NZS 7901:2014
Superseding NZS 7901:2008

NZS 7901:2014
COMMITTEE REPRESENTATION
This standard was prepared under the supervision of the P 7901 Committee established by the Standards Council under the Standards Act 1988.
The committee consisted of representatives of the following nominating organisations:
Contact Energy
Electricity Engineers’ Association of New Zealand Inc.
Genesis Energy
Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ)
KiwiRail
Meridian Energy
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (WorkSafe New Zealand from December 2013)
New Zealand Council of Elders
New Zealand Institute of Safety Management
Orion New Zealand Ltd
Powerco
Telarc SAI Ltd
Transpower New Zealand Ltd
Vector Ltd
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Standards New Zealand gratefully acknowledges the contribution of time and expertise from all those involved in developing this standard.
Cover photographs:
Te Waireka Road substation, courtesy The Lines Company Ltd
Benmore hydro power station, courtesy Meridian Energy Ltd
Nga Awa Purua geothermal power station, courtesy Mighty River Power Co. Ltd
Belmont Gate gas station, courtesy Powerco Ltd.
COPYRIGHT
The copyright of this document is the property of the Standards Council. No part of this document may be reproduced by photocopying or by any other means without the prior written permission of the Chief Executive of Standards New Zealand, unless the circumstances are covered by Part 3 of the Copyright Act 1994.
Standards New Zealand will vigorously defend the copyright in this Standard. Every person who breaches Standards New
Zealand’s copyright may be liable, under section 131(5) (a) of the Copyright Act 1994, to a fine not exceeding $10,000 for every infringing copy to which the offence relates, but not exceeding $150,000 for the same transaction, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years. Those in breach under section 131(5) (b) of the Copyright Act 1994 may be liable to a fine not exceeding $150,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years. If there has been a flagrant breach of copyright, Standards New Zealand may also seek additional damages from the infringing party, in addition to obtaining injunctive relief and an account of profits.
Published by Standards New Zealand, the trading arm of the Standards Council, Private Bag 2439, Wellington 6140.
Telephone: (04) 498 5990; Fax: (04) 498 5994; Website: www.standards.co.nz.

NZS 7901:2014
ISBN (Print) 978-1-77551-267-7
ISBN (PDF) 978-1-77551-268-4

No.
Date of issue
AMENDMENTS
Description Entered by, and date

NZS 7901:2014
Committee representation ........................................................................................ IFC
Acknowledgement .................................................................................................... IFC
Copyright ................................................................................................................... IFC
Referenced documents ..................................................................................................v
Related documents ...................................................................................................... vi
Latest revisions ........................................................................................................... viii
Review of standards .................................................................................................... viii
Foreword ....................................................................................................................... ix
Outcome statement........................................................................................................x
Section
1 GENERAL ..............................................................................................................1
1.1 Purpose .........................................................................................................1
1.2 Scope ............................................................................................................2
1.3 Definitions ....................................................................................................3
1.4 Abbreviations ................................................................................................8
1.5 Interpretation .................................................................................................9
2 SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OUTLINE ......................................................10
2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................10
2.3 Structure ......................................................................................................10
2.4 Responsibilities ...........................................................................................10
2.6 Intent ........................................................................................................... 11
2.7 Treatment of significant risks ......................................................................12
2.8 Development and implementation ..............................................................12
2.9 Integration with other management systems .............................................12
2.10 Legislative requirements for specific assets ..............................................12
2.11 Performance monitoring .............................................................................12
3 ASSET DESCRIPTION .........................................................................................13
3.1 Requirement ................................................................................................13
3.3 Demarcation points .....................................................................................13
3.4 Consistency.................................................................................................13
4 MANAGEMENT OF RISKS .................................................................................14
4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................14
4.2 Risk context ................................................................................................15
4.3 Risk criteria .................................................................................................16
4.4 Risk assessment ........................................................................................16
COPYRIGHT © Standards New Zealand iii

NZS 7901:2014 iv
4.5 Risk treatment .............................................................................................18
4.6 Coverage .....................................................................................................20
4.7 Review .........................................................................................................20
4.8 Additional legislative requirements for specific assets ..............................21
5 SAFETY AND OPERATING PROCESSES AND INFORMATION .........................22
5.1 General ........................................................................................................22
5.2 Coverage and content .................................................................................22
5.3 Continual improvement ...............................................................................22
5.4 Roles and responsiblities ............................................................................22
5.5 Compliance requirements ...........................................................................23
5.6 Emergency preparedness ...........................................................................23
5.7 Competency ................................................................................................23
5.8 Change management ..................................................................................24
5.9 Communications .........................................................................................24
5.10 Provision of information ..............................................................................25
5.11 Incident management .................................................................................25
6 PERFORMANCE MONITORING ..........................................................................26
6.1 General ........................................................................................................26
6.2 Audit ............................................................................................................26
6.3 Key performance indicators ........................................................................27
6.4 Incident summary ......................................................................................28
6.5 Annual review ..............................................................................................28
7 DOCUMENT AND DATA CONTROL ....................................................................29
7.1 Control procedures .....................................................................................29
7.2 Document and data management ..............................................................29
Appendix
A Regulations, standards, and codes for the electricity and gas industries –
Safety management systems for public safety (Informative) ..............................30
B Example of SMS content (Informative) ................................................................31
C SMS elements (Informative) ................................................................................46
D Spectrum of intolerable and tolerable risk of serious harm (Informative) ...........47
E Practicable costs of risk management (Informative) ...........................................48
F Public safety awareness programmes (Informative) ...........................................49
G Examples of key performance indicators (Informative) .......................................51
Figure
A1 Legislative requirements for, and guidance on, safety management systems for public safety .....................................................................................30
C1 Elements of a safety management system .........................................................46
D1 Illustration of the application of ALARP .............................................................47
COPYRIGHT © Standards New Zealand

NZS 7901:2014
The following standards and other publications are either directly referenced in this document or else contain information that is relevant to the development and implementation of a safety management system to safeguard members of the public and their property.
New Zealand standard
NZS 5257.1:2004 Gas industry – Audit protocol
Australian standard
AS 5577:2013
International standards
ISO Guide 73:2009
ISO 19011:2011
Electricity network safety management systems
Joint Australian/New Zealand standards and handbooks
HB 167:2006
AS/NZS 4581:1999
Security risk management
Management system integration – Guidance to business, government and community organizations
AS/NZS 4645.1:2008 Gas distribution networks – Network management
AS/NZS 4801:2001 Occupational health and safety management systems –
Specification with guidance for use
AS/NZS 4804:2001 Occupational health and safety management systems –
General guidelines on principles, systems and supporting techniques
AS/NZS ISO 31000:2009
Risk management – Principles and guidelines
Risk management – Vocabulary
Guidelines for auditing management systems
COPYRIGHT © Standards New Zealand v

NZS 7901:2014
Other publications
Department of Labour (now WorkSafe New Zealand) A General Guide to the Health and Safety in Employment (Pressure Equipment, Cranes, and Passenger Ropeways)
Regulations 1999 , 2007
Electricity Engineers’ Association of New Zealand (EEA) Guide to Electrical Safety for
Emergency Services Personnel , 2009
Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment and the Institute of Directors in New
Zealand Good governance practices guideline for managing health and safety risks , 2013
Ministry of Transport The social cost of road crashes and injuries 2013 update , 2013
NZECP (New Zealand Electrical Code of Practice) 34:2001 New Zealand Electrical Code of Practice for Electrical Safe Distances , 2001
NZECP 46:1993 New Zealand Electrical Code of Practice for High Voltage Live Line
Work , 1993
New Zealand legislation
Building Act 2004
Electricity Act 1992
Electricity (Hazards from Trees) Regulations 2003
Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010
Gas Act 1992
Gas (Safety and Measurement) Regulations 2010
Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996
Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (under review)
Health and Safety in Employment (Pressure Equipment, Cranes, and Passenger Ropeways)
Regulations 1999
Resource Management Act 1991 vi COPYRIGHT © Standards New Zealand

NZS 7901:2014
AS/NZS 5601.1:2013 Gas installations – Part 1: General installations
AS/NZS 5601.2:2013 Gas installations – Part 2: LP Gas installations in caravans and boats for non-propulsive purposes
Department of Labour – Occupational Safety and Health Service (now WorkSafe New
Zealand) Approved Code of Practice for Managing Hazards to Prevent Major Industrial Accidents, 1994
EEA Guide for Power System Earthing Practice, 2009
EEA Guide for High Voltage Single Wire Earth-Return Systems, 2011
EEA Guide for Connection of High Voltage Electrical Installations, 2012
EEA Safety Manual – Electricity Industry (SM-EI) Parts 1 to 3, 2004
EEA and Gas Association of New Zealand (GANZ) SMS for Public Safety – Handbook for ESI & GSI Companies, 2011
GANZ Gas Industry Disconnection and Reconnection Protocol (GIP
001), 2006
GANZ
HB 158-2010
NZS 5258:2003
Gas Industry Event Notification Protocol (GIP 002), 2005
Delivering assurance based on ISO 31000:2009 – Risk management – Principles and guidelines
Gas distribution networks
NZS 5259:2004
NZS 5263:2003
NZS 5442:2008
Gas measurement
Gas detection and odorization
Specification for reticulated natural gas
SA/SNZ HB 89:2013 Risk management – Guidelines on risk assessment techniques
SA/SNZ HB 436: 2013 Risk management guidelines – Companion to AS/NZS ISO
31000:2009
Safe Work Australia How to determine what is reasonably practicable to meet a health and safety duty, 2013
Safe Work Australia Model Work Health and Safety Bill, 2011
Safe Work Australia Model Work Health and Safety Regulations, 2011
UK Health and Safety Executive Reducing risks, protecting people – HSE’s decision-making process, 2001
Websites
New Zealand legislation – www.legislation.govt.nz
Safe Work Australia – www.swa.gov.au
UK Health and Safety Executive – www.hse.gov.uk
WorkSafe New Zealand – www.worksafe.govt.nz
COPYRIGHT © Standards New Zealand vii

NZS 7901:2014
The users of this standard should ensure that their copies of the above-mentioned
New Zealand standards and legislation are the latest revisions. Amendments to referenced New Zealand and Joint Australian/New Zealand standards can be found on www.standards.co.nz. See www.legislation.govt.nz for the latest amendments to legislation.
Suggestions for improvement of this standard will be welcomed. They should be sent to the Chief Executive, Standards New Zealand, Private Bag 2439, Wellington 6140.
viii COPYRIGHT © Standards New Zealand

NZS 7901:2014
The Electricity Act and the Gas Act each require electricity generators, distributors, and owners or operators of gas supply systems to implement and maintain, in accordance with regulations, safety management systems that require all practicable steps to be taken to prevent the electricity supply system or gas supply system from presenting a significant risk of:
(a) Serious harm to any member of the public; or
(b) Significant damage to property owned by a person other than the electricity generator or electricity distributor, or the person that owns or operates the gas supply system.
This standard has been developed by the New Zealand electricity and gas supply industries and other stakeholders. The standard identifies the principles and provides guidance on the design, implementation, and operation of a safety management system intended to prevent a significant risk arising from the presence or operation of electricity and gas supply industry assets.
The committee reviewing the 2008 standard confirmed the objectives of the original standard committee. However, in the light of experiences of industry enterprises in developing and implementing compliant safety management systems, and accredited certification bodies in auditing these, a number of requirements were identified for clarification, changed wording, or the provision of further information.
The committee has taken the requirement of ‘all practicable steps’ cited in the relevant sections of the two Acts and reinterpreted it to be ‘so far as is reasonably practicable’ since this is the criterion proposed to be applied in the reform of workplace health and safety legislation in 2014. There is merit in applying the same criterion to public safety to ensure consistency in approaches.
In addition, the review committee determined that the original hazard identification, hazard assessment and hazard control approach should be replaced and aligned instead with the risk management principles and guidelines in AS/NZS ISO 31000. The committee considered that the enterprises engaged in the gas and electricity supply industries in
2014 are much more aware of the principles and application of risk management, and are in a better position to appreciate the benefits of applying a risk-based approach to the ongoing operation and continual improvement of their public safety management systems. This will require each enterprise to consider the levels of risk that members of the public will generally accept as being reasonable in any given circumstances.
This standard takes a risk management approach to safety-related risks. This approach requires all such risks associated with the presence or operation of the systems used for electricity generation, transmission, or distribution, or gas distribution to be systematically identified and assessed in order that all significant risks of serious harm to members of the public, or significant damage to property, are identified and treated to the extent that the residual risks are as low as reasonably practicable and tolerable. When identifying safety-related risks, the whole life cycle of each asset (see 1.3) should be considered.
COPYRIGHT © Standards New Zealand ix

NZS 7901:2014
The application of risk management principles and guidelines, as set out in AS/NZS
ISO 31000, commences by considering the external and internal contexts in which risks will be managed, and the risk criteria to be applied. The next steps are:
(a) The assessment of risks that are present, and
(b) The treatment of those risks that are not tolerable.
Identification of risks is carried out in the risk assessment phase. While the identification of hazards will be helpful in identifying the presence of safety-related risks, hazard identification per se is not essential in the risk management process. Persons involved in risk assessment should consider the risk posed by any hazard, even though the subsequent treatment of the risk may include applying suitable physical or administrative controls to the hazard. Further explanation is provided in section 4 of this standard.
The safety management system is required to be documented and its performance monitored to demonstrate that the levels of safety achieved for members of the public and property are continually improved over time.
Users of this Standard are reminded that it has no legal authority in its own right, but acquires legal standing when adopted by the government or other authority having jurisdiction. The intended relationship of this standard with the Electricity Act and the
Gas Act is shown in diagrammatic form in Appendix A.
This standard will assist, through risk assessment and treatment of significant risks, the prevention of serious harm to any member of the public or significant damage to property from electricity generation, transmission or distribution network assets, gas distribution assets, and the operation of these assets.
x COPYRIGHT © Standards New Zealand

This is a free sample only.
Purchase the full publication here: http://shop.standards.co.nz/catalog/7901%3A2014%28NZS%29/view
Or contact Standards New Zealand using one of the following methods.
Freephone: 0800 782 632 (New Zealand)
Phone:
Fax:
Email
+64 4 498 5990
+64 4 498 5994 enquiries@standards.co.nz