Health and safety

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Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy

Waikato Regional Council is committed to providing and maintaining a safe and healthy work environment for everyone.  You can read our Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy, below.

Right of entry | Health and safety

Please remember, it's our job to make sure that environmental regulations are being followed for the good of the environment and wider community. This might mean that we have to come onto your property.

  • Council officers are permitted by law to enter your land for this purpose.
  • Health and safety legislation does not prevent or delay council access to private property.
  • Our staff are our responsibility. They have been appropriately trained and are equipped with appropriate personal protective equipment.
  • They will take reasonable care for their own health and safety, and they'll take reasonable care that their actions or presence doesn't adversely affect the health and safety of other people.

Our contractors - building health and safety into contract management

Waikato Regional Council is committed to working with its contractors to keep everyone safe and healthy by upholding the highest health and safety standards. We maintain positive partnerships through consultation, co-operation and co-ordination.

Contractors must have an adequate health and safety management systems that include:

  • safe systems of work
  • safe work environments
  • safe plant and equipment
  • adequate health and safety training and supervision.
  • monitoring of health and safety performance.

We follow an internal framework based on the WorkSafe NZ guidance on how PCBUs (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) should work together, which includes the following requirements:

Scoping of the required works

Waikato Regional Council will work with contractors and landowners to understand what work needs to be done and where, and to share information about what hazards and risks will be involved.

Pre-qualification of contractors

Waikato Regional Council requires all contractors undertaking high risk work to be registered with SHE PreQual or Tōtika PreQual (see information below).

Induction and work planning

Waikato Regional Council will ensure that it consults, co-ordinates and co-operates with its contractors and landowners to manage activities, set clear expectations and responsibilities and confirm monitoring arrangements.

Monitoring

Subject to the risk and length of the work, Waikato Regional Council's contract managers will undertake monitoring during the duration of the contract. This could include site visits and inspections, pre-start meetings and site handover, inductions, and project updates.

Post-contract review

Waikato Regional Council will do a post-contract review how the contract went including an assessment of health and safety.

For further information see the WorkSafe NZ  'Advice when contracting' guide found on their website.

Contractor health and safety pre-qualification scheme​  

Who Needs to provide Prequalification?

All contractors undertaking high-risk work or long-term engagements with Waikato Regional Council must hold a valid SHE or Tōtika-aligned prequalification. This includes, but is not limited to:

  • Construction and infrastructure work
  • Hazardous material handling
  • Work at height or in confined spaces

SHE PreQualification

Image - logo for SHE health and safety software

Waikato and Bay of Plenty councils have teamed up with SHE Software NZ Ltd to streamline the pre-qualification process. The system will be made available to all councils throughout New Zealand to pre-qualify contractors. This will ensure councils are using contractors who operate with effective health and safety management systems and are holding current and relevant insurances.

This system will help us meet our responsibilities to ensure that contractors, working for or on council assets and/or supplying services, have effective health and safety management systems to prevent harm to people and the environment or damage to property.

To commence your application, please click here​.​​​​​

Contractor health and safety pre-qualification scheme applications

Apply to the scheme, using the link above.

NOTE: Please ensure you have an email address prior to commencing your application as this will be required to complete the process.  

TIP: Consider setting up a folder on your desktop to save all evidence required to enable easy uploading into the application.

Please direct all other enquiries to nzsupport@shesoftware.com

For more information, including pricing please refer the SHE Pre-Qual  website.

Totika PreQualification

To ensure a consistent and high standard of health and safety across all contracted work, Waikato Regional Council recognises Tōtika, New Zealand’s national health and safety prequalification framework.

What is Tōtika?
Tōtika is an industry-led, government-supported system that standardises contractor prequalification across New Zealand. It allows contractors to complete a single prequalification assessment that is recognised by multiple clients, reducing duplication and saving time.

Accepted Tōtika-Aligned Providers
We accept prequalification from any provider accredited under the Tōtika scheme. This includes:

  • SHE, IMPAC PREQUAL, Safe365, AVETTA

For more information, including pricing please refer to the Tōtika Scheme - NZ Industry Supplier Pre-Qualification.