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Site specific safety plans

What is an SSSP in New Zealand

An SSSP is the document that says how health and safety will be managed on one job, on one site. The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 does not use the term. Main contractors ask for one anyway, because it is how the construction industry shows the duties in the Act have been worked through for that job.

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A plan for one job on one site

Site Safe New Zealand, whose packs most SSSPs in this country are built from, puts it this way: main contractors and subcontractors develop an SSSP to outline how health and safety will be managed on a job. Read from sitesafe.org.nz on 20 September 2026.

The plan records the basic actions the companies and the people on the job will follow. Site Safe lists five:

  • Identifying and managing hazards
  • Reporting accidents and incidents
  • Training or supervising employees
  • Preparing for emergencies, including first aid and rescue plans
  • Providing opportunities for employees to be involved in safety procedures

A company health and safety manual does not do this job. The plan is written for the site, with that site’s hazards, that site’s emergency arrangements, and the people who will actually be on it.

Which SSSP applies to you

Site Safe publishes three packs. Which one you fill in depends on your position on the job.

Your positionPackWho it is for
Main contractor, PCBU 1Whero, redYou work under your own agreement with the client, run your own health and safety systems, and provide evidence of your own due diligence.
Directly contracted to the main contractorKākāriki, greenYou work under the main contractor’s agreement and their health and safety systems, and give them evidence of your due diligence.
Working alongside the main contractorKōwhai, yellowYou run your own health and safety systems and also abide by the main contractor’s.

Read from sitesafe.org.nz on 20 September 2026.

The nine forms behind the plan

An SSSP is a job registration form, an agreement or project plan, and a set of registers that stay live for the length of the job. The Site Safe packs number them:

FormWhat it holds
Job registrationThe job, the site and the parties
Form 1The agreement, or the project plan if you are the main contractor
Form 2Site hazard and risk register
Form 3Hazardous products and substances inventory
Form 4Training and qualification register
Form 5Site inspection checklist
Form 6Toolbox talk minutes
Form 7Site emergency response plan
Form 8Incident and injury register
Form 9Incident investigation and report

The first two are written once. The rest are registers that have to stay current for the length of the job.

Where the plan and the site drift apart

The plan is signed at the start of the job and filed. The hazard register, the training records and the toolbox talk minutes then live in a folder, a phone and a shared drive. When the principal or WorkSafe asks for the plan, what comes back is a signed cover and a set of registers with gaps in them.

The registers SiteKey keeps live

SiteKey does not write your SSSP. It holds the plan against the site it belongs to and keeps the live record behind five of the registers the plan promises.

SSSP formWhat SiteKey holds
Form 2, site hazard and risk registerHazards and risks nominated by your company, shown in the site induction and again at sign in
Form 4, training and qualification registerTraining and certification status per person with expiry dates, and a sign in blocked when one lapses. Contractor compliance
Form 5, site inspection checklistSite walk records with findings, photos and assigned actions
Form 6, toolbox talk minutesTopic, key points and attendance taken from the sign in
Forms 8 and 9, incident registersIncident, accident and near miss reports filed from the scene

The plan itself, the emergency response arrangements, and the JSAs for the individual tasks sit against the site, so the people working under them can open them on a phone at the work face.

Questions about site specific safety plans

Is an SSSP a legal requirement in New Zealand? +

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 does not name a site specific safety plan. The duties it does set, to identify and manage risk, to train and supervise, and to plan for emergencies, are what the plan records. Main contractors commonly make an SSSP a condition of the contract, so on most sites you cannot start work without one.

What is the difference between an SSSP and a JSA? +

The SSSP covers the whole job on the whole site. A JSA covers one task, broken into its steps, with the hazards and controls for each step. A job usually has one SSSP and many JSAs.

Who writes the SSSP? +

The main contractor writes the project plan for the site. Each subcontractor fills in the pack for their own position on the job, which is where their own hazards, training records and agreement go.

How long do you keep an SSSP? +

The plan and its registers form part of the health and safety record for the job. The periods that apply come from the other records the plan contains, and we set those out in the guide to how long to keep site records.

Can an SSSP be kept digitally? +

Yes. Site Safe states that the forms in its packs can be filled electronically or printed and completed by hand. Read from sitesafe.org.nz on 20 September 2026.

Keep the registers behind the plan current

Tell us about your site and we will show you the hazard register, the training gate and the site walk records working together.

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