Contractor safety is a significant issue for many workplaces. Where contracting for services was once the exception in all but a handful of industries, such as construction and forestry, it is now increasingly common across all types of workplaces.

In recent years up to a third of prosecutions taken by the Department of Labour for breaches of the Health and Safety in Employment Act have been against principals to contracts.

New guidance

To assist businesses to better understand the requirements under the Health and Safety in Employment Act (the Act), the Department has developed some new guidance - A principal's guide to contracting to meet the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992.

The new guidance, released this week at the Safeguard National Health and Safety Conference, sets out a broad process for building health and safety into contract management and will assist businesses to comply with the Act.

In a first for the Department, the principal's guide was 'road tested' by comparing it with the practice of the Manukau City Council (MCC), a large local authority recognised for its high performance in this area. The resulting case study, which confirmed the validity of the approach, has been published with the guidance.

You can find both the guidance and the MCC case study on the Department's website.

A brief version of the guidance has also been developed.

(SOURCE: Department of Labour, 18th June 2010)