We recently were advised by a client that to have access to the site of our client (we are a sub contractor of) we would need to gain pre approval through a third party H&S provider at a cost of $110 + GST per worker.
This troubles me s me as it appears that it is contracting out of safety. Be interested in your comments. This is also a way we do not want to go in this country. This is a barrier to work for some people and I believe has some Labour Issues?
I'd be asking what you're gaining from this, especially if it is on a per worker basis. Is it part of the induction process and the primary induction? If so, it may be okay, as long as that process is robust. I would be worried if each worker then also still had to go through your primary site's induction as a separate step, as you'd wonder what benefit each organisation is gaining (other than costs).
There are a number of third party H&S pre-qualification providers within NZ, but they work on a company to company basis, not at the worker level, as far as I know.
The bottom line is - its a rip-off and a classic case of contracting out your duty of care plain and simple.
Me personally - as part of my role being a Health Safety & Risk Advisor, I conduct due diligence on behalf of my company even though we participate in prequalification process with a third party organisation, at a ridiculous cost - for what? not sure. I do not trust the concept of third party ensuring safety within our organisation. if your company has a robust safety management system then you would not need to rely on a third party organisation to do your job!