Cleaning in a workplace isn’t only about appearance. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 it intersects with real legal duties, and a cleaning specification written with that in mind does double duty.
General guidance, not legal advice. For specific obligations, check WorkSafe NZ guidance or take advice.
Where cleaning and H&S overlap
Slips, trips and falls. The most common workplace injury category in New Zealand. Wet floors, trailing cables, cluttered walkways, all cleaning-adjacent.
Hygiene and illness. Shared kitchens, bathrooms and high-touch surfaces drive infection transmission, which drives sick days.
Hazardous substances. Cleaning chemicals themselves are a hazard requiring safety data sheets, proper storage and labelling.
Egress. Blocked fire exits and cluttered stairwells.
Contractor management. You and your cleaning contractor are both PCBUs with overlapping duties. The Act requires you to consult, co-operate and co-ordinate.
Every visit
- Wet floor signage used during and after mopping, removed once dry
- Floors left dry, not slippery, correct dilution, not more detergent
- Walkways and egress routes left clear
- Spills dealt with immediately
- Bathroom floors dried, not left wet
- High-touch points sanitised: handles, switches, rails, shared equipment
- Bins emptied, food waste daily, without exception
- Cleaning equipment stored away, not left in walkways
Weekly
- Bins washed out (not just re-lined)
- Kitchen deep-attention: fridge seals, sink drain, microwave
- Bathroom grout and tile
- Cleaning cupboard tidied, chemicals returned to storage
- Mop heads and cloths laundered or replaced
- Wet areas checked for mould
Monthly
- Safety data sheets reviewed for currency
- Chemical stock checked, decanted bottles correctly labelled
- Vacuum filters checked
- Extract vents and grilles cleaned
- First aid kit contents checked
- Emergency lighting indicators checked
- Full walkthrough for trip hazards
Cleaning-specific H&S requirements
Chemical storage. Locked cupboard, upright, labelled, with safety data sheets accessible on site, not on a supplier’s website.
Decanted chemicals. Any chemical decanted into a spray bottle must be labelled with product name and hazard information. Unlabelled spray bottles are one of the most common findings in workplace inspections.
Colour-coded equipment. Prevents cross-contamination between bathroom and food-preparation areas. Red for toilets, yellow for bathroom surfaces, blue for general, green for kitchen.
Lone worker arrangements. Most commercial cleaning happens after hours, alone. You have a duty here: safe access and egress, adequate lighting, a check-in arrangement, and a way for them to raise an alarm.
Manual handling. Waste bags, equipment, furniture moving. Should be covered in the contractor’s own procedures.
Working at height. Anything above a two-step ladder needs a plan. High-level dusting is a common place this gets ignored.
Your duties to the cleaning contractor
Frequently overlooked:
- Tell them about hazards in your workplace they wouldn’t know about
- Provide safe access, lighting, clear paths, working locks
- Tell them about changes: renovations, new equipment, areas out of use
- Have a way for them to report hazards to you
- Coordinate if their work overlaps with other contractors
What good looks like in the record
A cleaning record that supports H&S rather than just appearance should show:
- Which tasks were completed each visit
- Any hazards identified and reported
- Any incidents or near misses
- Chemical use and storage compliance checks
Our service records capture the first two automatically, cleaners log any hazard they find with a photo, and it lands in the client’s portal the same night rather than in a notebook nobody reads.