Occupational Health & Safety Management Systems (OHSMS)
Health & Safety Management Systems
A complete, practical health and safety system built for your business, delivered as digital files and a printed handbook with a one-hour in-person handover. Ready to use, not just ready to file.
Why You Need a System
Under Section 36 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, every PCBU must ensure the health and safety of workers and others so far as is reasonably practicable. That duty requires you to identify risks, put controls in place, and be able to demonstrate you have done both.
A management system is how you do that in practice. Without one, you have scattered documents and no way to show they work together. With one, you have a structure that connects your policies to your hazard register to your training records to your incident response, so that when someone asks you to prove your business manages safety, the answer is clear.
It is also a prerequisite for prequalification. You cannot achieve SiteWise Green or Totika without a working system behind the assessment. Many businesses come to us for prequalification support and discover they need the system built first.
What You Receive
Your system is delivered in three parts.
What the System Covers
| Component | What it does |
|---|---|
| Health and safety policy | Your commitment to safety and how you manage it. The document clients and principals ask to see first. |
| Hazard identification and risk assessment | A structured process for identifying what could go wrong and what you are doing about it, specific to your work. |
| Hazard and risk register | Every identified hazard, the risk rating, and the controls in place. A living document that gets updated as your work changes. |
| Incident and near miss reporting | How incidents are recorded, investigated, and acted on. Includes the process for notifying WorkSafe of notifiable events. |
| Emergency planning | What happens in an emergency: evacuation procedures, first aid, emergency contacts, and who does what. |
| Training and competency register | A record of who is trained in what, when it expires, and what needs renewing. |
| Worker engagement and participation | How your people are involved in health and safety decisions, as HSWA 2015 requires. |
| Contractor and subcontractor management | How you select, induct, and manage anyone working for or alongside you. |
| Inspection and audit procedures | Scheduled checks to make sure the system is being used and the controls are working. |
| Document control and review | How the system itself stays current. Who reviews it, how often, and what triggers a revision. |
Every component is tailored to your business type, your number of staff, and the risks specific to your industry. This is not a generic set of policies with your name dropped in.
How It Works
Do You Need ISO 45001 Certification?
Probably not. AS/NZS ISO 45001 is the international standard for occupational health and safety management systems. It is voluntary in New Zealand, and WorkSafe explicitly notes that conforming to the standard does not necessarily mean you are complying with the law.
What most businesses need is a practical, working system that meets their HSWA 2015 duties and satisfies prequalification requirements like SiteWise and Totika. That is what we build. It aligns with the principles behind ISO 45001, including the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle, without the cost and overhead of formal certification.
If you do need ISO 45001 certification for contractual reasons, the system we build gives you a strong foundation to work from.
The Foundation for Prequalification
SiteWise, Totika, and other prequalification schemes assess whether you have a health and safety system that works. You cannot pass them without one.
Many businesses discover this the hard way: they apply for SiteWise, get asked for evidence across 13 assessment sections, and realise they have nothing behind the paperwork. Building the system first and then applying for prequalification is faster and cheaper than trying to do both at once and failing.
If you need prequalification alongside your system, we handle both.
"Reuben is an excellent, professional, and highly knowledgeable H&S advisor and tutor. Our communication was consistently smooth and easy. As a novice applicant with no prior knowledge, from being completely unaware to gaining a solid understanding, Reuben was exceptionally patient and guided me step by step through the entire process. Our company obtained the certificate in a relatively short period of time and achieved a pretty high score. I feel extremely fortunate to have found the right guide and highly recommend him!"
Who Builds Your System
Your system is built by Reuben Brooker, Lead Consultant at Health & Safety Consultants Auckland, with more than 15 years of experience in workplace health and safety. The in-person handover is with Reuben directly.
You deal with the person doing the work.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sources
- Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, section 36: primary duty of care requiring every PCBU to ensure health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable. legislation.govt.nz
- WorkSafe New Zealand, on management systems: conformance with a formal management system standard such as AS/NZS ISO 45001 does not equal compliance with the law. Systems are only effective with a positive safety culture and worker involvement. worksafe.govt.nz
- AS/NZS ISO 45001: the international occupational health and safety management systems standard, voluntarily adopted in New Zealand. Provides a framework based on Plan-Do-Check-Act but does not specifically reflect all obligations under HSWA 2015. sgs.com/en-nz
Last reviewed: September 2026