New Zealand's Health and Safety at Work Amendment Act splits businesses in two from 1 April 2027. Fewer than 20 workers and your core duties narrow to critical risk. Reach 20 and you manage every risk, with critical risk first. Contractors count toward the number.

Francois Barton helped build the Business Leaders' Health and Safety Forum and led it for over a decade, representing 450 chief executives whose organisations employ a quarter of New Zealand's workforce. He has also worked at MBIE, WorkSafe and Safer Farms.

He backed the intent of the amendment, but - like many - is puzzled by what eventuated.

In this episode: what happens to overlapping duties when a processor and a contractor no longer share the same legal starting point. Why New Zealand workers are hurt and killed at work at rates no Australian sector matches. And what did forestry do in the 2010s that agriculture still hasn't? They stopped trying to change the worker and changed the work.

Out the Gate is produced by Onside.