Educating through engagement at North Island Trade Days
The third week of November 2020 saw Fencing Contractors NZ tour the North Island with a series of Fencing Trade Days (now to be called Best Practice Days), which saw high attendance levels and plenty of interest from the wider fencing community.
Our North Island based Board members turned out in force – their presence really strengthens the engagement between FCNZ and its members (and potential members) but also between FCNZ and our corporate partners as well, so we are grateful to Debbie White, Shaun Davies, Shane Beets, Phil Cornelius and Donna Upton for the time and effort invested in attending.
HEALTH & SAFETY Health and Safety was at the forefront of all activities, with Matt Andrews from Rural Safe attending all three days. We were also lucky to have Debbie Robertson and the full Rural Safe team join us at the Reporoa day. It was great to have Rural Safe instigating conversations about incorporating good health & safety practice into daily habits, from Toolbox
meetings with staff, to Start Up checks on tractors and post drivers.
Another theme to the days was the benefit and availability of NZQA
qualifications to the fencing industry.
FCNZ and NorthTec are working hard to get a pathway for qualification
implemented and commenced in 2021 and it was a good opportunity to share with those in attendance the plans for NZQA Certificate in Fencing Level 3
and Level 4 and discuss why and how
having an education pathway will raise the professionalism of the trade and
ultimately benefit the fencing industry
as a whole. We are grateful to NorthTec for attending (especially Melissa
Bayley who was suffering horrendous toothache!).
Special thanks go to our host John
Noakes, who always does an excellent job keeping these events flowing and
engaging, and to our Demonstrators for each day, who have donated their time (and often several members of their John Noakes in demonstration mode, Huntly
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ISSUE 60 / MARCH 2021
team’s time) to co-ordinate and deliver each of these successful days.
WIRED MAGAZINE
