The Site Safety Card is not the law: what the law asks

Search "site safe" in New Zealand and you will find thousands of people trying to work out whether they are legally required to have a card. The short answer is no. The longer answer is that the question is aimed at the wrong target.

What Site Safe is

Site Safe describes itself on its own About page:

"We operate as a national not-for-profit membership organisation with extensive connections through our members, strategic partnerships and a strong relationship with industry groups."

It is an industry body that provides training. It is not a regulator, and it does not issue licences. The regulator is WorkSafe New Zealand, and the statute is the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

What the card is, in Site Safe's own words

The Foundation Passport – Building Construction course page describes a half-day course for people new to the industry. On completion:

"A Site Safety Card, with the green foundation indicator, valid for two years. (Most major New Zealand contractors require workers to have a valid Site Safety Card before entering a construction site)."

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"Four Licensed Building Practitioner points."

The non-member price shown is $199.50, and the course is available in classroom, online and VR formats. Renewal does not mean repeating the foundation course: "If you are renewing your Site Safety Card and have done this course in the past, you don't need to complete this course again. Expand your knowledge by choosing from one of our great Passport Plus courses instead." Those Licensed Building Practitioner points count toward the licence classes covered in Licensed Building Practitioner: what restricted work covers — a separate scheme with its own renewal cycle, not an extension of Site Safe's.

That parenthesis on the course page is the whole answer to the legal question. Most major contractors require it — as a term of site access. So the card is compulsory in the same way a hi-vis vest with a particular company's logo is compulsory: because the principal contractor says so, and site access is theirs to control.

The commercial consequence is real. If you subcontract to tier-one builders, an expired card keeps your crew at the gate on Monday morning, and no argument about the statute helps you there. The two-year validity is worth diarising per person for exactly that reason.

What the Act asks for

Section 36(1) and (2) of the HSWA:

"(1) A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of — (a) workers who work for the PCBU, while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking; and (b) workers whose activities in carrying out work are influenced or directed by the PCBU, while the workers are carrying out the work. (2) A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the health and safety of other persons is not put at risk from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking."

Subsection (3) then lists what that includes, and every item is an ongoing state of affairs rather than a document:

"(a) the provision and maintenance of a work environment that is without risks to health and safety; and (b) the provision and maintenance of safe plant and structures; and (c) the provision and maintenance of safe systems of work; and (d) the safe use, handling, and storage of plant, substances, and structures; and (e) the provision of adequate facilities for the welfare at work of workers …; and (f) the provision of any information, training, instruction, or supervision that is necessary to protect all persons from risks to their health and safety arising from work carried out …; and (g) that the health of workers and the conditions at the workplace are monitored …"

Paragraph (f) is where induction training sits. Note the standard: training that is necessary for the risks of this work. A half-day generic induction is a floor, not a ceiling, and it says nothing about the specific hazards of the job someone is starting on Monday.

Section 36(6) closes the self-employment loophole: "A PCBU who is a self-employed person must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, his or her own health and safety while at work."

Section 37(1) adds the duty of a PCBU who manages or controls a workplace to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, "that the workplace, the means of entering and exiting the workplace, and anything arising from the workplace are without risks to the health and safety of any person."

Section 34: the duty nobody reads and everybody breaches

On a construction site there are usually several PCBUs at once — the head contractor, each subcontractor, the labour hire firm, the scaffolder, the crane company. Section 34:

"(1) If more than 1 PCBU has a duty in relation to the same matter imposed by or under this Act, each PCBU with the duty must, so far as is reasonably practicable, consult, co-operate with, and co-ordinate activities with all other PCBUs who have a duty in relation to the same matter. (2) A person who contravenes subsection (1) commits an offence and is liable on conviction, — (a) for an individual, to a fine not exceeding $20,000: (b) for any other person, to a fine not exceeding $100,000."

Duties are not divided between PCBUs; they overlap. Section 34 does not let you point at the head contractor, and it does not let the head contractor point at you. It requires the conversation to happen and, in practice, to be documented.

Section 44: the duty on directors and owners personally

"(1) If a PCBU has a duty or an obligation under this Act, an officer of the PCBU must exercise due diligence to ensure that the PCBU complies with that duty or obligation."

And s 44(4) defines due diligence as taking reasonable steps:

"(a) to acquire, and keep up to date, knowledge of work health and safety matters; and (b) to gain an understanding of the nature of the operations … and generally of the hazards and risks associated with those operations; and (c) to ensure that the PCBU has available for use, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks …; and (d) to ensure that the PCBU has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding incidents, hazards, and risks and for responding in a timely way to that information; and (e) to ensure that the PCBU has, and implements, processes for complying with any duty or obligation …; and (f) to verify the provision and use of the resources and processes referred to in paragraphs (c) to (e)."

Paragraph (f) is the one that separates a compliant director from a hopeful one. Having a process is (c) to (e). Checking that it is actually used is (f), and it is the step that is almost never evidenced.

For a small building company, the officer is usually the owner. The duty is personal, and it does not transfer to the health and safety adviser.

Workers have duties too

Section 45: while at work, a worker must take reasonable care for their own health and safety, take reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect others, comply as far as they are reasonably able with any reasonable instruction given by the PCBU, and "co-operate with any reasonable policy or procedure of the PCBU relating to health or safety at the workplace that has been notified to workers."

That last clause is a condition on the employer. A policy that has not been notified cannot be the basis of a co-operation duty.

The penalties, and what they scale with

Note that s 48 does not require anyone to be hurt. Exposure to the risk is the offence.

What to do instead of arguing about the card

1. Get the card, and diarise its two years per person — because site access depends on it commercially even though the statute does not mention it.
2. Treat it as the induction floor. Section 36(3)(f) asks for training necessary for these risks. That is a site-specific and task-specific conversation, and it is the one that would be examined after an incident.
3. Do section 34 out loud. Where your work overlaps another PCBU's — shared scaffold, shared crane, shared access — record the co-ordination. It is an express duty with its own penalty.
4. Give the officer something to verify. Section 44(4)(f) requires verification, not intention. A monthly walk with a written note beats a folder of policies.
5. Notify policies to workers, and record that you did. Section 45(d) depends on it.

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Checked on 29 August 2026 against the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 on the New Zealand Legislation website, and against Site Safe's published About and course pages. Course prices and card details are Site Safe's own and may change; check them at source. This describes the legislation and is not legal or safety advice — the regulator is WorkSafe New Zealand and its guidance is the practical starting point for any specific hazard.

What Zirko does: it records time per person per day against the project, and keeps documents and photos on the project, so who was on which site and when is documented. What Zirko does not do: it is not a health and safety system. It does not hold card numbers or expiry dates, does not manage inductions, hazard registers or incident reports, and does not report to WorkSafe.