Guide · By trade
Health and safety paperwork for scaffolding contractors
The crew that builds everyone else's fall protection works without it while they build it. That, and a scaffold altered by someone who did not erect it, are the two things this trade's paperwork exists for.
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 during erection and dismantling
The platform does not exist yet, which is the defining hazard of the trade. Advance guardrail systems, harness and a tested anchor where no edge protection is possible yet, and a sequence that builds the protection before the person needs it. Dismantling is the same problem in reverse and is where the pressure to be quick is highest.
Incomplete and altered scaffold
A scaffold handed over and then altered by another trade to get material in is no longer the scaffold that was certified. Tagging, a handover that names what the scaffold is rated for, and a clear rule that alteration is scaffolder work.
Foundation, ties and collapse
Sole plates on soft or made ground, ties omitted or removed by the trades using it, and loading that exceeds the duty rating. A standard scaffold has limits; outside them it is a designed structure, not a judgement call.
Falling components and objects
Components passed by hand, dropped fixings, and a public footpath under the elevation. Containment, exclusion zones and a method for getting material up and down that is not throwing.
Manual handling of components
Repetitive lifting of tube, board and modular frames all day, often at or above shoulder height while standing on a narrow deck.
Mobile plant, deliveries and loading
Truck and HIAB deliveries into a live site, loading bays, and the lift of a bundle over the heads of the crew placing it.
Overhead lines
Tube raised vertically near conductors. Minimum approach distances apply and the clearance is assessed before the first standard goes up, not when it gets close.
Mobile towers
Stability, outriggers, and the tower moved while someone is still on the deck.
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, notification of scaffolding from which a person could fall 5 m or more
- WorkSafe New Zealand, Best Practice Guidelines for Scaffolding in New Zealand
- Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016, regs 24 and 25, working under raised objects and falling objects
Competence and licensing
Erecting, altering or dismantling scaffolding from which a person could fall 5 m or more requires a current certificate of competence in the relevant class. The class limits the work: a basic certificate does not cover suspended or cantilevered work. Inspection and tagging is a competent-person task, and the inspection interval and the handover record are what prove the scaffold was fit on the day it was used, not only on the day it was built.
Notifying WorkSafe
Erecting or dismantling scaffolding from which a person could fall 5 m or more requires 24 hours' notice to WorkSafe. For this trade that is routine rather than exceptional, and the notice covers the work rather than each individual scaffold. The full list and its exclusions are in notifiable work: the 10 categories.
What a main contractor will ask you for
- Certificates of competence for the crew, in the classes the work needs
- A Task Analysis for each task: erection, alteration, dismantling, loading bays, mobile towers
- The handover record stating the duty rating and what the scaffold is approved for
- Inspection records and current tags for the period the scaffold is on site
- A design where the scaffold falls outside standard configurations
- 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 Scaffolding 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, notification of scaffolding from which a person could fall 5 m or more
- WorkSafe New Zealand, Best Practice Guidelines for Scaffolding in New Zealand
- Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016, regs 24 and 25, working under raised objects and falling objects
- 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.