Health and safety management
Find out about health and safety guidelines for a range of property-related activities
On this page:
- Roles and responsibilities
- Property-related health and safety management
- Comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act
Roles and responsibilities
Health and Safety is everyone’s responsibility.
The Health and Safety at Work Act introduced a new approach to workplace health and safety by adopting broad coverage and involving all types of modern business and working relationships.
The Act requires Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) such as the Ministry of Education, Boards of Trustees, Contractors and Consultants, to consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with other PCBUs who share health and safety duties on the same matter.
- Consulting with PCBUs Factsheet [PDF, 363 KB]
- Multiple PCBU’s - Upstreaming Businesses (external link) (YouTube)
- Overlapping Duties under the HSWA (external link) (YouTube)
Property-related health and safety management
Find health and safety guidance specific to school property.
Managing contractors
- Property projects: Contractor health and safety
- Construction phase
- Police vetting
- Keeping Safe on a Construction Site (external link) (YouTube)
- Worker participation – if it doesn’t look right call it (external link) (YouTube)
Critical risk activities
- Confined spaces: Planning entry and working safely in a confined space (external link) (WorkSafe NZ website)
- Asbestos management
- Electical equipment testing in schools
- Electrical work in schools
- Particular hazardous work (external link) (WorkSafe NZ website)
Urgent work
Facilities and fixtures
- Boilers for heating
- Cell phone towers
- Lifts
- Fencing
- Joinery and hardware installed in schools
- Septic tanks
- Swimming pools at schools
Hazardous materials and substances
- Chromated copper arsenate (CCA) treated timber in schools
- Glass installed in schools
- Hazardous substances on school sites
- Managing your lab's hazardous substances (external link) (WorkSafe NZ website)
- Lead-based paint
- PCBs in light fittings
- Poisonous plants
Drinking water
Weathertightness
Fire
'Specified systems and features'
Comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act
To help your school comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act, you can review your health and safety system against the 11 key components of an effective health and safety system:
The following guide is a supplementary resource to support people involved in governance and leadership at schools/kura to develop a clear understanding of what the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 means for them.
Read the Health and Safety at Work Act:
- Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (external link) (Legislation website)
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