How IMPAC's PreQual works — and the difference between PreQual and PreQual Totika
PreQual is a contractor health and safety prequalification run by IMPAC. You complete an online assessment, qualified assessors review your evidence, and the result tells clients your safety systems meet the required standard. It is widely required by councils, government agencies and large organisations, and you can take either a standard PreQual assessment or a Totika-aligned one so a single result is recognised by many clients.
PreQual is an online contractor prequalification system, run by IMPAC, that checks your health and safety systems meet the standard a client requires.
You answer a structured questionnaire and attach supporting evidence. Qualified assessors then review your submission — PreQual is not an automatic, self-scored tick-box exercise — and the outcome is made available to the clients who use the system. For many principal organisations, especially in the public sector, a current PreQual result is a condition of being engaged.
Councils, government agencies, infrastructure clients and large organisations commonly require PreQual before engaging a contractor.
If you tender for council or government work, or supply larger organisations, you will often be told that PreQual is the scheme they accept. As with any prequalification, the client sets the standard they expect you to meet before you can be awarded work.
PreQual offers two routes: its own PreQual assessment, and a Totika-aligned assessment that maps to the national standard.
| Route | What it is | Best when |
|---|---|---|
| PreQual | IMPAC's own prequalification assessment of your health and safety systems. | Your client specifically asks for a PreQual result. |
| PreQual Totika | A PreQual assessment aligned to the Totika national standard, delivered as an approved Totika member scheme. | You want one assessment that many different clients can recognise. |
Because Totika is designed for cross-recognition, a Totika-aligned PreQual can save you completing separate assessments for each client. Confirm with your client which route they accept.
You register, complete the online questionnaire, upload evidence, and an assessor reviews it before your result is issued.
The questionnaire is grouped into categories that cover the working parts of a health and safety system — policy and responsibilities, risk management, training and competency, incident management, worker engagement, and monitoring and review. Because assessors check the evidence behind each answer, the result reflects what you can actually demonstrate, not just what you have written down.
The depth of assessment generally reflects your size, the work you do, your role on a project, and the value of the contracts you take on.
A sole trader doing lower-risk work is not assessed to the same depth as a large contractor running high-risk construction. Matching the assessment to your size and risk keeps prequalification proportionate — you prove what is relevant to the work you actually carry out.
Run a genuine health and safety system and keep current, dated evidence — assessors grade what you can prove.
The most common reason for a weak result is missing or out-of-date evidence rather than a missing document. Make sure you can show recent, relevant proof across the areas PreQual assesses:
Assessors expect that evidence to be recent, because they are confirming the system is genuinely operating day to day.
Get a system built for New Zealand H&S, with the evidence assessors look for. Book a demo and we'll show you how it works — free 30-day trial included.
PreQual is run by IMPAC, a New Zealand risk and safety company. It is one of the main contractor health and safety prequalification schemes used in New Zealand, alongside SiteWise.
PreQual is IMPAC's own prequalification assessment. PreQual Totika is the same provider's assessment aligned to the Totika national standard, so a single result can be recognised by many different clients. Your client will tell you which one they accept.
PreQual is commonly required by councils, government agencies, infrastructure clients and large organisations. If you tender for public-sector or large-organisation work, you will often be asked for a current PreQual result.
Run a real, active health and safety system and keep current, dated evidence of it. Most weak results come from missing or out-of-date evidence rather than a missing policy, because assessors check what you can actually prove across risk management, training, incident reporting, worker engagement and monitoring.
No. PreQual (IMPAC) and SiteWise (Site Safe) are separate prequalification schemes. Both assess your health and safety systems and both offer Totika-aligned assessments, but they are run by different organisations and clients usually specify which one they accept.
