Health and safety paperwork for landscapers and grounds crews

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.

Chainsaws and tree work

Cutting above shoulder height, kickback, and the stored energy in a leaning or wind-loaded stem. Tree felling and climbing are separate competencies from clearing.

Mowers and ride-ons

Rollover on slopes, thrown objects, and the public walking into a cutting zone. Slope limits are a machine specification, not a judgement call.

Agrichemicals and fertiliser

Herbicides, pesticides and fungicides are hazardous substances with handling, storage, signage and record duties. Spray drift reaches neighbours, waterways and the people the site belongs to.

Small plant and attachments

Mini excavators, stump grinders, chippers and augers. The chipper in-feed is the one with the worst outcomes.

Manual handling

Pavers, soil, plants and equipment, repeatedly, usually at ground level and often alone.

Hand-arm vibration and noise

Continuous exposure across a day from saws, blowers and trimmers, with effects that accumulate over years.

Working near the public

Residential and council work puts you in spaces people are using while you work.

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 at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, including certified handler, tracking, signage and inventory duties
• Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 and the approvals for each product
• Local authority rules on spraying near waterways and public places

Competence and licensing

Some agrichemicals require a certified handler. Industry training through GROWSAFE is the normal evidence of competence for application, and chainsaw work has its own unit standards distinguishing cross-cutting from felling and from climbing.

Notifying WorkSafe

Rarely triggered by landscaping, though tree work where a person could fall 5 m or more and excavation deeper than 1.5 m both bring the 24 hour notice duty. The full list and its exclusions are in notifiable work: the 10 categories.

What a main contractor will ask you for

• Safety data sheets for every product you bring on site
• A Task Analysis for chainsaw work, for machine mowing and for chemical application
• Certified handler or GROWSAFE evidence where the product requires it
• Your public and neighbour controls, including signage and notification
• Chemical application records

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 Landscaping & Grounds 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 at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations 2017, including certified handler, tracking, signage and inventory duties
• Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 and the approvals for each product
• Local authority rules on spraying near waterways and public places
• 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.