Please remember, just because you haven’t necessarily been audited against the new requirements, doesn’t mean you are not subject to them. When we transition to the new Adventure Activities Regulations on 1 April 2024, all Adventure Activity Operators are subject to those Regulations, regardless of when your last audit was, or when the next one is scheduled. As a WorkSafe registered Adventure Operator, it is your responsibility to know what the rules are that you are subject to. 

If you’re not sure about the changes, it’s a good time to discuss them with your technical adviser(s). A good technical adviser will be up to speed with the changes, or will be bringing themselves up to speed. 

It’s a common theme but we always recommend planning ahead to reduce stress. WorkSafe need to review certification decisions carefully before they can update your registration. If you leave your audit right up until your certification expires, it’s likely that WorkSafe won’t have updated your registration before that expires, putting your ability to operate at risk. The Certification Scheme allows recertification audits to be done up to three months before the expiry date. So, if you want to reduce the stress, and risk, of leaving things until the last minute we can get your audit rolling early. Easy! 

We’ve fielded a few questions about what audits under the new Regulations look like. Please rest assured, they will still be conducted by the AdventureMark team using the audit process you are all familiar with. You will have more direct communication with WorkSafe, for example, instead of AdventureMark submitting your registration, we will complete your audit report and certification and send it to you. You then provide that information to WorkSafe, who process your registration.

In addition, you will know that there are beefed up requirements around when and how you communicate risks to potential customers. A ‘belt-and-braces’ approach is advisable here. Try and implement several ways to ensure people thinking about booking can be aware of what dangers are involved. You can brief booking agents on famil trips, publish a risk disclosure on your website, tripadvisor, etc. Consider it from this angle: If a client arrives at your activity and, during the safety briefing says: “I didn’t know that could happen, I want to pull out” then the risk disclosure may not have been sufficient.

WorkSafe have published a guide to the coming changes that you can find here: https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/topic-and-industry/adventure-activities/changes-to-the-adventure-activities-regime-what-they-mean-for-you/