WorkSafe Inspectors Complete New Machine Safety Training

The updated training followed feedback gathered during the Minister's nationwide roadshows in 2024 and targeted consultations with manufacturing businesses in 2025.

All WorkSafe New Zealand inspectors have completed updated machine safety training as part of efforts to improve the way machinery risks are assessed and managed across workplaces. Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden said the programme was introduced after businesses called for more practical and consistent guidance from inspectors.

The updated training followed feedback gathered during the Minister's nationwide roadshows in 2024 and targeted consultations with manufacturing businesses in 2025. Many businesses said they wanted clearer improvement notices, more practical recommendations, and inspectors with stronger technical knowledge of machinery used in their industries.

Inspectors receive more hands-on technical training

As part of this year's programme, trainee inspectors took part in a full-day machine safety workshop at Burnham Military Camp, where they received detailed practical training on identifying machinery risks and applying appropriate safety measures. WorkSafe said future training sessions may also be held at other sites equipped with suitable industrial machinery to provide inspectors with broader hands-on experience.

Van Velden said businesses should now see more consistent and higher-quality assessments, regardless of which inspector carries out an inspection or where it takes place. Stronger technical knowledge from the beginning of an inspector's career is expected to improve the quality of advice provided to employers.

Clearer guidance expected to improve workplace safety

Manufacturing remains one of New Zealand's higher-risk industries, making effective machinery safety inspections particularly important. The Minister said inspectors are now better equipped to identify specific hazards and issue practical remedial actions that clearly explain both the risk and the changes required to address it.

She said the improvements respond directly to concerns that previous improvement notices were sometimes too general and led businesses to make expensive changes that offered little additional safety benefit. By providing more targeted and practical advice, the updated training is expected to strengthen workplace safety while giving businesses greater confidence in WorkSafe's inspection process.