New Zealand to move into Alert Level 3: here’s what it means for construction 

New Zealand will move down to Alert Level 3 at 11.59pm on Monday, 27 April, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. The change in level will mark a shift from 'essential' business operations only to 'safe' business operations. For the construction industry, this means a return to work, provided specific health and safety standards can be followed.

"This is good news for the wider construction sector, however a move to Level 2 needs to be imminent to ensure the survival of many businesses in this sector. If we look overseas to countries such as Australia where construction has remained an essential business, the impact on the industry has been less severe than it has in New Zealand," ArchiPro founder Milot Zeqiri says.

Last week, Construction Health and Safety NZ (CHASNZ) in conjunction with the joint government/industry Construction Sector Accord developed and released detailed construction health and safety standards and protocols for the residential, civil and vertical construction sectors.

Each construction site operating at Alert Level 3 (or 2) needs to have a Covid-19 Controls Plan in place. The plan will guide how the principal or main contractor and contractors will manage work on site and the controls they will use to minimise the risk of Covid-19 transmission.

The Covid-19 controls are over and above the existing health and safety plan requirements for residential construction sites. It is the responsibility of the site owner (the party responsible for overall site coordination) to ensure this plan is in place.

The site owner may be a client (e.g. in the case of a self-managed renovation); a group home builder; a project manager; or a small builder / contractor. There must always be a nominated person on site when work is occurring who is responsible for administering the Covid-19 management plan. This can be shared among multiple people from different contractors for an individual site if required.

The Covid-19 Health and Safety Protocols for Residential Construction Sites outlines the minimum standards to be implemented at residential construction sites. These protocols apply at Alert Level 3 and 2 and supplement the Covid-19 Standard for Operating New Zealand Construction Sites developed by CHASNZ.

Read the residential requirements for construction in Alert Level 3 here, and find out more about the requirements for other types of construction here.