Tier Two Health, Safety & Wellbeing Leaders

Tier Two Health, Safety & Wellbeing Leaders

 

Overview 

As Tier 2 (T2) Leaders with the responsibility for the Health, Safety and Wellbeing (HSW) function within your organisation, in addition to being officers under the Health and Safety at Work Act (2015), you are required to support, lead and direct HSW functions, often without being technical specialists and without having supportive training or professional development available.

This page of resources and the Tier 2 Leader's programme are designed to assist you to uphold the highest standards of health, safety and wellbeing across the Public Sector.

 

The Programme

Government Health and Safety Lead (GHSL) has developed a specialised programme designed to:

  • Help T2 HSW Leaders to stay up to date with current HSW trends and legislative requirements - via Health and Safety Matters Scans.
  • Enhance their ability to support, lead and direct HSW teams, enabling health and safety management systems and good practice within their agencies - via Peer to Peer learning events.
  • Facilitate effective HS&W governance and officer due diligence - via officer resources, Safe-Gov app. 

Programme Objectives

  • Support effective H&S governance and offer due diligence.
  • Enable T2's to influence and support their Chief Executives/peers and lead their HSW function.
  • Keep T2's current on HSW trends, governance, legislative changes and best practice.

Background

In July 2024, the T2 HSW Programme was approved to support Tier 2 Leaders (i.e., Deputy Chief Executives, Deputy Secretaries and Deputy Director-Generals) who hold responsibility for the HSW function. These leaders balance governance and operational management responsibilities and act as Officers under the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 2015.

The approved programme used a flexible learning cluster approach—breakfast events, webinars, field learning and environmental scans—delivered in-house. It ran from September 2024 to November 2025, with the 2024–2025 programme evaluated by survey in December–January 2026.

Evaluation

In December 2025, the programme evaluation showed that the programme was highly valued and seen as an effective support for HSW leadership. Participants consistently praised its relevance, the shared learning opportunities and the strong sense of community it provided.

As a result, the T2 HSW Leaders Programme has been approved to continue for 2026/2027. See the timetable of events below.

 

2026 / 27 Timetable of events

Date Format Topic Speakers/Hosts Location 

Quarterly 

Health and Safety Matters 

Provides executives with a concise, high‑value snapshot of trends and updates in health, safety and wellbeing leadership.

GHSL

Website 

11 March 2026

Breakfast Event

The general direction of the public service and some of the challenges ahead.

Sir Brian Roche, Public Service Commissioner 

Wellington (in-person)

TBC

Webinar 

TBC

  

MS Teams

Quarterly 

Health and Safety Matters

Provides executives with a concise, high‑value snapshot of trends and updates in health, safety and wellbeing leadership.

GHSL

Website 

22 July

Breakfast Event

TBC

  

Wellington (in-person)

TBC

Webinar

TBC

  

MS Teams

Quarterly 

Health and Safety Matters

Provides executives with a concise, high‑value snapshot of trends and updates in health, safety and wellbeing leadership.

GHSL

Website 

TBC

Webinar

TBC

  

MS Teams

22 October 

Breakfast Event 

TBC

  

Wellington (in person)

 

Hear from our champions

Janine Hearn, Deputy Chief Executive, Fire and Emergency New Zealand and Richard Griffiths, the previous Deputy Chief Executive, Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment are championing the programme. Hear why they think it is important and will be of value for all of you - (or check out the video on Youtube(external link))