15 July 2022, MOUNT MAUNGANUI, New Zealand--New Zealand contractors can now obtain Tōtika Health and Safety Pre-Qualification from iskills, an Avetta company. Tōtika is New Zealand’s independent cross-industry health and safety pre-qualification scheme.

The Tōtika program creates a common universal standard for New Zealand suppliers and contractors. The framework builds efficiency in the supply chain with a central registrar, meaning suppliers only need to complete a pre-qualification assessment once, instead of duplicating effort for each new client and opportunity.

“Assessment and pre-qualification of contractor health and safety is an important part of the procurement process,” said Sharon Macquarie, iskills Director of Operations NZ. “Our accredited Tōtika scheme helps companies to manage their workforce, manage risk, and ensure only qualified and compliant contractors and workers are allowed on sites and projects.”

The prequalification process ensures contracting companies are qualified to work in the construction sector in New Zealand under the Tōtika standard developed by CHASNZ. It helps them to keep company information up to date in one place online, and to ensure their company documents are always correct and current.

The benefit of pre-qualifying through the iskills team is that there is a team of compliance and competency experts on hand to assist contractors with the pre-qualification process along with expert advice on industry competency requirements.

The protocol collects, compares and verifies contracting company documents to Tōtika specific standards, providing a single source of verification. The reviews look at safety, quality, environment, and commercial systems to ensure compliance with Tōtika standards. This pre-qualification allows businesses to efficiently verify and manage their contracting companies for complete control and insight into their workforce.

The cost of registration is dependent on the supplier category. Registration covers the verification of documents, updating of profile, email reminders, and access to local support teams. Companies with ISO45001 Certification will be required to pay a nominal fee.

About iskills, an Avetta company

iskills, an Avetta company, is a registered and accredited New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) Private Training Establishment since 2001. Visit https://www.iskills.co.nz for more information or contact iskills via 0800 700 136 or email iskillsprequal@iskills.co.nz.

About Avetta

The Avetta SaaS platform helps clients manage supply chain risk and their suppliers to become more qualified for jobs. For the hiring clients in our network, we offer the world’s largest supply chain risk management network to manage supplier safety, sustainability, worker competency and performance. We perform contractor prequalification and worker competency management across major industries, all over the globe, including construction, energy, facilities, high tech, manufacturing, mining and telecom.

For suppliers in our network, our audit and verification services help lower their safety incidents rate by 29%. As a result, nearly 50% of members find additional job opportunities within the first year of joining. In addition, our suppliers receive privileged access to the Avetta Marketplace, where dozens of partners offer special discounts for business services like insurance and work gear. Avetta serves 500+ enterprise companies and 125,000+ suppliers across 120+ countries. Visit https://www.avetta.com/ for more information.

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