill is due to come into force on 1 April 2015.  The significant changes to NZ health and safety law include:

(a)   additional compliance requirements/obligations for employers and directors; and

(b)  increased penalties for failing to comply (max $600,000 fine, 5 year prison sentence).

How does this affect you? Duty holders, which include Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU), company directors/officers, workers or contractors and or other persons at work, will have an obligation and a general duty of due diligence to minimise health and safety risks in the work place.

Employers under the new regime will have an increased responsibility to keep employees safe, and both parties are encouraged to work together to foster a safe work place and report incidents and potential issues

Notably, there is a clear intention to name and shame offending parties as breaches will result in penalties and publication of the offence.   Such prosecution and reputational risks make it critical that businesses adopt a robust best practice commitment to health and safety.

WorkSafe NZ is the government’s health and safety regulator.  Its focus is to embed and promote good health and safety practices by engaging with and educating employers and employees.  They can also halt any unsafe work: www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/

Why the changes? After the Pike River tragedy, a Royal Commission investigation concluded that NZ’s health and safety record compared to other advanced countries was poor and that NZ organisations needed to adopt an “organisation wide safety culture” to avoid another catastrophic incident.

If you have any questions or would like to take steps to comply please call 04 472 9632 or email richard.chiu@slaw.co.nz

Charities on the Charities Register are required, by law, to file an Annual Return. If an Annual Return is not filed in time, or after notice of the requirement to file, the Charities Commission can remove that charity from the Register thus depriving it of its charitable status. The flow on effect can be loss of tax exemptions. It is also illegal to claim to be a registered charity if not registered.

To ensure that your charitable entity complies with the Charities Act 2005, make sure a reminder to file Annual Returns is included your AGM or other meeting schedule and that your officer and organisation contact details are up to date.

If you have any questions regarding compliance or applying for charities registration under the Act, please call on 04 472 9632 or email richard.chiu@slaw.co.nz

The Unit Titles Act 2010, which came into force on 20 June 2011, requires every unit title body corporate to hold a “first” Annual General Meeting before 20 December 2011. This is irrespective of whether the development was established under the Unit Titles Act 1972, and has already held an AGM in the current calendar year. However it can be combined with any AGM scheduled to take place before 20 December.

While there is only one thing absolutely required to be dealt with at that AGM, which is the appointment of a chairperson of the body corporate, there are a range of other matters that can only be dealt with at a general meeting (or by resolution in lieu of that meeting) that a body corporate needs to consider. We have identified over 59 matters that the body corporate needs to think about.

From a day to day perspective, some of the most important of these are delegations to the body corporate committee.  A body corporate must establish a committee if there are 9 or more units, or resolve not to do so. A body corporate may establish a committee if there are less than 9 units. There are at least 30 different matters that could be the subject of delegation, and these need to be individually considered. There are also matters that cannot be delegated.

Stephens Lawyers has developed a checklist of matters that a body corporate needs to think about bringing before the mandatory AGM.  To discuss your requirements or for further information, contact Alan Henwood on 04 472 9632 or by email, alan.henwood@slaw.co.nz.