Contractors Working at School
At St Joseph's School, we may engage contractors. Contractors are considered workers under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, and can include subcontractors, and employees of a contractor and subcontractor. Contractors may also be a 
person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) and may share responsibility with the board (as the PCBU of St Joseph's School) for health and safety. The school, so far as is reasonably practicable, consults, cooperates, and coordinates activities with the contractor.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 defines and outlines the health and safety responsibilities of different types of duty holders within a workplace.
A PCBU is a "person conducting a business or undertaking". At St Joseph's School, the whole board is the PCBU, including the principal. If events, activities, or services involve more than one PCBU, then PCBUs work together to establish responsibilities and actions for health and safety.
School responsibilities
The board has a primary duty of care (Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, s 36) to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers (including contractors). The board as the PCBU ensures that contractors and subcontractors working at our school operate in a safe manner.
Reasonably practicable, in relation to the duty of a PCBU, means that which is, or was, at a particular time, reasonably able to be done in relation to ensuring health and safety, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters, including:
- the likelihood of the hazard or the risk concerned occurring
- the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or risk
- what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about:
- the hazard or risk
- ways of eliminating or minimising the risk
- the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk
- after assessing the extent of the risk and the available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk.
Health and Safety at Work Act, s 22
We formally engage appropriate contractors with a written contract. Before a contractor starts work, we:
- ensure that contractors have relevant work experience, are appropriately trained and qualified, and have a satisfactory health and safety work history
- ask about the type of work that will be done at school (e.g. known hazards, work permits, what areas of the school will be used)
- may request to see documentation of contractor health and safety plans and how they will manage their own health and safety while working at our school (e.g. use of personal protective equipment, signage)
- develop a school access plan (SAP) to establish how to avoid or minimise the likelihood of contractors having unsupervised access to students at the school during normal school hours
Unsupervised access to students, in relation to a school, means access to any student on the school premises during normal school hours by anyone who is not in the following list (or not observed by or under the supervision of anyone in the following list):
- a registered teacher or holder of a limited authority to teach
- an employee of the school who has had a satisfactory police vet within the last three years
- a parent of the student.
Education and Training Act 2020 (s 10)
- complete a police vet and risk assessment of contractors and sub-contractors, including their employees, if they are likely to have unsupervised access during normal school hours, as required by Education and Training Act (Schedule 4, clause 10)
- provide appropriate health and safety induction.
Also see Health and Safety Induction and Training and Police Vetting.
We take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the safety of contractors during their work at the school. We monitor and review contractor work as appropriate (e.g. inspections, meetings, post-contract evaluation). The school reserves the right to inspect work conducted by a contractor at any time and issue a notice to stop work if health and safety requirements are not being complied with. The school is not liable for any loss, damage, compensation, or injury sustained by contractors or others at school not complying with health and safety requirements.
Contractor responsibilities
Contractors are responsible for complying with responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. As workers at the school, contractors, subcontractors, and their employees must:
- take reasonable care to manage their own health and safety
- take reasonable care to ensure their behaviour does not negatively affect the health and safety of others
- comply with any reasonable instruction given by the school, including:
- following any relevant school policies or procedures
- reporting any health and safety incidents, risks, or hazards to a staff member.
Contractors must also follow their own policies and procedures, set out by their PCBU, to ensure that they carry out their work safely. Contractors should plan work activities and inform the school of:
- any hazards and risks that arise from their work
- required safety procedures and equipment for other people who may be affected by that work, including staff, students, and the public
- any notifiable work, and confirmation that they have notified WorkSafe.
Some work, such as tree felling and certain construction work, must be notified to WorkSafe before the contractor starts work. See Notifications at WorkSafe 
.
As required, the contractor supplies any relevant health and safety documentation to the school (e.g. a site-specific safety plan which may include safe work method statements).
Related policies
Legislation
- Education and Training Act 2020
- Health and Safety at Work Act 2015
Resources
- Ministry of Education | Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga:
: Term 3 2025, Term 1 2024, Term 4 2021
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