Working with other businesses is a natural part of residential construction. It’s important that you provide the main contractor with evidence that will help demonstrate your health and safety focus and procedures. Each business must do what they can, within reason, to keep everyone safe. This relates to their own team, other workers or anyone that steps on-site. If engaging subcontractors of your own, make sure you prequalify their procedures to ensure that you are happy with how safely they will work too.
What you need to get started:
An email inviting you to complete a Prequalification from builder using the HazardCo + LinkSafe contractor management system:
Questions in the Prequalification:
Question 1 - Your NZBN
You will need to enter a valid NZBN number, if you don’t have one then you are able to register for an NZBN number prior to completing the prequalification by following the link shown on screen - https://www.nzbn.govt.nz/. Note: you have a NZBN set as private, it won't be recognised in the system.
Questions 2-7 - Company Details
This is your trading name, contact details and the company trade.
Question 8 - Public liability insurance
Add your current public liability insurance document is in date and that the value of the policy is acceptable for the works to be undertaken.
Question 9 - Health and safety policy
By have a up-to-date health and safety policy it should that your business takes a positive approach and sets out how you will manage health and safety. If you don't have a policy give the team at HazardCo a call.
Question 10 - Health and safety policy evidence
Uploads copies of your health and safety policy, and any other policies that you have relating to health and safety. These documents should be signed by the Director or Manager of the business and dated in the past 2 years.
Question 11 - Incident and emergency management
This is where you will detail what your incident/near-miss procedures are. It should include things like:
Treatment of the injured person
How these are reported/recorded
Preserving the scene and notifying WorkSafe NZ if required
Carrying out an investigation into the cause
Communicating with workers about what has happened and how to prevent it
Corrective actions to prevent reoccurance
Reviewing the corrective actions to ensure that they are effective
Question 12 - Convictions and investigations
Have you been convicted of, or investigated for, a health and safety related offence within the past 5 years? This is where you will be required to provide details of the offence and any enforcement action that may have been taken.
Question 13 - Emergency procedures
This is where you detail your emergency processes for first aid, fire, chemical spills and natural disasters when working on your main contractors site. You should have at least one first aider available at all times and identify how you would find the procedures on-site.
Question 14 - Worker engagement and participation
Detail your process for including other workers (and contractors) in your health and safety processes, such as how your workers contribute to health and safety discussions and decisions e.g how the site hazards and controls are communicated (such as via toolbox talks), these discussions should take place prior to work commencing.
Question 15 - Hazard identification and risk management
Detail how you will identify and assesses hazards and risks on-site. It should include things like:
Who can identify a hazard/risk
How are hazards/risks identified (such as in risk assessments, task analysis or site reviews)
How is the hazard/risk reported
How is the hazard/risk recorded
Who can be harmed and how
How the risks are assessed (such as following the control hierarchy shown below)
Whether regular reviews are carried out and on what basis (such as, the higher the level of risk the more frequent the reviews, with reviews taking place no greater than annually)
Control hierarchy:
Question 16 - Hazard/Risk register
Upload a copy of your hazard/risk register here. A good example of a hazard/risk register includes:
A description of the source of harm, and possible harm that could be caused
A description of the controls to be applied to reduce the level of risk
The frequency of reviews for the hazard/risk (no greater than annually)
Hazard/risk registers do not need to document hazards that have been eliminated, only those where a possibility of harm still remains after all controls have been applied.
Question 17 - High risk work
If you are carrying out high risk work for your contractor then detail it here and how you will manage it. Will you be using risk assessments?. This could be things like working at heights, concrete pumping, electrical work, asbestos removal, demolition etc.
Question 18 - Response plan
If you are doing high risk work then provide details of your response plan should there be an emergency response required due to high risk work. The plan should include:
What the emergency is
How they plan on responding to the emergency
Including details of first aiders, spotters, support people as required for the work tasks to be completed
What action (if possible) the worker involved in the emergency should take
What action any other relevant workers should take
Any equipment required to deal with the emergency, its location and who has access to it
Who the emergency should be reported to and how
Question 19 - Hazardous chemicals
If you will be using hazardous substances on-site, provide a copy of your hazardous substance inventory to show that you are currently managing hazardous substances. A hazardous substance inventory should include the following information for each individual site:
The name of the hazardous substance and its UN number (if available)
The maximum quantity likely to be used
The location the substance is stored
Any specific storage/segregation requirements
Information from the Safety Data Sheet (SDS) such as PPE requirements, potential harm caused, HSNO classifications, disposal requirements and possible harm
Whether there is any hazardous waste
Question 20 - Health monitoring
Detail here what their health monitoring methods are used for workers exposed to risks such as airborne contaminants, hazardous substances or excessive noise. This could be things such as:
Providing PPE (such as hearing protection)
Providing respiratory protective equipment (RPE)
Dust extraction systems (Class H or M vacuum cleaners, dust extractors)
Disposing of contaminated waste correctly
Lung function tests (Spirometry testing)
Hearing tests (Audiometry test)
Question 21 - Machinery and equipment
Procedures should be in place to ensure that your machinery and equipment (including electrical equipment) is maintained and fit for purpose. All machinery and equipment should be subject to:
Regular servicing
A lockout tag out (LOTO) procedure (a method for ensuring defective equipment is removed from use until such a time that it has been repaired, or replaced.
Pre-start checks
All machinery and equipment should be recorded on a register and maintenance records should be kept.
All electrical equipment should be tested and tagged, by a suitably qualified person, every 3 months, checked prior to use for damage/wear and tear, and removed from use (LOTO) if defects are detected.
Question 22 - Employee H&S competencies/training
Detail how you will ensure that your workers keep up to date with their training requirements. The simplest answer is a training register which should detail the following:
The name of the worker
Details of the courses/certifications/licences
Expiry dates of the courses/certifications/licences
The institution which the courses/certifications/licences are held with
Any relevant course numbers
Detail how you will ensure that these do not lapse (calendar reminders to rebook for example).
Question 23 - Monitor and review
Detail how you monitor and review work being carried out on-site. This could be via site reviews. Detail how concerns are raised by workers and how they are actioned.
Question 24 - Contractor health and safety
If you appoint subcontractors, this is where you will detail the processes in place to ensure that they also have robust health and safety procedures. This should include asking for information such as:
Checking that sub-/contractors have policies and procedures in place
A prequalification process
Requesting risk assessments, Task analysis etc
Whether they include subcontractors in toolbox meetings
Next steps
Once you have completed your prequalification it will be sent off to your main contractor to be reviewed. If they need any additional information then you will receive a rejection email that outlines the reasons for rejection. In the body it will advise what extra information you need to provide to complete the prequalification, just follow the steps and re-submit.
Remember that each question requires an answer and it should not be ‘refer to our health and safety procedures’. The answers should be like a story of what you will do on-site for your main contractor to manage risks, as this is the best way to demonstrate how you will work safely.