PSPSLA Update

Kia ora koutou members and supporters of NZISM. We are now seeing further implications of the Private Security Personnel and Private Investigators Act 2010 (PSPPI Act) on health and safety investigators and auditors with the release of several documents. (As a quick reminder, there were questions on whether the requirements of the Private Security Personnel Licensing Authority (PSPLA) apply to health and safety investigators and auditors.) The documents released are a legal opinion and an investigation report prepared for the Chief Investigator (CIPU) and the PSPLA, both of which can be accessed at the bottom of this update.

Of note is a test in the CIPU investigation report on what may trigger the requirement to hold a license under the Act. It states that:

"Key aspects to assist to determine whether a health and safety investigation or audit may be captured by the PSPPI Act, include the following questions:

• Are individuals or groups being interviewed, and are statements being taken or recorded?
• Are maintenance, training, incident, or other records or reports examined?
• Is other information being sought or obtained that is not a public record?
• Is information about individuals’ behaviours, actions, or character being gathered?
• Is information that is generally considered private being obtained or provided to the health and safety investigator or auditor?
• Is a report being generated that includes conclusions or recommendations? (p.27)"

• Health and safety practitioners and professionals conducting in-house workplace investigations or audits are exempt.
• The PSPLA has put a dispensation in place for those that are members’ of HASANZ, which we have understood to mean current NZISM members who are on the HASANZ register.