Site-Specific Safety Plan example for a New Zealand construction job

A Site-Specific Safety Plan (SSSP) records how the businesses and workers on a particular project will manage the hazards, interfaces and changes at that site. The worked example below follows a fictional small commercial fit-out. It illustrates decisions and records a site team might need, but it is not a ready-to-use plan for any real job. The lead PCBU, contractors and workers must inspect the actual site, agree their roles and verify the controls before work starts.

Site Safe describes an SSSP as a way for main contractors and subcontractors to outline job-level health and safety actions, including hazard management, incident reporting, training or supervision, emergencies and worker involvement. WorkSafe's advice when contracting requires PCBUs with overlapping duties to consult, cooperate and coordinate so far as reasonably practicable; duties cannot simply be contracted away. The term SSSP is widely used in New Zealand construction, but do not mistake one branded form for a universal statutory certificate that makes every site compliant.

Fictional job: office fit-out in an occupied building

Project: Replace internal partitions and fit out two office suites on level 2 of a working building. Duration: six weeks. Lead contractor: Harbour Fit-Out Ltd. Other PCBUs: landlord/building operator, electrical subcontractor and waste contractor. People affected: fit-out crew, other tenants, building staff, delivery drivers and visitors. These facts are fictional and deliberately omit design/engineering details.

1. Document control and scope

The site plan should be available to the people doing the work, not held only in a tender folder. It must be revised when the sequence, occupier interface, substances or access changes. The real address, current contacts and map are essential for emergency services.

2. Responsibilities and overlapping duties

This table is an agreement prompt. WorkSafe explains that the extent of each PCBU's duty depends on its influence and control. The lead contractor may coordinate shared routes, while a specialist controls the technical method for its own task. Each business retains its duties. If the client or building operator controls the fire alarm or evacuation, that interface must be agreed rather than presumed.

3. Site-specific risk and control register

Risk rows must point to task-level assessments where the detail belongs. A JSA for partition installation may describe each work step, tools, dust control, material handling and verification. The SSSP coordinates those tasks with this site's shared hazards and other PCBUs. Do not replace an electrical isolation procedure, asbestos survey or engineered temporary-works design with a short register row.

4. Task and permit hold points

Before strip-out, the supervisor checks the scope against available building information and confirms that unknown materials/services will trigger a stop. Before electrical work, the authorised specialist confirms the isolation and method. Before any overhead task, the work area below is controlled and the access/rescue plan fits the site. A permit may be required by the building operator or the task-specific rule; document which permit and who issues it rather than calling every job “permit work.”

An example pre-start card:

5. Induction, worker engagement and daily communication

Every worker and relevant contractor receives the site layout, occupied-area rules, emergency arrangements, welfare arrangements, hazard-reporting route and stop-work expectations before relevant work. The site lead records who attended and gives new starters a chance to ask questions. At daily pre-start, workers identify changed access, newly arrived contractors, defects and controls that are not working. Action owners are named. A signature proves attendance, not understanding or implementation; supervisors observe the work and correct unsafe conditions.

Site Safe's SSSP guide includes forms for hazard registers, training, inspections, toolbox minutes, emergency response, incidents and task analysis. Use such forms only where they support actual decisions. WorkSafe's work-risk guidance emphasises worker input and checking controls, rather than paperwork volume.

6. Emergency and incident arrangements

The real plan should state who raises the alarm, who calls 111, who meets responders, evacuation routes and assembly points, first-aid arrangements, how visitors/contractors are accounted for and how occupants of the building are warned. It should align with the building's plan and be tested. The fictional example would assign the site lead as response coordinator and the deputy for absence, with a clearly accessible copy of the emergency plan.

An event is reported internally so people can be helped, hazards made safe and causes investigated. If it might be a notifiable event, the PCBU checks WorkSafe's current criteria, preserves the site subject to statutory exceptions and notifies the appropriate regulator as soon as possible. The broader NZ Complys notifiable work/events guide owns that statutory explanation. Notifiable work before an activity and notifiable events after an occurrence are separate processes.

7. Monitoring, changes and handback

The site lead conducts planned inspections plus checks after a change or reported defect. Record the issue, interim safeguard, owner, due date and closure evidence. Agree with the building operator when a suite or shared route can be returned to normal use. A revised plan is briefed to affected workers and other PCBUs before the changed work starts. At handback, confirm that temporary barriers, waste, permits and outstanding hazards have been dealt with. Retain project records under the contract and applicable law; do not assume one universal statutory SSSP retention period.

What this example does and does not prove

The example shows the structure of a practical SSSP: scope, interfaces, site risks, task hold points, worker communication, emergency arrangements and ongoing review. It does not verify that the fictional controls are adequate for another building. Site-specific information, a competent risk assessment and technical approvals are needed. A client or principal may prescribe a particular SSSP format or Site Safe pack, but HSWA duties are assessed against real risk management, not possession of a branded document.

For a general explanation of Site Safe and SSSP, the existing Complys NZ tools directory lists a guide. This proposed page's narrower intent is a worked single-project example, not a second general Site Safe introduction or a competing JSA builder. Link a Complys NZ SSSP product route only after its exact live implementation and supported workflow are verified.

Source and claim register