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Electricity Act 1992

General - Functions and powers of WorkSafe and Secretary

16: Notification of accidents

You could also call this:

“Rules for telling people about electrical accidents”

This law talks about what you need to do if there’s an accident involving electricity. If electricity causes serious harm to a person or makes a place unusable, someone needs to tell WorkSafe about it right away. The person who needs to report the accident depends on where it happened. If it’s at a place with electrical equipment, the person in charge of that equipment should report it. If an electrician finds the accident, they should report it. For accidents in other places, the person using the place should report it. When you report the accident, you might need to use a special form and give specific details. If you’ve already told someone about the accident under the Gas Act or the Health and Safety at Work Act, you don’t need to report it again under this law.

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Part 2 General
Functions and powers of WorkSafe and Secretary

16Notification of accidents

  1. This section applies to every accident that—

  2. is caused wholly or partly by, or involves or affects, electricity, or involves or affects the generation, conversion, transformation, conveyance, or use of electricity; and
    1. results in—
      1. serious harm to any person; or
        1. damage to any place or part of a place that renders that place or that part of that place unusable for any purpose for which it was used or designed to be used before that accident.

        2. Repealed

        3. Where any accident to which this section applies occurs in any place, the appropriate person shall notify WorkSafe of the particulars of the accident forthwith on becoming aware of the accident.

        4. For the purposes of subsection (3), the appropriate person is as follows:

        5. in the case of an accident involving or affecting any works or electrical installation, the person who has control of those works or that installation:
          1. if the accident is discovered by any person who is authorised to do prescribed electrical work under Part 10, that person:
            1. in all other cases, the occupier of the place where the accident occurred.

              1. Every notice under this section shall be in the prescribed form (if any) and shall contain such particulars as are prescribed (if any).

              2. Notification of an accident in accordance with either or both of the following provisions is compliance with subsection (3):

              3. section 17(3) of the Gas Act 1992:
                1. section 56 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

                  Compare
                  • 1982 No 27 s 14(1)–(3)
                  Notes
                  • Section 16 heading: amended, on , by section 9(1) of the Electricity Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 70).
                  • Section 16(1): substituted, on , by section 9(2) of the Electricity Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 70).
                  • Section 16(2): repealed, on , by section 9(2) of the Electricity Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 70).
                  • Section 16(3): amended, on , by section 22 of the WorkSafe New Zealand Act 2013 (2013 No 94).
                  • Section 16(4)(b): substituted, on , by section 9(3) of the Electricity Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 70).
                  • Section 16(6): added, on , by section 9(4) of the Electricity Amendment Act 2006 (2006 No 70).
                  • Section 16(6)(b): replaced, on , by section 232 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (2015 No 70).
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