Contractor health and safety standards

The Health, Safety and Wellbeing of our staff and others in our workplace is important to DairyNZ. Our vision is to ensure everyone who comes into contact with, or contracts with, our organisation returns Safe Home Every Day (SHED).

As a contractor providing a service for DairyNZ, it’s important we work together to ensure we meet our joint obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) and achieve the vision of Safe Home Every Day.

This page provides a minimum set of health and safety expectations for all contractors engaged to provide a service for DairyNZ. It also forms part of your health and safety agreement with DairyNZ. Please ensure you read through this guide and communicate these requirements to your workers and any subcontractors.

The way we work together

When two or more Persons conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) work together, at the same location or through a contracting agreement, they will often share health and safety duties in relation to the same matter. These are called overlapping duties. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 requires PCBU’s with overlapping duties to consult, cooperate and coordinate activities so far as reasonably practicable.

To assist in meeting this duty DairyNZ has the following processes in place.

Health and safety agreement

All DairyNZ contractors must successfully complete our health and safety questionnaire and agreement before being able to undertake work at any of our sites. This provides:

assurance that DairyNZ contractors have suitable health and safety processes in place to manage their health and safety obligations.
a foundation agreement on how we work together under the Health & Safety at Work Act 2015.

We will invite you to you to renew the agreement after a period of 2 years if you are still providing services to DairyNZ.

Induction

All Contractors undertaking work at a DairyNZ site for the first time must be inducted before commencing any work. Your onsite DairyNZ representative can carry out the site induction.

The purpose of a health and safety induction is to:

make you aware of the any site-specific risks and procedures (including emergency procedures)
ensure you understand our processes (e.g. reporting an incident etc).

Please note that induction is required for each individual worker (not just one member of your work team) and for each individual DairyNZ site.

We may request you to complete a refresher induction if it has been some time since you worked at our site.

If DairyNZ require you to undertake work at a site that is not controlled by DairyNZ or yourself, it’s important that the property owner or representative makes you aware of any hazards or risks that you may be exposed to whilst working at the site. You are also required to inform the property owner or representative of any hazards or risks your work at their site may present.

Safe work practices

DairyNZ supports and encourages safe work practices. Our contractors provide a diverse range of services which carry different levels of risk. To manage these risks, we require all contractors that carry out physical works at our site, or at a 3rd parties site to complete and provide a Job Safety Analysis (JSA) prior to commencing work.

The JSA should include:

A list of identified hazards and risks relating to each step of the task being undertaken
How these hazards and risks will be controlled
Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) required

Please provide your DairyNZ site representative a copy of the JSA for review before starting work. Similar documents such as a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) or Task Analysis (TA) are an acceptable alternative to a JSA.

If you do not have a JSA, or similar risk assessment document, a JSA template is available for you to use.

If you are a self-employed contractor that has been engaged to perform work under the direction and instruction of DairyNZ you are required to follow, and/or contribute to, any safe operating procedures or JSA’s.

Contractors that are desk-based are considered to have a low-risk profile and are exempt from this requirement to provide a JSA.

All contractors are required to provide evidence of competency (qualifications, experience, training records etc) if requested.

Safety observations monitoring

To gain assurance that risks are being effectively controlled, your DairyNZ representative may periodically carry out a safety observation inspection to confirm that work is being carried out safely and in accordance with the JSA provided.

You will be provided with immediate verbal feedback from the DairyNZ representative and given the opportunity to rectify any issues. If any serious risks to health and safety are identified, DairyNZ may direct the work to cease immediately until the issue can be resolved.

Safety requirements and responsibilities

Please adhere to the following safety requirements and responsibilities that are relevant for the work you perform for DairyNZ:

SIGN IN/OUT	Upon arrival at a DairyNZ site, please ensure you sign in at the visitors register and sign out upon departure
CONSULT AND COMMUNICATE	Good communication and consultation is essential to managing risks and ensuring everyone is kept safe. Please ensure you regularly check in with your DairyNZ site contact person to: Discuss the work being undertaken and any risks you may be introducing where it’s being undertaken who’s doing what work progress updates introduce new staff members or subcontractors.
HAZARD AND RISK	Make sure you have been informed of, and are familiar with, the site hazards. Request an induction if you have not previously been inducted. Inform your DairyNZ site representative about any risks that may be introduced by the work you are carrying out. Report any hazards you come across whilst on site.
ACCIDENTS/INCIDENTS/NEAR HITS	If a health and safety incident or near hit occurs whilst carrying out work for or on behalf of DairyNZ, report this to your DairyNZ representative as soon as possible or within 24 hours. Actively participate and assist DairyNZ with any investigations following any reported accident, injury, or near hit event. (DairyNZ is committed to continual improvement in health and safety and sharing lessons learnt from incidents is key to reducing the likelihood of a similar incident reoccurring). Notifiable events must be reported to WorkSafeNZ and the worksite preserved until directed otherwise by WorkSafeNZ. Refer to the WorkSafe website for guidance on the type of events which must be notified.
PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT	You are responsible for making sure you and your works (including subcontractors) have suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) for the work you are doing and ensuring the equipment is maintained and fit for purpose. If certification is required for the equipment, we may request to see evidence of current certification.
TRAINING AND COMPETENCY	You are responsible for ensuring you and your workers (including subcontractors) are trained and competent in carrying out the task, operating any tools and machinery and use of PPE. This includes holding appropriate licenses and permits where applicable.
PERMIT TO WORK	Contractors are expected to provide their own permit to work systems which should be validated by your DairyNZ site representative before any work starts. Examples of work that may require a permit are: Confined spaces Hot works Working at heights Trenching and excavations Any contractors that do not have a permit to work system must be able to show the relevant safe work methods to be carried out, training credentials and rescue methods. This should be accompanied with a JSA.
PLANT, MACHINERY, TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT	You are expected to provide and use your own plant, machinery, tools and equipment. Use of DairyNZ equipment is not permitted unless specific approval is sought prior to any work commencing. Ensure all plant, machinery, tools and equipment are fit for purpose, well maintained and in a safe working condition. Ensure certificates are current for any plant, machinery, tools and equipment that requires certification.
WORKING AT HEIGHTS	Working at height is to be carried out in accordance with the WorkSafe best practice guidelines for working at height in New Zealand. Ensure work at height is properly planned, supervised and carried out as safely as possible. Anyone involved in working at height is competent and appropriately trained. Consider weather conditions - do not work on the roof in icy, wet or windy conditions. Ladders should only be used for short-duration work and must be rated industrial, comply with standard AS/NZS 1892 and be maintained in a safe condition. Secure ladders using fixed ladder brackets (for sites that have these installed). Where these are not available, ensure the ladder is secured at the top and bottom. Cones must be used to isolate areas where ladders or other access equipment is being used. They should also be used to isolate areas where there is a risk of objects falling from height. When using a harness system, the wearer must be trained and competent and hold appropriate qualifications. Ensure that emergencies and rescue procedures are planned for. An induction to the internally accessed roof system must be completed for any work at the Newstead office.
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES	Any work involving the use, storage or handling of hazardous substances must be managed in accordance with HSWA (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017.
NOTIFIABLE WORKS (PARTICULARLY HAZARDOUS WORK)	If you are carrying out any notifiable works you are required to notify WorkSafeNZ at least 24 hours prior to the work starting. A list of all works that require notification can be found on the online WorkSafe notification form. Please provide DairyNZ with a copy of the notification.
HOUSEKEEPING	Keep your work area tidy, ensuring tools, equipment and any loose material is stacked away safely and securely. Remove any rubbish and dispose of it appropriately.
DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND IMPAIRMENT	DairyNZ supports a work environment which is free of illegal substances and the misuse of drugs and alcohol. Therefore, no drugs or alcohol are permitted onsite. Anyone impaired through fatigue, the use of drugs (including prescription medication), alcohol or through any other cause presents a risk to health and safety and should be managed appropriately.
CONDUCT	We expect all Contractors (and subcontractors) to a conduct themselves in a professional manner whilst at our sites and any threatening, harassing, intimidating or discriminatory behaviour will not be tolerated.
PRIVACY	Please respect our privacy - no photographs or recordings to be taken at our sites unless prior permission is given.