Commercial & Procurement
What Tōtika qualified actually means for your tree contract
How Tōtika health and safety prequalification works, what it covers, and why councils and main contractors ask arborists for it before awarding work.
Prequalification, not paperwork
Tōtika is New Zealand's national health and safety prequalification scheme. Rather than every client running their own supplier audit, a contractor is assessed once against a recognised standard and the result is visible to any buyer using the scheme. For councils and main contractors engaging arborists, it removes a large amount of duplicated assessment.
For a tree contractor, being Tōtika qualified means the safety system has been examined: policies, hazard and risk management, training and competency records, plant maintenance, incident reporting and worker engagement. It is a system-level check, which is exactly what matters in high-risk work like arboriculture.
What it doesn't replace
Prequalification does not replace job-level planning. A Tōtika qualified arborist should still produce a site-specific safety plan, a task-based risk assessment and safe work method statements for the specific tree, site and hazards in front of them. Prequalification says the system exists; the SSSP says how it applies here.
It also doesn't replace insurance. Public liability cover — $10 million in our case — sits alongside prequalification to protect the client if something goes wrong despite good systems.
What to ask for before awarding tree work
Ask for the current prequalification status, a certificate of currency for public liability insurance, the qualifications of the arborists who will actually attend, a draft SSSP for your site, plant maintenance and operator competency records, and traffic management arrangements if the work touches a road or carpark.
If a contractor can't produce those within a day or two, that tells you something about how the work will be run.
NZ TreeSMITHS is a Tōtika qualified, $10 million insured arborist company based in Paerata, Franklin. See our commercial capability or request a quote.