27 May 2025
File Ref:250343
D Reddington
[FYI request #30729 email]
Tēnā koe D Reddington
Thank you for your Official Information Act (OIA) request received on 15 April 2025. You
requested: •
Could you please provide the following:
•
Number of notifiable events and injuries made to work safe for the past 5 years by
the PCBU Health New Zealand, including any previous notifications made by DHB's
during this period.
•
Please provide brief details/investigation files for each incident, and specify
whether the incident/injury prompted an investigation from work safe.
•
If the request is to be refused for substantial col ation and research, please just
provide the number of notifiable events and incidents notified by health New
Zealand in the past 3 years, and the incidents/injurie details/investigation files
from Health New Zealand Southern.
On 16 May, we extended the time limit for deciding on your request to 30 May 2025. WorkSafe
New Zealand (WorkSafe) has interpreted “
by the PCBU Health New Zealand, including any
previous notifications made by DHB's” as “containing
PCBU Health New Zealand, including any
previous notifications containing DHB's”. To confirm whether these were notified by Health New
Zealand or a District Health Board would require manual y checking each file which would require a
significant amount of time. The part of your request for who notified WorkSafe is refused under
Section 18(f) of the OIA, as the information requested cannot be made available in ful without
substantial collation or research.
WorkSafe refuses the part of your request for “
incidents/injury details” under Section 18(f) of the
OIA, as the information requested cannot be made available in full without substantial collation or
research. I do not consider extending, charging, or inviting you to clarify this part of your request
sufficiently mitigates the administrative barriers to meeting this part of your request.
Please see the below table for Health New Zealand Notifications from 1 January 2020 to 30 April
2025.
Type
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
Total
Illness
1
1
Incident
9
11
8
15
11
6
60
Injury
2
32
15
1
50
Notification of Notifiable Injury or
22
15
11
48
Illness
Total
31
26
21
48
26
7
159
WorkSafe did not investigate any of these notifications. The part of your request for investigation
files for each incident is refused under section 18 (e) of the OIA as the document alleged to
contain the information does not exist or, despite reasonable efforts to locate it, cannot be found.
PO Box 165, Wellington 6140
This reply addresses the information you requested. You have the right to ask the Ombudsman to
investigate and review my decision, and further information is available at
www.ombudsman.parliament.nz.
If you require further assistance, please contact
[email address].
Nāku noa, nā
Paula Collins
Deputy Chief Executive – Insights and Engagement
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