Abstract
With the introduction of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, many of the existing health and safety regulations are being replaced. The first suite of new regulations supporting the Act was released by the Government on 15th February 2016 but this did not include occupational noise regulations. This discussion paper considers the direction that occupational noise law in New Zealand may take over the next few years. This paper identifies some of the issues in the translation of the Australian model regulations into the New Zealand context and identifies other gaps that the author thinks needs addressing. It also considers the approach taken with the new ‘Asbestos’ regulations and whether or not a similar detailed approach should be taken in addressing occupational noise issues.