Have you had a look through the New Zealand Adventure Activities Certification Scheme 2023? This was published in January and contains the ‘rules’ that auditors and audit bodies need to follow. If you’ve ever wondered why we need to do surveillance every year, or if you can extend your certification date, the answer is in this document.

Currently, we audit against the Safety Audit Standard for Adventure Activities 2017. Hopefully you’re familiar with the contents of this document by now because it contains the rules that operators need to follow. The next version of this standard for adventure activity operators is due to be published soon. We don’t know when this may be. WorkSafe have indicated that we’re flying a holding pattern until the Adventure Activities Regulations are updated. Until they are, you are still subject to the same requirements as the last few years.

The Adventure Activities Regulations 2016 are the 3rd leg of this three-legged stool that hold up the Adventure Activities regime. These are the laws that are attached to the Health and Safety at Work Act that all adventure activity operators need to comply with. MBIE are hoping to take the 2023 version of these Regs to cabinet in the next couple of months. Once ratified by cabinet, the new Regs will be gazetted and come into law. It sounds like the new Standard will be implemented at the same time.

We don’t have a crystal ball so can’t say when this will happen. WorkSafe have indicated that it may be later in 2023, perhaps pushed out to 2024 so, for the time being, we recommend this:

1. Refamiliarize yourself with the Safety Audit Standard for Adventure Activities 2017
2. Read newsletters and articles relating to the Whakaari tragedy and prosecutions. These findings show how the law is interpreted, especially around explicitly disclosing risk, identifying and managing natural hazards, as well as operating parameters and emergency response plans.
3. Keep doing the good work that the New Zealand Adventure Activities industry is renowned for.