Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

A worker may cease, or refuse to carry out, work if the worker believes that carrying out the work would expose the worker, or any other person, to a serious risk to the worker’s or other person’s health or safety arising from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard.

A worker may continue to refuse to carry out the work if—

Without limiting subsection (2)(c), reasonable grounds exist if a health and safety representative has advised the worker that carrying out the work would expose the worker or any other person to a serious risk to the worker’s or other person’s health or safety arising from an immediate or imminent exposure to a hazard.

A worker who ceases work under subsection (1) must, as soon as practicable, notify the PCBU that the worker has ceased work.

Subsection (1) does not authorise a worker to refuse to do work that, because of its nature, inherently or usually carries an understood risk to the worker’s health and safety, unless that risk has materially increased beyond the understood risk.

To avoid doubt, nothing in this section limits or affects an employee’s right to refuse to do work under any other enactment or the general law.