Health and safety paperwork for civil and earthworks contractors

The hazards that actually matter

Every trade has a long list and a short one. The short one is what the task documents have to deal with properly, because it is where the serious harm comes from.

Excavation collapse

A cubic metre of soil weighs well over a tonne and a collapse gives no warning. Depth, ground type, water, vibration from nearby plant and spoil stacked at the edge all change the answer. Benching, battering or shoring is chosen before the dig, not when the walls start moving.

Underground services

Electricity, gas, fibre, water and wastewater. Plans are an input, not a location: locate before you dig, pothole by hand near a marked service, and treat an unmarked find as live.

Plant and people

Excavators, rollers, dumpers and trucks moving in the same space as people on foot. Blind spots, reversing, slew radius, and the person who steps behind a machine to talk to the operator.

Overhead lines

Tipping bodies, excavator booms and crane jibs near overhead conductors. The minimum approach distances are not negotiable and depend on the voltage.

Confined spaces

Manholes, chambers, pits and large pipes. Atmosphere testing, entry permit, a rescuer outside and equipped before anyone enters.

Working near water and traffic

Open drains, stormwater, live carriageways and the public walking through a site that looks finished.

Dust, noise and vibration

Silica from cutting, whole-body vibration from plant seats, and noise that is continuous across a shift.

What applies beyond the general duties

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and the General Risk and Workplace Management Regulations 2016 apply to every business. These sit on top of them for this trade:

• Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995, reg 26, excavation and tunnelling notification
• Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, for fuel storage and decanting on site
• The New Zealand Guide to Temporary Traffic Management, and the road controlling authority's requirements where work affects a road

Competence and licensing

Operator competence for each class of plant, confined space entry training for chambers and pits, and a qualified traffic management person where the work touches a road. Where a crane or lifting operation is involved, the operator's certificate of competence covers the class of crane.

Notifying WorkSafe

Excavation deeper than 1.5 m and deeper than it is wide, tunnelling, and certain lifting operations all require 24 hours' notice. These come up on civil jobs more than on any other trade. The full list and its exclusions are in notifiable work: the 10 categories.

What a main contractor will ask you for

• A Task Analysis for excavation, for service location and for plant and pedestrian separation
• Service location records and the as-builts you worked from
• A traffic management plan approved by the road controlling authority
• Confined space entry permits and the rescue arrangement
• Plant pre-start records and operator competence

A document per task, not one for the job. The crew doing one task should not have to read past three others to find their controls, and a site manager checking one task should not have to either.

Where to start

If you are writing from scratch, how to write a Task Analysis sets out the order. If you have been asked for something and are not sure which document it is, which document do you need covers the difference between a site plan and a task document. Our prepared documents for this trade are the Civil & Earthworks Task Analysis Pack, or single documents from the catalogue.

Sources

• Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, s22 (reasonably practicable), s34 and s36
• Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016, regs 5 to 8
• Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995, reg 26 (particular hazardous work requiring notice)
• Health and Safety in Employment Regulations 1995, reg 26, excavation and tunnelling notification
• Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, for fuel storage and decanting on site
• The New Zealand Guide to Temporary Traffic Management, and the road controlling authority's requirements where work affects a road
• WorkSafe New Zealand, Identifying, assessing and managing work risks

This guide is general information about New Zealand health and safety law as at the review date. It is not legal advice and it does not describe your site. Confirm what applies to you with WorkSafe New Zealand or your adviser.