Health and safety paperwork for cladding and weatherboard installers

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.

Falls from the scaffold and the edge

This trade works at height for the whole job rather than for one task, so the scaffold is the control and its condition is the risk. Incomplete decks, removed guardrails that were taken out to land material, gaps at the corner returns, and the climb rather than the ladder.

Silica and fibre cement dust

Cutting fibre cement releases respirable crystalline silica. Dry cutting with a power saw is the high exposure case and being outdoors does not remove it, because the dust is in the breathing zone before it disperses. Score and snap, shears, or on-tool extraction and water suppression, then respiratory protection.

Manual handling of long boards

Weatherboards and sheet cladding are long, flexible and awkward, handled on a scaffold deck with limited room to turn. Two-person lifts that become one-person lifts at the end of a day are where this goes wrong.

Overhead lines and long material

A board or sheet carried upright next to a house reaches the service line into that house. Minimum approach distances apply to the material as well as to plant, and the service drop is the one people forget because it is low and familiar.

Asbestos in existing cladding

Removing or working over cladding on a pre-2000 building may disturb asbestos cement sheet. Identification comes before the quote, not before the demolition saw.

Sealants, primers and treated timber

Hazardous substances in sealants and primers, and dust from treated timber, both handled in the open where people assume ventilation solves it.

Falling material and the people below

Offcuts, fixings and tools from a scaffold onto a path the client still uses. Toeboards, containment and an exclusion zone that accounts for the public rather than only for the crew.

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:

• Building Act 2004, restricted building work and the Licensed Building Practitioner scheme, where the cladding is on a house
• Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016, identification before working on pre-2000 cladding
• Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, for sealants, primers and solvents

Competence and licensing

Cladding a house is commonly restricted building work and must be carried out or supervised by a Licensed Building Practitioner in the relevant class, with a record of work on completion. Where the crew erects its own scaffold and a person could fall 5 m or more from it, that work requires a certificate of competence. Asbestos removal above the quantity thresholds requires a licensed removalist.

Notifying WorkSafe

Construction work where a person could fall 5 m or more, and erecting or dismantling scaffolding from which a person could fall 5 m or more, both require 24 hours' notice to WorkSafe. Two-storey residential work sits outside the first of those. The full list and its exclusions are in notifiable work: the 10 categories.

What a main contractor will ask you for

• Your contribution to the site plan, or your own if you hold the head contract
• A Task Analysis for each task: scaffold use, cutting, fixing, work near the service line
• The cutting method and dust control for fibre cement
• Licensed Building Practitioner details and the record of work where the cladding is restricted building work
• Asbestos identification before any work on pre-2000 cladding
• Sign-on sheets against each document

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 Cladding & Weatherboards 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)
• Building Act 2004, restricted building work and the Licensed Building Practitioner scheme, where the cladding is on a house
• Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016, identification before working on pre-2000 cladding
• Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, for sealants, primers and solvents
• 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.