A Quiet Word: Large PCBU or Small, the Zone is the Zone

New Zealand now has a new distinction in workplace health and safety law.

The Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 9 July 2026 and comes into force on 1 April 2027.

It defines a small PCBU as one with fewer than 20 workers, with larger businesses falling into the large PCBU category. It also changes the scope of some duties for small PCBUs and places a stronger legislative focus on critical risk.

That distinction makes sense at a legislative level.

But what happens when a small PCBU and a large PCBU are working together?

More specifically, what happens when they are standing beside the same crane, the same suspended load, the same truck or the same piece of moving machinery?

The risk does not know how big your business is

At McLeod, we are a large PCBU.

Every day we work alongside businesses ranging from major construction companies and industrial operators through to contractors with only a handful of people.

The new legislation recognises that their statutory obligations will not always be identical. For a small PCBU, several primary duties will apply specifically in relation to critical risks, while a large PCBU retains broader duties and must also prioritise critical risks.

But when our work and another PCBU’s work come together, we still need a common way of working.

A crane does not operate differently because the electrician beside it works for a six-person business.

A suspended load does not become less dangerous because the person underneath it comes from a small PCBU.

Moving plant does not check the payroll before it hits someone.

That is where I think exclusion zones become increasingly useful.

The line on the ground

McLeod defines an Exclusion Zone as a clearly defined safety boundary. Anyone inside it must be signed into the controlling document and understand the hazards and, importantly, the controls applying to the work.

That boundary gives us something practical.

• Outside the zone, different companies may have different systems, procedures and statutory requirements.

• Inside the zone, we need one understood method of carrying out the activity.

Our procedure requires every Exclusion Zone to have a written controlling document. Depending on the work, that could be a Lift Plan, Toolbox Talk, Task Analysis, JSA, Hiab Tailgate or Permit to Work. Before entering, a person must identify the document, understand the hazards and controls, sign in and only then enter the zone.

Signing in is therefore not about collecting signatures.

It means:

• I know what work is occurring.

• I understand the hazards.

• I understand the controls.

• I know what is expected of me.

• I agree to work within those controls.

The Act actually gives us room to do this

The amended section 34 is particularly relevant.

Where a large PCBU and a small PCBU share a duty, the small PCBU must, so far as reasonably practicable, co-operate in relation to critical risks. The large PCBU must co-operate with the other PCBUs in relation to the matter more generally.

The legislation then expressly provides that PCBUs can enter agreements or contracts requiring a small PCBU to co-operate in relation to any or all risks, provided this does not amount to contracting out of statutory duties.

That is an important distinction.

It does not mean a large company can simply transfer its legal obligations to a smaller contractor.

It means the parties can agree on the controls required to carry out their shared work.

For us, the Exclusion Zone is one way of making that agreement visible.

The zone does not replace the law

This is where I think we need to be careful as the new legislation takes effect.

The legislation determines the duties each PCBU has.

The Exclusion Zone does something different.

It establishes the requirements for participating in that particular work activity.

If you need to enter a McLeod Exclusion Zone, it should not matter whether you work for a business with five people, fifty people or five hundred people.

The question is not:

“What does the legislation require from a company our size?”

The immediate operational question is:

“What are the hazards and controls for the work happening inside this boundary?”

Our system then requires everyone inside that boundary to understand the answer.

For crane work, we go further. Our procedure requires the Exclusion Zone to be physically established, the Lift Plan completed and everyone inside accounted for and signed onto the plan. Before lifting, the operator must be able to confirm who is inside, that they understand the operation and that simultaneous activities have either stopped or been controlled.

That is not about paperwork.

It is about having one operational picture.

Different duties. One job.

The new legislation deliberately creates some differences between small and large PCBUs.

On a shared worksite, those differences cannot be allowed to create confusion about how the actual work will be carried out.

When critical-risk work starts, everyone involved needs to know where the boundary is, who controls the activity, what the controls are and what they must do.

That is what our Exclusion Zone is intended to achieve.

Large PCBU or small PCBU, once we are working together inside the zone, we need to be on the same page.

The legislation sets the legal obligations.

The controlling document sets the agreed controls for the job.

And the “line on the ground” makes it clear where those controls apply.