Clearer Rules And Prequalification Guidance To Support Construction

Responding to the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety’s announcements today, CHASNZ welcomes improvements to the way prequalification is carried out in the New Zealand construction industry.

In 2019, CHASNZ was asked by WorkSafe New Zealand to develop a cross-recognition system for prequalification, aiming to enhance the consistency and effectiveness of this process.

The Tōtika framework was created around a single unified standard but also recognised and responded to different risk levels that companies throughout a supply chain operated at.

As a result, Tōtika allows contractors to choose how they obtain independent certification of their health and safety management systems. It also allows those procuring services from these contractors to have the knowledge that the assurance was achieved at an appropriate independent standard and undertaken by a suitably qualified person. This framework is unique in New Zealand and is now pan-industry. New Zealand’s largest procurers of construction services see Tōtika as the gold standard for industry prequalification.

Despite this work, CHASNZ acknowledges that further improvement is still required across the construction and other sectors, as prequalification is still being carried out without an independent standard and with no certainty that a suitably qualified person conducted it. This prevents the opportunity for cross-recognition, potentially gives false assurance, and creates opportunities for unscrupulous behavior.

CHASNZ also acknowledges that prequalification is only one small step in a procurement process and that many other aspects and parties influence health and safety to the construction cycle.

CHASNZ does not benefit financially from undertaking prequalification and welcomes an open discussion with the Minister and the government on how this activity may be undertaken efficiently and to a standard that meets the requirements of those procuring these services.

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