WorkSafe’s New Residential Construction ACOP: Who Is Responsible for Safety on Your Building Site?

Clear responsibilities before work begins

WorkSafe’s new Approved Code of Practice for identifying health and safety roles and responsibilities on a residential construction site addresses this problem: making it clearer who needs to do what when businesses work together.

Launched on 16 October 2026, the ACOP takes effect on 1 April 2027. Builders and subcontractors can start reviewing their arrangements now.

What is the residential construction ACOP about?

The code explains how health and safety responsibilities apply when several businesses contribute to a residential building project.

It covers the roles of clients, principal contractors, contractors, subcontractors, workers, officers and others on site. Its focus is on identifying shared responsibilities, communicating clearly and coordinating work.

The purpose is to clarify existing duties, rather than introduce a new set of duties.

For a building business, the practical question is simple: Can the people on your site explain who manages each serious risk—and how they know the controls are working?

Shared responsibility needs a clear working arrangement

Putting a subcontractor’s name against a task is only the beginning.

Consider a residential project where roofers, electricians and builders need access to the same work area. A useful planning discussion would establish:

These are Auditsure’s practical examples of questions to resolve before work begins. The answers should reflect the actual site, the work programme and each business’s ability to influence the risk.

• Who checks that access and edge protection suit the work?
• Who controls entry to the area?
• What happens if someone alters or removes a protective barrier?
• Who tells the other trades when conditions change?
• Who can stop the job if the agreed controls are missing?

A signed SSSP needs to match the site

A Site-Specific Safety Plan, or SSSP, gives a project somewhere to record its arrangements. Its value depends on whether those arrangements are understood and followed.

For example, a plan might identify vehicle movements as a risk. But if a delivery truck arrives while workers are walking through the unloading area, the paperwork has not resolved the immediate problem.

A useful site review looks beyond whether a document exists. It asks:

That is where a construction health and safety audit can help turn written intentions into working controls.

• Are the controls in place?
• Do workers understand them?
• Are responsibilities clear between trades?
• Does the plan change when the work changes?
• Are identified problems being closed out?

Plan the handover between trades

Some of the most useful safety conversations happen between stages of a job.

Before another contractor takes over, check what has changed and what remains unfinished. An exposed opening, incomplete scaffold, temporary electrical supply or restricted work area needs a clear handover.

A short conversation supported by a simple record can establish:

This gives the incoming trade something more reliable than an assumption.

• What work has been completed.
• What hazards remain.
• Which controls must stay in place.
• Who is responsible for the next stage.
• When work can safely resume.

Does following the ACOP provide automatic legal protection?

Not at present.

WorkSafe’s publication states that the ACOP does not currently have safe harbour status. Reapproval by the Minister after 1 April 2027 would be needed for that status to apply.

The Government’s launch announcement also makes clear that following an ACOP is not mandatory, although it establishes a recognised compliance standard. Businesses should avoid treating it as a blanket guarantee against enforcement.

What should builders do before April 2027?

Auditsure recommends starting with one current project and checking how responsibilities work in practice.

Choose a serious risk—such as falls from height, moving machinery or exposure to hazardous dust—and follow it through:

Who identifies it? Who provides the controls? Who checks them? Who responds when something changes?

Then compare those answers with your contracts, SSSP, inductions and toolbox discussions.

Where the answers differ, you have found something worth fixing.

How Auditsure can help

Auditsure Ltd is a Māori-owned health and safety consultancy supporting builders, subcontractors and other businesses.

We can help you prepare through:

Our approach is practical: speak with the people doing the work, inspect the controls and help resolve gaps before they cause harm.

• Construction site safety audits that check conditions and working practices.
• SSSP development and review tailored to the project.
• Contractor health and safety management to clarify shared arrangements.
• Critical risk assessments focused on preventing serious harm.
• Toolbox discussions that explain responsibilities in plain language.
• Corrective action registers to track improvements through to completion.

Get your site responsibilities clear

You do not need to wait until April 2027 to improve coordination on your building projects.

Start with the risks that could seriously hurt someone. Get the relevant trades together, agree the controls and make responsibility clear.

Contact Auditsure to discuss a construction site safety audit, SSSP review or contractor management assessment.

Contact and source

Email Auditsure: safety1stconsultants@gmail.com. Website: www.auditsure.nz.

Information checked on 16 October 2026. Practical examples and recommendations are Auditsure commentary.