Health & Safety
Bridge IT NZ are committed to providing staff with safe working environments for the continual improvement of practices and policies including:
- Ongoing Health & Safety training and certification to keep up with evolving legislation and requirements.
- Regular audits by Worksafe NZ to feed back into the continual review of existing policies.
- Training and courses to ensure staff are qualified to carry out daily tasks including Site Safe, rigging and lifting and working at heights.
- Quarterly Health & Safety presentations along with daily tailgate and fortnightly toolbox meetings to ensure health & safety is at the forefront of daily work practices.
- Systemised procedures and paperwork to carry out safety checks onsite, uniforms and work practices.
Health & Safety Policies
Bridge It NZ policies on Hazards, Training, Safety and Reporting.
General Policy Statement
Bridge It NZ is committed to creating and maintaining a safe and healthy environment on all their bridge building sites. They are committed to comply with the relevant Legislation, Regulations and Codes of Practice.
Bridge It NZ will take all practicable steps to:
- Provide a safe place of work, safe equipment, and proper materials.
- Establish and insist that safe work methods are practiced at all times.
- Provide regular supervision, induction, and training.
- Ensure all staff understand and accept their responsibility to promote and maintain a safe and healthy place of work.
- Ensure all contractors who work on Bridge It NZ sites have a suitable and approved Health & Safety Programme.
Employees and contractors are expected to contribute to creating safe work sites by practicing safe work methods, ensuring PPE is used, and reporting any unsafe work conditions or equipment to Bridge it NZ Site Supervisors immediately.
Hazard Identification
This a major component of Bridge it NZ's Health & Safety Programme. Bridge It use the following methods to identify Hazards on its work sites:
- Physical Inspections: Carry out regular inspections of each work site using observation methods listed below.
- Task Analysis: Review tasks performed in each job and observe actions of employees/contractors. Identify hazards involved.
- Accident & Incident Investigation: all accidents and reported near misses will be investigated to identify hazards involved.
All employees and subcontractors will be made aware of their responsibility to participate in this process.
Hazard Management
Once hazards have been identified they will be assessed using the required method of:
Eliminate: Can it be eliminated?
Isolate: If not can it be isolated?
Minimise: If not how can it be minimised?
If the hazard is a potential cause of injury or serious harm, or has delayed or cumulative effects, then it will be classified as a Significant Hazard and will be controlled.
Appropriate action to manage each of the Significant Hazards will be determined and implemented on site. The hazard and the management steps / actions will be written on the site hazard board that is displayed at each entrance to the work site.
The Site Supervisor who is managing each site will be responsible for keeping the hazard board updated and ensure that the hazard management steps are carried out.
Training & Induction
Bridge It NZ will ensure all employees are either sufficiently experienced to do their work safely or are supervised by an experienced person. Employees will be trained in the safe use of equipment, including PPE.
The Company will provide a set of Training and Induction Cards on each individual work site to enable new employees and contractors to be inducted and existing employees and contractors to participate in regular safety training.
The Induction Booklet will be provided to and explained to any new employee, contractor, or visitor prior to them entering the work site for the first time. The Training Cards will be used at the specified stages of the building process and all employees and contractors working on the site will be required to participate in the training sessions.
Site Specific Safety Plan
Bridge It NZ will provide Site Specific Safety Plans on all individual building contracts. The Site Specific Plan outlines the following:
- Contact Details for the Site Supervisor responsible for the work site.
- Individual responsibilities of Site Supervisor, Employees and Contractors on that particular contract.
- Hazard identification and management process to be used on the work site.
- The Health & Safety Programme outlined in this Safety Plan will be implemented on each individual contract undertaken by Bridge It NZ.
Recording and Reporting
Bridge It NZ will ensure that there is a suitable recording and reporting process in place on each of it's work sites. This will include a process for each of the following area :
- Injury Recording and Reporting: The forms for recording and reporting serious harm injuries will be available on each individual work site. All serious harm injuries will be reported to the Department of Labour within the required time frame.
- Minor injuries and near misses that are reported will be recorded by the Site Supervisor and discussed at the next safety meeting. All injuries and near misses will be reported to Bridge It NZ.
- Emergency Procedures: An emergency procedure form will be displayed on each work site. All employees and contractors will be advised of the location of this form as part of the site induction.
- Notifiable Work: Bridge It NZ will ensure all notifiable work is reported to the Department of Labour on the appropriate form within the required time frame. Back to top
Obligations & Definitions
The following is a summary of the main legal obligations contained in the Health & Safety in Employment Act 1992 and subsequent amendments. Definitions of relevant terms contained in the act are also included;
- Every employer and principal must comply with health and safety legislation. You are legally required to protect employees (including contractors) and any other person who enters your place of work.
- As an employer or principal you are required to take “all practicable steps” to make the workplace safe.
- The most important part of this process involves the creation and use of a system that identifies and manages significant hazards.
- Management of significant hazards involves taking “all practicable steps” to either eliminate, isolate, or minimise those hazards. You must first look to eliminate – if not possible can it be isolated? If not how can the risk of injury be minimised?
- Employers and principals are also required to take all practicable steps to provide staff training and supervision. Staff must be made aware of potential hazards and there must be a system for dealing with any emergencies that occur at work.
- “All practicable steps” means what is reasonable and practical given the circumstances. Whether a safety measure is reasonable will largely depend on how much harm could be done, how much is known about the hazard, and how difficult or expensive it is to put protections in place.
- Employers and principals must notify the Department of Labour of incidents involving serious harm.
- Contractors are legally required to inform their principal or employer of any hazards that arise from their work. Contractors should ensure they have received all necessary health and safety information from the principal or employer.
- Principals cannot contract out of health and safety obligations.
Bridge It Policies, Memberships & Accreditations
- Member of the Civil Contractors New Zealand
- Site Safe Certified
- Prequalified by Auckland City Council as a provider of choice
- NZTA Level C-Bridge Construction approved
- SITEWISE Green Status
- SHE-Health and Safety Approved
- ISNetworld accredited
- ConStruct certified
Disclaimer
Bridge It NZ Limited directors or any persons involved in the preparation and distribution of this material expressly disclaim all and any contractual, tortious or other form of liability to any person or entity (being a purchaser of the material or not) in respect of the material and any consequences of its use by any person in reliance upon the whole or any part of the contents of this publication. Complying with the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSE Act), standards, and relevant codes of practice, practice and Health and Safety at Work (General Risk & Workplace Management) Regulations 2016.
