Health and safety

Te Herenga Waka is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for members of the University Community.

Health and safety is a collective responsibility. The University expects all members of the community—including staff, students, contractors, and the public—to take personal responsibility for ensuring their own safety and the safety of others involved in or impacted by the University's activities.

Asbestos register

Our asbestos register can be accessed via www.bmis.nz/login.

  • Log in: PortfolioALL
  • Password: Umbre11a

Behaviour on site

The University aims to maintain a work environment which is safe, performance focused, respectful, based on trust and honesty and is enjoyable for all. Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington has a Code of Conduct that sets out our expectations of how our staff should behave at work, and we also expect contractors working on our sites to maintain high standards of behaviour.

Be sure to read our Health, Safety and Wellbeing Statute before getting started.

Driving at the University

There is a 15km speed limit for all vehicles accessing our campuses. As some of our roads are shared with pedestrians, please drive slowly with care, and always give way to pedestrians.

When driving on campus please adhere to all signage and parking directions to avoid causing disruption to traffic flow. Vehicles must not be parked over pedestrian walkways or in front of emergency exits.

Accidents, incidents and safety concerns

Incident reporting must be actively promoted and encouraged across Victoria University of Wellington controlled work locations and a “no blame” policy will be in place. All hazards and incidents (including hazard incidents) must be reported in accordance with relevant Victoria University of Wellington procedures.

If you have or witness any accident or incidents (e.g. a near miss) while working on any of our sites:
  1. Assist anybody involved in an accident.
  2. Make the area of the accident safe for everyone.
  3. Report the incident to the Property Services Helpdesk on 0800 100 140 as soon as possible, within 24 hours of the incident occurring.
If you witness anyone either working unsafely for themselves or in a manner that could be unsafe to anyone else:
  1. Immediately approach the person and raise your concern with them, providing clarity on how you believe they can do to reduce any risk to them or others.
  2. Call the Property Services Helpdesk on 0800 100 140 and report the incident immediately.

All contractors and contractors team members have the authority to stop any other contractors work on site if there are significant safety concerns (e.g. work needs to stop immediately to prevent a potential injury or incident).

What you need a university permit to work for

Permits to work must be completed for the following hazardous works:

  • working at heights—above 2m
  • hot works
  • confined spaces.

Permission must be sought from your relevant facilities manager prior to entering any restricted area and gaining access to the roof space/s.

High risk and notifiable works

The University Health and Safety Policy defines high risk activity as “an activity which involves or has the reasonable potential to expose any individual to, a high level of danger.”

Examples of high-risk and notifiable work that might need to be done on campus are:

  • working at height
  • confined spaces
  • hot works
  • tree felling
  • working with asbestos
  • crane operation
  • helicopter use
  • drone use.
Security at the University
Your ID Card

After being inducted to the University, you will be issued with a University contractor ID card. You are required to safely wear and display your University contractor ID card at all times when working on any of the University’s campuses.

If you lose your card, please report this immediately to the security office which is located at 4 Waiteata Road or call on 0800 842 8888.

If you are working on any of our campus’s afterhours, you are required to contact campus security.

Access keys

To complete your work, you may need a key to access buildings, plant rooms, or switchboards. To find the location of keys, visit the security office at your respective campus or at the reception of halls of residence.

SiteKey location
KelburnSecurity office at 4 Waiteata Road.
Rutherford House and Old Government BuildingsSecurity office on the ground floor of Old Government Buildings.
Te AroSecurity office on the ground floor.
AccommodationIn each student accommodation reception

Care must be taken not to lose keys or access cards and must be returned by close of business that day. In the unlikely event you lose any University keys or access cards, you are required to notify campus security immediately and advise the Property Services Helpdesk. There is an associated cost to replacing keys, payable by the contractor business.