Bay of Plenty & Gisborne Best Practice Days

September saw the welcome return of the FCANZ Best Practice Days. These have been somewhat hard to plan with COVID framework interruptions, but people are welcoming getting out and about again, in a somewhat normal fashion. The 2022 North Island days were held in Tauranga and Gisborne in September.

Tauranga Best Practice Day

The Tauranga site was organised by Darryn Astill and his crew at Ground Up Services as well as Neil Robertson from Fensin Limited, along with Max Walton from the FCANZ Board and we thank them for arranging the venue. The theme for Tauranga was netting as the location/ site had deer netting.

Demonstrations included deer, conventional boundary height, tie offs, tensioning, strainer/stay in relation to wires and blocks, shaping netting to contour, dips and hollows, including footing and shaping netting. Netting economics, the range of uses, and benefits/disadvantages of netting compared to other types of fencing. The application of netting into security/ civil fencing and as a temporary fencing alternative and pest control netting was all discussed.

The weather was inclement in the lead up to the day so having a couple of variations to the plan was imperative.

The turn-out was excellent and some robust discussion on the demo lines was had, thanks to John Naokes for managing that. Having Noksee as an MC on the days helps to keep a good flow and some interesting banter.

That’s what these days are about after all.

Gisborne Best Practice Day

Given the last year of flood damage and a lot of repairs and maintenance happening in the Gisborne region, the Gisborne Best Practice Day was largely aimed at ‘Fencing Fundamentals’; working on stays and blocks, footing types/methods –including blocks, wire tying and tensions, electrics and connections. Tim Garrick and Cory Twigley helped organise and demonstrate at this BPD, the feedback from all attendees was very positive and the facility was perfect for the day. We had some students attend from Growing Future Farmers and the local Gisborne Trade Academy which was pleasing to see. Feedback from their facilitators was positive.

Member attendance

We continue to see a trend that not many FCANZ members are attending Best Practice Days. These are a great networking opportunity and a chance to connect directly with the Association Partners and those who support our industry. The days offer a good way to find out innovations happening in the fencing industry.

Feedback is gold

We would appreciate feedback on what you as members would like to see more or less of at Best Practice Days. What would entice you along? Pick up the phone and let us know, as it would help going forward with planning Best Practice Days for 2023. We can also give feedback to our Partners on what they can do to assist FCANZ members and help them with their planning also.

FCANZ has delivered a series of online professional development webinars during 2022, aimed at improving the industry knowledge base. In this last quarter, Members have had access to experts in the Health & Safety sector and from ACC with a further seminar on Workplace Wellbeing being delivered at the time WIRED was going to print.

Health & Safety Basics

In this Health & Safety webinar, Debbie Robertson of RuralSafe talked through the changes to H&S legislation and the responsibilities of everyone in a company to ensure good H&S practices. Debbie explained the roles that everyone needs to play – from workers to business owners, and what can happen when best practice isn't followed. This webinar provided an excellent overview of Health & Safety and how the rules apply to the fencing industry and Debbie gave some really good advice on simple steps towards compliance. It is well worth a watch whatever your role in a business. Watch the webinar at a time that suits you by logging into the members area of the website.

Understanding ACC

In this back-to-basics webinar, Sue McMaster from ACC talked through the injuries that those in the fencing industry most often succumb to – and what needs to be done by BOTH employers and employees to ensure the best outcome for all.

Sue provided a really insightful breakdown into the factors that impact a company’s ACC levies plus explaining how to really understand the invoices meant that many attendees left feeling much more enlightened. Sue also provided a handy one-pager that provided a summary of all the useful links. Access the document and watch the webinar at a time that suits you by logging into the members area of the website.