In 2026 Northland business Safetrak is a leading road management company and an excavation service provider known for their construction and earth-moving projects. When Ken and Caroline Subritzky, with their son Emerson and his wife Missy, first set up Safetrak it was a small business doing traffic management and minor civil works with Fulton Hogan’s contracts doing routine highway maintenance, explains Emerson. “It was me and my wife, plus Mum and Dad but my mum died so there’s just the three of us running it now. We started it in 2018 as a very small four-person business and then over the next eight years we’ve grown it to what it is now.”
The Subritzky family already had a logging transport company called KJ’s Log Trans and another business doing workshop repairs and tyres. They knew there was a need in the Far North being filled by companies coming up from Whangārei and Auckland and their belief in diversifying did the rest. What began with Emerson and Missy running the day-to-day business, some secondhand gear, a couple of vehicles and a couple of staff members, is now a specialised civil infrastructure and field service company with a staff of 68, and 42 vehicles doing complex jobs throughout the top of the North Island.
Along with traffic management in the Far North and the NOC (Network Outcomes Contract) Maintenance work they still do for Fulton Hogan they provide comprehensive services in cable locating and hydro excavating (hydrovacing). Its non-destructive earthworks make it increasingly popular with major contractors, Emerson explains. “It’s a safer way for people to excavate instead of using a digger and hitting the water mains, fibre-optic or power cables like they used to.”
Last year Safetrak once again recognised that no-one in the Far North was meeting a growing market need and invested heavily in a Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) unit. It looks like a motor mower as it traverses the landscape, locates everything underground and accurately maps it out. They now have two fully trained technicians to keep up with demand. “With our GPR we can send you a map of your front lawn, or the carpark you’re thinking of digging up and show the cable going from here to there at a depth of 600, or the fibreoptics over there at a depth of whatever and it makes it so much easier for the client before they even get into a job,” says Emerson
Thanks to the GPR clients know where not to dig, or where they need to hydroexcavate to ensure they don’t do damage that can cost 10’s of 1000’s of dollars when they hit something they shouldn’t.
From the beginning as their name suggests Safetrak have taken compliance with Health and Safety (H & S) regulations seriously. They’ve got numerous different H & S qualifications to meet different clients’ preferences and at the heart of them all is a determination to keep every staff member safe every day they’re on the job.
Safetrak’s philosophy is that they’ll handle everything. If someone with a tree to be cut down needs a Traffic Management Plan (TMP) their in-house qualified TMP designer will map one out and submit it to the Regional Authority for approval. Safetrak can handle the whole job and have a vast network of local subbies they trust to call on from Tree Surgeons to Concrete Specialists if required.
The company focus and philosophy includes giving back to the Far North community they’re part of. Along with school netball teams, grass roots rugby league and community waka ama, they’re a gold sponsor for the Westpac Northland Rescue Helicoptor, Emerson explains. “We’re so far away from Whangārei, when people get hurt up here that helicopter is the difference between life and death.”
Safetrak are there to service the North from the Harbour Bridge to Cape Reinga. They offer a one-stop shop to clients and, whether it’s Top energy, a Tier One roading or construction company, the Far North District council, or someone needing a new driveway, the reliably excellent quality of their service is the same: safe, on time and with a cost-effective budget.
Original Article:
Business North – July 2026