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The Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016 deal with the provision of adventure activities.

Here are some useful documents to provide more information about and help you work with the Regulations.

The Regulations

The Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016 deal with the provision of adventure activities. They set out the process for becoming registered as an adventure activity operator and make it an offence for unregistered operators to offer adventure activities to participants.

The core requirement of the Regulations is that all adventure activity operators must pass a safety audit every three years and register their operation with WorkSafe. These audit requirements provide a proactive check that operators are meeting their obligations and have effective safety management systems in place.

To pass the safety audit, an operator must satisfy the safety auditor that their safety management system complies with the Safety Audit Standard (see below). 

In 2016, these regulations revoked and replaced the Health and Safety in Employment (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2011. At the time only minimal changes were made to align wording and concepts with the new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and to add a new offence of offering (advertising) adventure activities while unregistered.

In 2023, these regulations have been amended to:

  • introduce a new duty for adventure activity operators to take all reasonable steps to inform persons seeking to participate in adventure activities of any serious risks they may be exposed to, and a corresponding offence
  • expand the registrar’s powers to decline, suspend, cancel, and add conditions to adventure activity operator registrations, where justified on safety grounds, and provide operators with rights to appeal and request reviews of decisions where these powers are exercised
  • establish a new registration process that requires adventure activity operators to register directly with the Registrar (rather than indirectly via their safety auditor) and provide more detailed information upon registration
  • introduce sector-specific notifiable incidents, requiring adventure activity operators to report near-misses from key risks in the sector to WorkSafe.

Note that the amendments to the Regulations will come into force on 1 April 2024.

The regulations cover many paid adventure activities, although activities run by sports clubs and schools are excluded from the regulations in most circumstances, as are events run by sports clubs or recreation clubs, or associations representing sports clubs or recreation clubs for the purposes of competition. They also do not apply to operators who provide activities that are not taught or guided.

View the full Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016 on the New Zealand Legislation website(external link)

View the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Amendment Regulations 2023 on the New Zealand Legislation website(external link) (these will come into force on 1 April 2024)

Safety Audit Standard

A safety audit standard for adventure activities sets out the requirements that adventure activity operators must comply with to reduce risks when providing adventure activities. It is also a useful reference for some activity provision that is not covered by the Regulations.

WorkSafe has developed and published the following Safety Audit Standards.

Safety Audit Standard (version 1.1) - Safety audit standard for adventure activities

In February 2017, the current version of the Standard (version 1.1) updated and replaced the previous March 2013 version.

It included changes resulting from the creation of WorkSafe New Zealand in 2013, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016. This version also clarified the names of different technical roles supporting the operator and the audit team.

Until 31 March 2024, any audits carried out by safety auditors will continue to be assessed against version 1.1 of the Standard.

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Safety Audit Standard (version 1.1) (PDF 278 KB)

Safety Audit Standard (version 2.0) - Safety management system requirements for adventure activity operators

On 31 August 2023, an updated version of the Standard (version 2.0) was issued. This updated version of the Standard will replace version 1.1 from 1 April 2024.

The updates in version 2.0 of the Standard include changes to introduce a specific requirement for operators to assess and manage risks associated with natural hazards, and requirements for what information about risks must be provided to participants and how this communication should occur.

The title of the Standard was changed to ‘Safety management system requirements for adventure activity operators’ to clarify that the primary audience for this document is both adventure activity operators and safety auditors.

The updates also include changes to ensure that the updated version of the Standard is consistent with the upcoming changes to the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016 as will be amended by the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Amendment Regulations 2023.

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Safety Audit Standard (version 2.0) (PDF 390 KB)

The New Zealand Adventure Activities Certification Scheme

The New Zealand Adventure Activities Certification Scheme (the Scheme) is a WorkSafe document endorsed by the Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand (JAS-ANZ). The Scheme sets out requirements for how certification bodies (referred to as safety auditors in the Regulations) will plan and conduct audits.

Accreditation under the Scheme by JAS-ANZ is the primary way certification bodies can demonstrate to WorkSafe that they are likely to meet the requirements to be recognised as safety auditors under the Regulations.

New Zealand Adventure Activities Certification Scheme (version 4.0)

On 30 January 2023, the current version of the Scheme (version 4.0) updated and replaced the previous version 3.0.

From 1 April 2024, any audits carried out by safety auditors will be assessed against version 2.0 of the Standard.

Until 31 March 2024, version 4.0 of the Scheme will continue to apply while safety auditors review and update their audit systems to address the changes in the updated Scheme (version 4.1). 

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New Zealand Adventure Activities Certification Scheme (version 4.0) (PDF 1.1 MB)

New Zealand Adventure Activities Certification Scheme (version 4.1)

On 31 August 2023, the updated version of the Scheme (version 4.1) was issued. It will replace the current version of the Scheme (version 4.0) from 1 April 2024. 

The updates in version 4.1 include changes to reflect upcoming changes to the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Regulations 2016 as will be amended by the Health and Safety at Work (Adventure Activities) Amendment Regulations 2023.

The updates in version 4.1 also include changes to the qualification requirements for technical experts that audit diving activities.

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New Zealand Adventure Activity Certification Scheme - a performance study (PDF 1.4 MB)

New Zealand Adventure Activity Certification Scheme - a performance study

This research examined the performance of the New Zealand Adventure Activity Certification Scheme (the Scheme) during its first three years in action. This is the period during which audit bodies were directly recognised by WorkSafe NZ, prior to accreditation by a specialist third party organisation.

The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the current Scheme arrangements provide effective sector regulation for each of the ‘project deliverable’ topics described in the report. The research was conducted by reviewing audit reports, conducting interviews with sector managers at certified audit bodies and surveying adventure activity operators.

From 31 August 2023, the changes to the diving technical expert qualifications set out in the Technical Competency Table at Appendix C of the Scheme (version 4.1) will apply.

From 1 April 2024, the updated version of the Scheme (version 4.1) will apply in full.

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New Zealand Adventure Activities Certification Scheme (version 4.1) (PDF 1004 KB)

The Adventure Activities Review, 2009/10

The Prime Minister initiated a review of risk management and safety in the adventure and outdoor commercial sectors in September 2009. The review looked at the existing regulations, safety systems and processes in the sector, and at any ways of improving risk management and safety.

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Review of risk management and safety in the adventure and outdoor commercial sectors in NZ 2009/10 (PDF 625 KB)

WorkSafe Operational Evaluation: Adventure Activities Regulations – the ‘health check’

Between June and September 2020, WorkSafe undertook a cross-organisational evaluation of its operational performance as adventure activities regulator. 

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Adventure activities health check - background information (PDF 82 KB)
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Adventure activities health check - issues and opportunities and recommended action - 22 September 2020 (PDF 1.9 MB)
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Adventure activities health check - Adventure activities regime project memo to CE - 17 March 2020 (PDF 2.9 MB)
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Adventure activities health check - Adventure activities regime project memo to CE - 11 May 2020 (PDF 1.7 MB)
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Adventure activities health check - Briefing to Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety - 20 March 2020 (PDF 549 KB)