Whether it’s an early learning centre adding new play areas, a school upgrading classrooms or removing asbestos, or a university redeveloping an entire block, construction in education environments brings a unique set of challenges.
These are busy, people‑centred spaces with constant movement, varying levels of risk awareness, and established schedules that, for the most part, must be maintained throughout the construction period.
To meet health and safety obligations, it’s critical that project owners fully understand key risk areas and seek advice early where gaps exist.
Why education sites make construction risk more complex
Regardless of scale, construction projects within education settings share many common risk characteristics. These include:
- High and unpredictable foot traffic.
- People with varying levels of independence.
- Limited ability to fully isolate areas.
- Habits, shortcuts, and routines that are hard to change.
- Community expectations around access and continuity.
Complicating this further are the characteristics of the people who populate these spaces. Tauira, particularly younger tamariki, are naturally curious, often unaware of risk, and drawn to changes in their surroundings. An object or space that appears harmless from an adult perspective can quickly become something to climb on, move, or explore.
Together, these factors mean that even well‑planned construction projects require ongoing close coordination between contractors, project teams, and education providers to effectively mitigate risk.
The interface between construction and BAU: Where unforeseen risks typically emerge
In my experience, the greatest area of unforeseen risk on education projects is in the interface between construction activities and the client’s BAU activities.
Common interface risks that tend to appear across all education settings are:
1. Traffic and access during peak times
Whether it’s school drop‑off, lecture changeovers, or evening classes, construction traffic must be planned around the site’s real movement patterns, not the theoretical ones.
2. Equipment or materials placement
What would be considered a low‑risk area on a commercial site can be completely inappropriate when you have students, staff and visitors moving through daily.
3. Informal pathways
Education environments often have well‑worn shortcuts or gathering points that aren’t reflected on any site plan.
4. Changes to normal routines
When entrances, carparks, courtyards, or walkways change and that information isn’t clearly communicated, confusion can quickly turn into a safety risk.
The same applies when schedules, movement patterns, or classroom locations shift; new hazards can emerge that no one anticipated. For example, when a crane suddenly appears on site, curiosity peaks. But do people actually know what’s happening, or where they can and can’t go?
Clarity around interface risks is critical
Early coordination and clear communication between all project stakeholders is critical to identifying and managing interface risks properly. However, in many cases, this isn’t done well - not because risk isn’t seen as important but, instead, because of low awareness of interface risks and lack of clarity around who manages them.
Understanding responsibilities under HSWA
A recurring misunderstanding is that “the contractor manages all things safety”.
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the contractor and the education provider are Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBUs). In practice, this means:
- Risks shared between the construction zone and day‑to‑day operations remain a joint responsibility.
- Boards, principals, senior leaders, and tertiary executives must ensure the right systems, oversight, and coordination are in place.
- Officers need assurance (not just documentation) that controls are effective.
Meeting these obligations is not about micromanaging the contractor. It’s about ensuring there’s a clear and coordinated approach to risk, shared between two operating environments.
Importantly, this does not mean school leaders must become construction safety experts. However, it does mean they must ensure the right expertise, processes and oversight are in place.
Safety in Design: A key opportunity created by proactive risk thinking
In addition to ensuring better project risk management, early and ongoing coordination between clients, consultants and contractors also offers huge benefit around Safety in Design (SiD).
SiD is the practice of proactively identifying hazards and managing risks throughout the design process so that injuries are prevented and risks are reduced, both during construction and long after handover.
For education environments, an effective SiD process considers:
- How students, staff, residents, and the public will interact with the completed space.
- Cleaning and maintenance access – for example, how the school caretaker will clean gutters in the future, or how mechanical plant located on the roof will be safely accessed and serviced.
- Whether new design features inadvertently create climbing hazards or congregation points. For instance, installing a new classroom beside a retaining wall might unintentionally create a step‑ladder effect whereby the retaining wall enables access to an awning structure and then a classroom roof. Suddenly, students are 12 metres up with a significant drop on the other side. (Yes, this has happened!)
- Long‑term traffic and pedestrian flows, both within the school and across shared access areas.
- Whether the design provides natural lines of sight and supports passive supervision across busy learning environments.
Because good SiD practice requires early and ongoing coordination between the client, consultants and contractors, it naturally dovetails with a best practice approach to risk management through the construction period.
By remaining closely involved with all aspects of risk management, boards and leadership teams reduce downstream risk, simplify construction and maintenance, and prevent future cost escalation, all while supporting better outcomes for the whole learning community.
What good looks like: Consult, coordinate, cooperate
For many boards and principals, these health and safety responsibilities can feel daunting, particularly when the safety of students is involved.
It’s important to know that you don’t need a complex system, just a well‑coordinated one. Communication and knowledge are key!
From our experience in education projects, the organisations that manage construction well tend to:
- Start discussions early - especially around both SiD and how the site actually works.
- Clearly map out roles and responsibilities between the commissioning PCBU and the contractor.
- Understand peak movement times and high‑risk interface points.
- Communicate simply and consistently with staff, students, and whānau.
- Test whether controls work, instead of relying on assumptions in the paperwork.
- Keep an eye on how the project impacts daily operations as it evolves.
How Rubix Safe supports education organisations
We partner with early learning centres, schools, kura, and tertiary providers to help them safely and confidently navigate construction works within live learning environments.
Our support includes:
- Clarifying PCBU and Officer duties.
- Supporting Safety in Design processes.
- Identifying and managing high‑risk interface areas.
- Strengthening governance and assurance.
- Helping project teams communicate effectively with stakeholders.
- Verifying that controls continue to work once construction begins.
Early, proportionate advice helps avoid costly changes later and, most importantly, helps protect the wellbeing of everyone who uses the site.
About Tania Absolom – Rubix Safe National Lead
Tania has almost 20 years’ experience in health and safety within the construction industry across Australia and New Zealand. In addition to her expertise in commercial and industrial property projects, she has extensive knowledge and capability in education projects and has previously held senior roles within the Ministry of Education’s Construction and Property team.
