Asia Pacific Infrastructure Property & Build | Industrial Safety News - Issue #4 2018 by Media Solutions

ISSUE #4

Hell Yeah

Personal Protective Equipment & Bridge Corrosion Reports

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Employers, particularly SMEs, must be wondering what else they could possibly be held responsible for, says Barry Dyer

ew employment law in particular should be provoking urgent discussions about ‘How To’ implement increasingly complex and onerous employer obligations. Many employer responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 are notable for the absence of the support business operators need. Employers carry all the risk and the cost. Addressing the needs of stressed workers, domestic violence victims and the relaxation of drug laws, are beyond most financially constrained and time-poor SME operators to adequately address.

while under the influence of illegal drugs exceeded those impaired by alcohol. Who is checking workplaces?

Cost to be a good employer

More than 40 persons who took synthetic cannabis in the past year are dead. Authorities struggling to deal with the increasing use of ‘P’ and

Doctor employer

Having identified a stressed or abused employee, what then? Where are the skilled counsellors not already serving the few major businesses lauded for their enviable employee welfare programmes? Sustaining an effective, long-term programme to support employees struggling with domestic violence or drug addiction requires a massive increase in available expertise, social services and affordable resources, including upskilling employers to manage their new obligations. Finding a mental healthcare professional or qualified counsellor, even in the cities, is both costly and time-consuming. Together with up to 10 days’ paid absence, the impact on a typical SME will be extremely difficult to manage.

"Where are the skilled counsellors not already serving the few major businesses lauded for their enviable employee welfare programmes?"

Stress, drugs and privacy

Privacy constraints apply to questions employers can ask employees and potential recruits. A general query about one’s health affecting their ability to carry out their tasks is not likely to reveal a domestic abuse victim -who is extremely unlikely to approach their employer or workmates for help. Separating stress arising from one’s job from domestic violence requires scarce professional expertise. The increasing clamour to legalise cannabis for medicinal purposes presents major challenges and not just for employers. Given the acquiescent reporting, employers could easily believe that cannabis derivatives, which allegedly do not result in a ‘high’ but instead simply dull pain, might equally dull the reactions of workers carrying out risky tasks such as driving, or the speed and quality of decision-making, particularly in an emergency. Many job candidates reportedly choose not to submit to a drug test. Requiring compulsory drug testing in every workplace is fiercely resisted, yet during the past 12 months the police report for the first time that drivers apprehended for various offences

similar illicit chemical concoctions seem prepared to allow a wider array of performance affecting drugs. Nothing was learned from the ill-considered punitive restrictions on medications containing pseudoephedrine which restricted sick people to less-effective medicines, while encouraging increased manufacturing of illicit party drugs, with drastic consequences. The SMEs, comprising 97 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity, are dismayed and frustrated at the rising cost of being a good employer. Additional paid time off work to deal with an increasing list of social ills is a daunting challenge for even the most benevolent and well-resourced employers, much less typical SME operators.

Reluctant to share woes

Police attend a domestic violence incident every six minutes, demonstrating the magnitude of this unacceptable behavior. Add to this appalling statistic the likely consequences of relaxing access to behavior altering drugs and conscientious employers are rightly worried. Victims of unhappy lives are reluctant to share their plight with family

Invest in expertise

This requires investing in the required professionals, infrastructure and long-term funding for effective government led programmes to help ensure all workers thrive in safe and healthy workplaces. The well-intentioned but impractical expectations facing besieged employers need to be set aside, pending a rigorous examination about enabling implementation, let alone compliance. Vocal self-interest groups busily allotting responsibility for safeguarding employees from every imaginable adverse eventuality solely to employers, seem oblivious to the fact that most business operators simply cannot meet these rising expectations. It is time shared personal responsibility, together with the necessary comprehensive support, became the principle strategy underpinning achieving safe and happy workplaces. Given the increasing pressures from industrial relation reform and increasing social engineering in a risk-averse society, it is arguably SME operators who require stress relief. The views and opinions expressed by Media Solutions content partner Responsible Care CEO Barry Dyer may not necessarily be those of Responsible Care New Zealand. ISN.CO.NZ

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SAFETY NEWS

Reality check urgently needed for small business

members, much less the authorities, welfare agencies and certainly not their employer and work colleagues. If they do, what happens when the employer cannot provide the expected comprehensive response? If a domestic violence victim suffers further harm from their employer’s inadequate response, will a prosecution follow?

Sponsored Article

Big tracks for 19-year-old with 120 tonne Komatsu digger Loading excavated overburden into three Komatsu dump trucks

bout two years ago, when she was just 17, Teri Merrilees’ dad told her to jump in a digger that needed moving a few hundred metres, then have a play around with it in some piles of sand. Her dad, a truck driver for the company that owned the digger, showed her which levers did what, and left her to it. As soon as she jumped in that machine, she knew this was what she wanted to do the rest of her working life. A week later, the owner of the machine offered her a job, and put her to work on small earthmoving and excavation projects, trimming housepads, digging out driveways and the like. “I’d always been an outdoors type of girl, but I was more thinking about a farming job,” said Merilees (who turns 20 in September 2018). “But I knew as soon as I jumped in that digger that it was what I wanted to do.” Unfortunately, some of Merilees’ workmates weren’t so positive, and she copped a lot of sexist comments, and was denigrated for being a young female working in a male-dominated industry. So she started looking around 16

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for somewhere else to work; an online friend recommended Cambridge-based C&R Developments as a family owned civil contractor with a progressive attitude, one that hired on merit, not gender. She approached Simon Ross, who along with his brothers Mike, Tony and Tim, own and manage the company. “Simon eventually agreed to meet me after I chased him for weeks,” said Merilees. “After we met, I heard nothing for about three months, then one of his supervisors, Selwyn Hull, mentioned he was looking to bring in a young operator for a project. “Simon told him to give me a call.” Merilees met with Hull one weekend at his home in Hamilton; two of Hull’s daughters were there at the time. After they’d talked, and Merilees had left, one of his daughters turned to him: “I think that’s your digger operator.” Two weeks later, in October 2017, Merilees started work at the Flat Top Quarry at Orewa, north of Auckland, where C&R Developments had a contract, working under Hull’s supervision. In early March, C&R Developments

began work on a new quarry development for Winstone Aggregates near Whangarei, shifting vegetation and 180,000 cu m of overburden to reach the papa rock (a grey mudstone found in the region) resource material, under a three-month contract. To carry out this project, C&R bought a new Komatsu PC1250SP-8R excavator – with Merilees as the operator, and Hull again as site supervisor. The Komatsu digger is loading the excavated overburden into three Komatsu dump trucks, two HD605-7EOs and an HD465-7EO. “This new digger is quite a jump up from the one I was on previously,” said Merilees. “The previous one was a bit too slow for my liking, but I just worked my way into it. “The new Komatsu is amazing; I’m so impressed with it, how smooth it is, all the different switches that let you set the speed of things like the slew motors, all that sort of thing. “For me, it’s a real step up, putting me to work on a brand new state-ofthe-art machine,” she said. “And Selwyn is bloody good, always checking up on me, making sure I’m not having any problems, he’s very

Phil Pritchard appointment as Komatsu Managing Director establishes autonomous operation in New Zealand In a significant move that establishes Komatsu New Zealand as a far more autonomous operation – with full authority to make decisions that affect local customers– Phil Pritchard has been appointed Managing Director, Komatsu NZ

He now reports directly to Sean Taylor, Managing Director of Komatsu Australia. “With this development, my new role now lets me make the decisions here that affect our Kiwi customers, without having to refer them back to Sydney,” he said. “We have a strong management team here that has been given a lot more ownership in how we work with our customers; over the past few years, we’ve seen some significant growth here, not only in machine sales, but also in our aftermarket business. “We recently established our own distribution centre here in Auckland, so that we now have what we need locally – based on our machine population – all in the one place. “That not only saves us money, but it increases parts availability to our customers because we stock exactly what we need to support them.” Pritchard joined Komatsu in 2006, initially as Regional GM for New Zealand and New Caledonia, before becoming Customer Support GM for Komatsu Australia’s regional operations as a whole, returning to NZ as Regional GM in 2015. His time as GM for customer support gave him an appreciation of the importance of the aftermarket helpful with his advice, so I’m always learning as I go with him.” And there’s none of the unpleasantness of Merilees’ previous job. “The others here are wicked, eh. They see no difference in me; whether it’s a male or a female, they always treat everyone the same.” For his part, Hull is full of praise for Merilees’ operating skills, as well as her work attitude. “She swings that machine beautifully, she’s dealing with it really well. The only thing I have over her is 39 years’ experience,” he said. “The other thing that is absolutely

business in driving long-term success. “While we’ve seen Komatsu new equipment sales grow by 60% over the past two years in NZ, we’ve also seen our aftermarket business grow by around the same amount – and that’s really exciting for us.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Formerly Komatsu’s Regional General Manager NZ, Pritchard’s promotion is designed to ensure the company is far more agile and responsive in its ability to respond to the needs and demands of New Zealand customers – at a time that the business is rapidly growing.

“A strong performance in aftermarket is key for us; it’s what keeps our customers coming back to us, because they are getting the parts, service and support they need, when they need them,” he said. Pritchard is also enthusiastic about the new technology offerings available from Komatsu, whether Hybrid excavators, intelligent Machine Control (iMC) or the groundbreaking SMARTCONSTRUCTION, with its potential to completely reconfigure the way projects are designed, managed and constructed. “In particular, we’re very excited by our iMC technology, which we’ve had a great response to here in NZ – and mainly through word of mouth. We offer some iMC machines in our rental fleet, and customers love it, they need it.” Pritchard said there were a number of key takeouts as a result of his appointment as MD for New Zealand. “Firstly, I want to emphasise that the business here is growing quickly, and my appointment can be seen as a licence for us to continue to grow. “At the same time, we are supporting that with a whole range of new initiatives, including our local distribution centre, as well as expanding our sales, service and support operations throughout the country,” he said.

incredible is that she checks the machine the same way every morning, she’s very methodical. “And Teri’s a real team player, she has the potential to be a supervisor,” said Hull. “She also has a great sense of humour. For example, she gets her nails done professionally every three weeks – and she’s got beautiful long nails. But she points out that she uses her hands to operate the machine, not her nails! “We’ve very happy with Teri, she’s an amazing kid. And she definitely has the respect of the others on site, very

much so. Everything is like water off a duck’s back to her; nothing fazes her,” he said. We’ll leave the last word to Merilees: “I feel this job is me for the rest of my life. My aim is to do what Selwyn is doing, become a supervisor, have my own crew, eventually teach them what he is teaching me.” Elle Schutte Komatsu National Aftermarket Marketing Manager, NZ Phone (09) 969 6704 eschutte@komatsu.co.nz www.komatsu.co.nz INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

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SAFETY NEWS

Workplace bullying under the microscope

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Bullying in the workplace has been a hot topic in recent months with increasing media attention and WorkSafe New Zealand coming under growing pressure to investigate and prosecute bullying and harassment, Graeme Tanner and Joseph Williams note

SAFETY NEWS

n July 2018, TVNZ reported that Workplace Relations Minister Ian Lees-Galloway had directed WorkSafe to place more emphasis on combatting bullying and sexual harassment in the workplace. These comments come in the climate of increasing attention and awareness of bullying and harassment as health and safety issues in New Zealand workplaces and against the backdrop of high profile reports of bullying and harassment at a prominent national law firm, and more recently at the highest levels of New Zealand sport. This, coupled with the global #Metoo movement against sexual harassment, has culminated in an environment where employers are dealing with a greater volume of claims, and where WorkSafe is likely to look to set a precedent in the bullying/harassment space by prosecuting any organisation found to have failed to comply with its obligations to provide a safe workplace.

What is workplace bullying?

Claims of bullying are not new to employers and the requirement to provide employees and workers more generally with a safe and healthy workplace free from bullying and harassment has long been recognised as a positive obligation for all workplaces. Traditionally, claims from employees of workplace bullying have resulted in allegations of unjustified disadvantage or unjustified constructive dismissal, stemming from an employer’s failure to address a complaint and/or to provide a safe workplace. While these claims certainly remain prevalent in the employment law landscape, in recent years there has been an increasing emphasis on bullying and harassment in a health and safety context, with WorkSafe providing helpful views in this area. WorkSafe defines bullying as “repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers.”

Unreasonable behaviour

Unreasonable behaviour can involve a range of different actions, both direct and indirect, and can be attributed to a manager, a co-worker or even an external source such as a customer or client.

Examples of direct bullying behaviour include: • physical violence or threats of violence; • verbal abuse, including swearing or making belittling or inappropriate comments; • public or private humiliation; • intimidation; • attacking a person’s beliefs, lifestyle or appearance. While direct bullying can often be obvious, indirect bullying can be just as damaging for workers. This can include: • setting unachievable, unrealistic or meaningless tasks; • excluding, isolating or ignoring a worker or their views; • supplying incorrect or unclear information; • not providing information, training or resources necessary for an employee or worker to effectively perform a role.

Commonly raised issues which do not meet the unreasonable behaviour threshold include: • one-off or occasional tactlessness, rudeness or forgetfulness; • legitimate performance coaching or constructive criticism by a manager (delivered in a reasonable way); • warning or disciplining workers in line with company policy; • differences of opinion or personality clashes. As noted, to meet the threshold for bullying, the behaviour must also be repeated. Single instances of unreasonable behaviour are not sufficient, although it is important to monitor these to ensure that they do not become bullying behaviour. It is also worth noting that, while one-off incidents will not amount to bullying, a single incident can amount to harassment if the conduct in question is serious enough.

What is not workplace bullying?

PCBU obligations

For the purposes of preventing bullying in the workplace and responding to any claims that do arise, it is also important to understand what is not bullying behaviour.

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, the ‘health’ in ‘health and safety’ is defined to include both physical and mental health. This means that the primary duty of care of PCBUs (Persons Conducting ISN.CO.NZ

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a Business or Undertaking) to take all practicable steps to ensure the health and safety of workers extends to preventing both physical and mental harm from bullying and harassment. Employers are expected to take both proactive and reactive steps to prevent harm as a result of bullying and harassment in the workplace. Employers and PCBUs more generally must put in place measures to prevent bullying, and where a bullying complaint is received, respond appropriately by fully and fairly investigating the concerns and potentially taking steps to discipline perpetrators.

SAFETY NEWS

Prosecutions

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Check the Aussies

Helpful guidance in this area can be gained from looking at approaches by the health and safety regulators in Australia, where the Health and Safety legislation is comparable to our own and a number of prosecutions have

to the behaviour itself, it was found that the officer in question disregarded concerns and complaints regarding his behaviour towards employees and poor working conditions. He was fined $50,000, which was upheld on appeal along with a substantial award for costs. • in 2016, a builder was prosecuted for serious health and safety breaches against an apprentice. The apprentice was subjected to prolonged physical and verbal abuse including being burned with hot drill bits, having a live mouse put down his shirt, and being spat on. The builder was also found to have incited and encouraged a bullying culture within the business. The victim suffered anxiety, depression, nightmares and insomnia as well as emotional trauma as a result. Ultimately, the builder was found guilty of health and safety breaches relating to the abuse of the apprentice, and failing to provide a safe system of work for workers, and fined $12,500. • in 2017, Skyrider Tower Hire Pty Ltd was found guilty of failing to protect the health and safety of workers after a finding of bullying by one of its directors. In that case, the com-

WorkSafe defines bullying as “repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or group of workers"

While we are yet to have a prosecution for bullying in New Zealand, WorkSafe has shown a clear intent in this area and has confirmed that it has actively investigated a number of bullying allegations that it has received. In this context, it may only be a matter of time before a WorkSafe investigation results in prosecution through the District Court. It is likely that any such prosecution would stem from a serious instance of bullying which resulted in diagnosa-

ble psychological harm, or where an organisation is found to have serious issues involving the bullying of a number of staff.

been seen in recent years. In particular, Victoria has seen a number of prosecutions for bullying behaviour including: • in 2014, where an individual was prosecuted in his capacity as an officer of a laundry company he owned for subjecting his employees to serious and repeated verbal abuse, physical intimidation, exclusion and isolation over a two year period. In addition

Adequate protection

In particular, each of the above prosecutions resulted from a failure by the relevant PCBU/officer to adequately protect against (i.e. take all practicable steps to prevent) workplace bullying and saw: • serious and prolonged bullying behaviour which was not properly addressed by the PCBU; • a lack of appropriate policy docu-

mentation regarding the prevention of bullying; • a failure to provide training to employees around acceptable behaviour and the prevention of bullying; and • a failure to provide ‘safe systems of work’ to ensure that bullying behaviour is prevented. In any investigation into alleged workplace bullying, WorkSafe New Zealand will consider what steps were taken (or should have been taken) by the PCBU to prevent the bullying from occurring. Where insufficient policies and procedures are in place, or where there has been inadequate training of employees, employers will run the risk of prosecution. WorkSafe will also examine what measures were taken to investigate any complaints at the point that they were received. This procedure should be covered in workplace policies regarding bullying and can include both informal and formal measures. Instances where bullying concerns have been raised, but not adequately investigated or dealt with, are likely to be treated more harshly.

Preventing bullying claims

PCBUs should be alive to the fact that the landscape of bullying complaints has shifted significantly in the last 12 months. With the #Metoo movement, high profile bullying/harassment claims in the media and a greater societal focus on mental health generally, bullying complaints are on the rise. While this shift towards greater awareness and protection of workers should be applauded, employers and PCBUs must ensure they keep pace with the changing landscape to ensure that they are not caught out. All employers should review their policies and procedures and ensure

that, at minimum, the following measures are in place: • a robust anti-bullying/harassment policy which clearly defines bullying behaviour and expectations of workers in regard to interactions in the workplace; • appropriate training and inductions for all workers, including on what bullying is and how to raise concerns; and • keeping comprehensive records of trainings and inductions, policy reviews, and the investigation and management of any complaints. Additionally, it is important that employers and PCBUs take any complaints of bullying seriously and ensure that appropriate action is taken to investigate the concerns. This includes: • assessing whether an informal or formal investigation is necessary (in accordance with relevant policies); • assessing what support/protection measures should be put in place in while an investigation is carried out (balancing your obligations to the complainant and the worker complained about); • for formal investigations, assessing whether an external independent investigator might be required to ensure fairness; and • taking appropriate action to prevent future instances of bullying where allegations are substantiated. With appropriate processes in place, employers and PCBUs can ensure that employees and workers are properly protected from workplace bullying, and ensure that in the event concerns are raised, measures exist to properly investigate and respond. Having the above in place will also demonstrate that reasonably practicable steps have been taken to prevent the health and safety risk that is workplace bullying in the event of an investigation by WorkSafe.

Graeme Tanner is an associate and Joseph Williams a solicitor at Duncan Cotterill, a full service law firm with locations in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson and Christchurch ISN.CO.NZ

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SAFETY NEWS

plainant employees were subjected to constant aggressive and abusive comments, swearing and aggressive communication including sexually inappropriate comments and questions. As a result, the complainant suffered a diagnosable psychological injury. The company failed to act despite being aware of complaints made by multiple employees and having a workplace bullying policy in place. It was fined $20,000. Clearly the behaviours outlined above fall on the more serious side of bullying, prompting the regulator in each instance to consider prosecution to be the appropriate outcome. With that said, there are other common themes emerging from these cases that translate well into the New Zealand environment.

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Getting started with Personal Protective Equipment The over-riding fundamental principle surrounding personal protective equipment is that it should only be used as a last resort

SAFETY NEWS

The finer points of PPE selection

he four principles for eliminating or reducing work-related hazards are: 1. Eliminate the risk. 2. Isolate the risk. 3. Bar access to hazard zones. 4. Use PPE Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) has its limitations because it only protects the wearer and can be ineffective if not working or fitted properly. In addition, conventional wisdom is that the theoretical levels of protection of PPE are seldom reached in practice and the psychological effect of PPE may be such that people feel more protected than they actually are.

Assess the risks and solutions

The employer or PCBU has to first make an assessment of the hazards in the workplace where risks to safety and health cannot be avoided or sufficiently limited by technical means or collective protection. They must identify the correct type of PPE to be provided and ensure that PPE is appropriate to the risk. The first requirement for an employer/person conducting a business or an undertaking (PCBU) is a strenuous assessment and effort to ensure the safety and health of employees by eliminating workplace risks at source. Engineering solutions do not eliminate hazards, but rather isolate people from hazards. For example, a PCBU might build a work platform rather than purchase and maintain fall arrest 24

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Suppliers can often advise on the different types of PPE available and how suitable they are for different tasks. Safety data sheets or manufacturers’ catalogues may contain useful information to assist in identifying the most suitable type of PPE. It may be necessary in difficult cases to obtain advice from specialist sources and from PPE manufacturers. When assessing whether PPE is suitable, the following should be considered: • Is it appropriate for the risks involved and the conditions at the place where exposure to the risk may occur? For example, eye protection designed to provide protection against chemical splashes will not offer adequate face protection for someone using an angle grinder to cut steel or stone. • Does it prevent or adequately control the risks involved without increasing the overall level of risk? For example, where hearing protection is used, ensure users are adequately protected against hazards related to reversing vehicles or fire as they will not be able to hear alarms. • Have any relevant medical conditions of the wearer of the PPE that the employer is aware of been taken into account? • What are the needs of the job and the demands it places on the wearer? For example, the length of time the PPE needs to be worn, the physical effort required to do the job and the requirements for visibility and communication. • Does the PPE cause discomfort? PPE that is uncomfortable is less likely to be used appropriately. • If more than one item of PPE is being worn, are they compatible? For example, does a particular type of respirator make it difficult to get eye protection to fit properly. • The PPE selected should be capable of achieving the level of protection required. Selection must also take account of the proper wearing and fitting of the equipment. Can it be adjusted to fit the wearer correctly? • It is essential that an employee using PPE is consulted and involved in the selection of the equipment.

equipment. Enclosure and isolation creates a physical barrier between personnel and hazards, such as using remotely controlled equipment. Or through technical or organisational means such as substituting hazardous chemicals or by providing protection on a collective basis. Collective protective measures covering numbers of employees in a

workplace has priority over protective measures applied to individual employees. PCBU obligations regarding PPE include the selection, assessment, conditions of use and compatibility, maintenance and replacement, information and training for employees.

PCBU need to ensure any PPE buy is certified and complies with New Zealand standards. Employees must be informed of the risks against which they are being protected by the PPE. Employees must be provided with suitable information, instruction and training (including training in the use, care or maintenance of PPE) to enable them to make proper and effective use of any PPE provided for their protection. Selection of PPE must take account of the proper wearing and fitting of the equipment -- select appropriate PPE which is user-friendly and which fits an individual employee correctly. Employers also should be aware that special care may be needed if employees suffer from certain medical conditions - certain types of respiratory protective equipment (RPE) may not be suitable for employees with asthma, bronchitis or heart disease. PCBUs need to be aware of the reasons for providing PPE, its proper use and, in particular, the level of protection afforded.

Provide training

Training, both theoretical and practical, should also cover persons involved in the selection, maintenance, repair and testing of PPE.The level of

Nuisance or comfort masks

People who work with harmful dust should not use or rely on nuisance masks. (They may also be called comfort masks, hygiene masks or non-toxic masks. Nuisance dust masks are not protective devices â&#x20AC;&#x201C; they should not be used for protection against fine dusts, welding fumes, fine sand, paint spray, gases, vapours or aerosols. They are also unsuitable for protection against grain and flour dust, hard or softwood dust, fumes from rosin- based solder flux or any substances with a maximum exposure limit. They should only be used when dusts are not hazardous to health. They may consist of a thin metal plate that holds a piece of gauze over the nose and mouth or a lightweight filter that looks similar to a disposable dust respirator. (see page 32 for more on respirators)

SAFETY NEWS

Purchasing PPE

Hard Hats

Graeme Tanner is an associate and Joseph Williams a solicitor at Hard hats are normally supplied with an information Duncan Cotterill, Assuming a full service they have law been firm with welllocations maintained in Auckland, and none tag attached giving advice and lifetime expectancy of the above apply, replace according to manufacturer's Some manufacturers say three years, others say up to instructions. five years. Obviously how much exposure that they have Safety helmets should be stored in a safe place and had, how they have been stored and how many knocks not be stored in direct sunlight or in excessively hot, they have had will determine the replacement interval. humid conditions because long-term exposure can Generally, the advice is that safety helmets need to weaken the shell. They need to be checked regularly for be changed when damaged, when they have been signs of damage or deterioration. involved in an accident, when affected by sunlight and Certain chemicals can weaken the plastic of the shell so forth. leading to rapid deterioration in shock absorption or Hard hats will need replacing when the harness is penetration resistance. Chemicals that should be avoiddamaged or if it is likely that the shock absorption or ed include aggressive cleaning agents or solvent based penetration resistance has deteriorated. This could adhesives and paints. Where names or other markings mean when the shell has received a severe impact or need to be applied using adhesives, advice should be has scratches greater than 25 percent of the shell thick- sought from the helmet manufacturer. ness or if the shell has any visible cracks. ISN.CO.NZ

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training provided will vary with the level of risk involved and the complexity and performance of the equipment. For instance, the use of respirator equipment may require a comprehensive degree of training with regular refresher courses, whereas the training for using protective gloves for dealing with hazardous substances may require demonstration only. The frequency of the refresher courses required in the case of PPE for high-risk situations will depend on the nature of the equipment, how frequently it is used and the needs of the employees using it.

SAFETY NEWS

Maintain the PPE

PPE must be thoroughly examined regularly by competent staff according to manufacturer’s instructions. As a general rule, simple maintenance may be carried out by the user, provided that he or she has been adequately instructed and trained -- for example lens cleaning on goggles or replacing helmet straps. The examination, maintenance and repair of PPE used in high-risk situa-

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tions should be carried out by properly trained staff of the supplier using the appropriate tools and materials to carry out proper repairs. PPE must be stored according to the manufacturer’s instructions. This is extremely important as leaving PPE lying around increases the risk of parts deteriorating by exposure to dirt, oil, UV rays, sunlight and other elements.

Remember expiry dates

There is no legislation or Code of Practice stating the life expectancy of any PPE. In general, it is recommended you follow the manufacturer’s instructions. The manufacturer must give the obsolescence deadline or period of obsolescence of PPE or its components. The date of obsolescence is the date from which the PPE becomes useless for its intended use or is no longer fit for its purpose. The manufacturer must provide all information necessary so that the user can determine a reasonable period of obsolescence.

One PPE one user

The use of an item of PPE equipment provided by the employer is normally confined to one employee. On occasions it may be necessary for PPE, particularly for more complex and expensive PPE such as respirators or diving equipment, to be used by more than one person. In those circumstances arrangements should be made by the employer to have the PPE cleaned and disinfected before use by another individual. Employees must ensure that PPE provided for their use is returned to storage after use. This report is designed to bring the attention of employers to aspects of PPE that may affect their businesses. It does not set out to be a definitive guide to PPE legislation or requirements. PCBU and business should seek professional advice or consult WorkSafe, Site Safe, Responsible Care and other agencies if in doubt.

PPE under stress at the workplace scaffolders, persons working on ladders, linesmen or steel erectors, where the workers are not protected from falling objects by collective measures. • In circumstances where different items of PPE are worn simultaneously, they must be designed to fit together properly and not create additional hazards. For example, firemen may, on occasion, be required to wear simultaneously safety boots, heat-resisting protective suits, breathing apparatus, helmets and face shields. • Asbestos: Every employer shall ensure that protective clothing which has been used and is to be removed from the premises (whether for cleaning or disposal) is securely packed, before removal, in a suitable container and adequately labelled as a product containing asbestos whether it is intended for cleaning or for disposal as asbestos waste. • Because PPE is the last resort after other methods of protection have been considered, it is important that users wear it all the time they are exposed to the risk. Exemptions should not be allowed for those jobs which take ‘just a few minutes’. • The assessment of the PPE selected must be periodically reviewed. Replacement PPE must be provided where necessary. The assessment of the risks involved should be carried out in the context of the risk assessment and the safety statement required under the regulations. An example of the need to review the risk assessment for PPE would occur where, for example, a worker is no longer able to use the PPE due to a medical condition such as an allergic reaction caused by latex exposure.

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SAFETY NEWS

When selecting PPE there are certain ergonomic, physical and health factors which need to be taken into account: • Movement: Some forms of PPE may be heavy and cumbersome thereby restricting mobility and frequent short rest periods may be necessary. • Visibility: Many types of safety goggles may restrict the area of view and cause tunnel vision. Misting of lenses also arises, particularly where the operation involves hard physical work. Ventilated goggles may reduce this problem. • Breathing: Breathing ability may be restricted when using PPE, especially if particulate filters are being used. Breathing difficulties may arise as filters become clogged. Frequent changing of filters may be necessary. • Irritation: Employees with sensitive skin may suffer from irritation when wearing PPE. • Health: Employees with chronically discharging ears (from chronic infection of the middle ear) or with “itchy ears” (otitis externa) may have great difficulty inserting ear plugs and ear muffs may be more suitable. • Special care should be taken where persons suffer from certain medical conditions, eg certain types of respiratory protective equipment may not be suitable for employees with asthma, bronchitis or heart disease. • In some cases, PPE is required to protect the wearer against a number of hazards. For example, ordinary protection helmets protect construction workers against small falling objects and bump injuries. Such helmets would not be adequate for workers such as

SAFETY NEWS

Personal Protective N Equipment for construction and building sites The following information provides guidance for the selection of PPE to protect workers involved in building and construction activities. It must be emphasised that PPE must only be selected once other methods to eliminate or minimise risks have been considered

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ormally PPE is used to support other methods of risk control rather than as a stand alone means of protection. For instance a dust mask would be worn when cutting cement board on site; however the primary means of control may be the use of an extractor to remove the dust. The following recommendations for setting mandatory PPE requirements fall into one of three general categories: • Mandatory for site • Mandatory for activity • Mandatory for trade Site requirements will be determined by the main contractor or project management based on known site risks. Activity and trade requirements will be determined by the main contractor or project management based on known activity or trade risks; generally supported by information supplied by the workers. For more information on specific items of PPE visit www.sitesafe.org. nz for a selection of Toolbox talks and factsheets.

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SAFETY NEWS

The low down on safety gear

If you’re an employer, it’s up to you to ensure your workers have the right personal protective equipment (PPE) for the job, and to provide it for them if they do not. The Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 state that an employer/person conducting a business or an undertaking (PCBU) carrying out work at a workplace must ensure that: • They or another PCBU has provided workers with the PPE appropriate for the job nd • They ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that workers use or wear the PPE provided The following example from the guidance illustrates those duties: “To prevent eye injuries, the PCBU of a welding workshop provided its welders safety glasses to wear under their welding helmets. However, even after being instructed by the PCBU to always wear the safety glasses while welding, one worker regularly removed them. “As the PCBU must ensure workers wear PPE so far as is reasonably practicable, the PCBU talked to the worker to find out why he removed his safety glasses. The worker told the PCBU that it was because wearing the safety glasses over the worker’s prescription glasses caused him discomfort. The PCBU then worked with the worker

to find safety glasses that the worker could wear without discomfort.”

propriate notice if they wish the PCBU to begin supplying their PPE.

What you need to know

Tips

The PPE provided by employers must be compatible with any other safety equipment or clothing required for the job, fit correctly and comfortably, and be suitable for the nature of the work. Employers also have a duty to ensure that workers’ PPE is maintained properly and replaced when necessary. Proper training on use and maintenance should also be provided to workers. On the other side of the equation, workers are responsible for ensuring they use PPE in line with the information and training given to them by the PCBU. They also must not intentionally damage safety equipment, and they must tell the PCBU when PPE needs to be cleaned, decontaminated or has been damaged.

Remember that PPE must only be used as a risk control once other methods to eliminate or minimise risks have been considered. Normally PPE is used to support other methods of risk control rather than as a standalone means of protection. For instance, a dust mask would be worn when cutting cement board on site; however, the primary means of control may be the use of an extractor to remove the dust.

Exceptions

Provided by Site Safe. For some guidelines about what is recommended, check out Site Safe’s PPE factsheet at https://www.sitesafe.org.nz/ globalassets/guides-and-resources/ ppe_2017.pdf

The only exception to the provision to providing workers with PPE is when the worker ‘genuinely and voluntarily chooses to provide their own’. In these cases, the PCBU must be satisfied the gear is appropriate and meets all necessary regulations. It is important to note that workers may change their minds about this at any time; however, they must give ap-

What PPE do I need to provide?

The type of PPE you need to provide as an employer/PCBU will depend on the nature of the tasks the workers will be doing and the risks they will be exposed to. In addition, PPE requirements on site will usually be set by the main contractor or project manager.

International Accreditation New Zealand (IANZ) is New Zealand's national authority for the accreditation of laboratories, inspection bodies and radiology practices. It accredits laboratories in all sectors, including medical testing, dairy testing, meat testing, drinking water testing, as well as mechanical and physical testing. It also accredits inspection bodies for engineering safety, food safety, and fire protection activities, and Building Consent Authorities.

Making life easier Talk to IANZ about integrated accreditation solutions for your industry. Building Consent Safety assurance Certified products For confidence through accreditation, choose IANZ. ianz.govt.nz 09 525 6655 30

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For a nominal fee of $199, IANZ offers a service whereby it can use its network of accreditation bodies around the world to check that test reports from the originating countries have actually been done by an accredited laboratory. “It is always better to understand the issues in advance and prevent problems arising rather than having to sort out expensive problems after the event,” says Chief Executive Dr Richards. An independent investigation by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research recently demonstrated the crucial role accreditation plays in supporting the New Zealand economy, with IANZ now supporting industries accounting for $35.8 billion of the country’s GDP. It also supports production in sectors that employ over 357,700 workers, 17% of all employment in New Zealand.

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Smart choices key summits at Safety 360

he National Health and Safety Leaders’ Summit at the Safety 360 event this March brings Safety II and other key topics to the forefront of discussion. The 2018 Hazardous Substances Management Summit at the same event seeks to acquaint participants with practical solutions to workplace chemical dilemmas. There are two other summits Health and Wellbeing and Occupational Health. Many believe it is time for a change in our approach to workplace safety. Businesses have adopted an approach to health and safety which leaves workers inundated in paperwork and protocols warning them of the risks in their job and mandating how to deal with breaches in health and safety codes. The goal of this approach is to work towards a society of Zero Harm – which focuses on having no incidents Unfortunately, this approach has had the unintended effect of stifling proactive thought about health and safety risk and disengages the workforce. This attitude toward health and safety is referred to as Safety I and tries to deliver on the unrealistic goal of no accidents – avoiding the fact that things

actually do go wrong. There’s nothing fundamentally bad about this approach, but in reality it leads to a focus on stopping small events from happening, diverting attention from critical risk events. Increasingly, organisations are adopting a Safety II approach to their health and safety practice. Health and safety managers realise that the best people to mitigate risk are those who are at the coalface. “Organisations have traditionally desired as much central control over their people and activities as possible. But this compliance-based approach may not be the best way to manage work and safety in modern, complex and dynamic environments,” says Dave Provan, PhD candidate in Griffiths’ Safety Science Innovation Lab. “Safety I isn’t applied well to modern environments where safety incidents fall outside the prescribed manual. Safety II applies a mindset of ‘what could go right?’, rather than detailed scenarios of wrongdoing. “Safety II describes a different approach, one that is centred around openness, collaboration and flexibility, such that the people performing the work are enabled and supported to adapt their work as needed to overcome

the gaps, challenges, surprises, multiple conflicting goals, limited resources, and pressures to always achieve more." Jono Brent, Chief Executive of Connetics is a pioneer of the Safety II paradigm in his business – a high risk contracting, engineering and logistics company. Brent stresses the importance of being a visible leader, driving proactive health and safety through communication. A key factor of applying Safety II is supporting health and safety with two-way communication that allows for health and safety protocols to be continually improved, revised and supported by both management and workers. “While we have achieved great things under the Safety I paradigm, unfortunately the top down, hierarchal approach to safety has left our staff, who are at the heart of our efforts to keep safe, disengaged with current safety practices. “At Connetics, we have been using the philosophies of Safety II to put our staff at the centre of the solution and giving them the chance to design their own solutions that drive improved culture and safety performance.

“The implementation of Safety II can be hard – managing the culture shift to develop proactive health and safety means changing the way workers, management and boards view and talk about health and safety,” says Brent. The chemical industry association Responsible Care NZ has helped provide presentations which will help clarify complex and often confusing compliance requirements “The key to keeping people safe around workplace chemicals”, says Responsible Care CNZ chief executive Barry Dyer “is to provide answers to the all-too-familiar ‘just tell me what I have to do and how to do it’.” Dyer chairs the hazardous substances summit and Francois Barton of the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum and Chris Jones at the Department of Corrections will chair the Safety ll discussion. Join the discussion with those leading the shift at Safety 360 26 & 27 March in Auckland. For more info see www.conferenz.co.nz/Safety360

SAFETYNEWS.CO.NZ YEARBOOK 2018

SAFETY NEWS

The past three years have seen a massive shakeup in health and safety with changes to the regulations, attitudes and protocols needed to handle workplace incidents

SAFETY NEWS

Your life may depend on the correct respirator and filter Selecting the right respirator requires an assessment of all the workplace operations, processes or environments that may create a respiratory hazard

espirators are among the most important pieces of protective equipment for working in hazardous environments. They protect you from inhaling dangerous substances like chemicals and infectious particles The identity of the hazard and its airborne concentrations need to be determined before choosing a respirator. Respirators work by either filtering particles from the air, chemically cleaning (purifying) the air, or supplying clean air from an outside source.

Particulate Respirators

Particulate respirators are the simplest, least expensive, and least protective of the respirator types available. These respirators only protect against particles (eg dust). They do not protect against chemicals, gases, or vapours, and are intended only for low hazard levels. Particulate respirators are "airpurifying respira32

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tors" because they clean particles out of the air as you breathe. Particulate respirators: • Filter out dusts, fumes and mists. • Are usually disposable dust masks or respirators with disposable filters. • Must be replaced when they become discoloured, damaged, or clogged. • Examples: filtering facepiece or elastomeric respirator.

Chemical Cartridge/Gas Mask Respirator

Gas masks are also known as "air-purifying respirators" because they filter or clean chemical gases out of the air as you breathe. This respirator includes a facepiece or mask, and a cartridge or canister. Straps secure the facepiece to the head. The cartridge may also have a filter to remove particles. Gas masks are effective only if used with the correct cartridge or filter

(these terms are often used interchangeably) for a particular biological or chemical substance. Selecting the proper filter can be a complicated process. There are cartridges available that protect against more than one hazard, but there is no "all-in-one" cartridge that protects against all substances. It is important to know what hazards you will face in order to be certain you are choosing the right filters/cartridges. Chemical Cartridge/Gas Mask respirators: • Use replaceable chemical cartridges or canisters to remove the contaminant. • Are color-coded to help you select the right one. • May require more than one cartridge to protect against multiple hazards.

Powered Air-Purifying Respirator

Powered air-purifying respirators use a fan to draw air through the filter to the user. They are easier to breathe through; however, they need a fully charged battery to work properly. They use the same type of filters/cartridges as other air-purifying respirators. It is important to know what the hazard is, and how much of it is in the air, in order to select the proper filters/ cartridges.

Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus

SAFETY NEWS

is the respirator commonly used by firefighters. These use their own air tank to supply clean air, so you don't need to worry about filters. They also protect against higher concentrations of dangerous chemicals. However, they are very heavy and require very special training on how to use and to maintain them. Also, the air tanks typically last an hour or less depending upon their rating and your breathing rate.

Optional features for respirators

Various features are available to help you customise respirators to suit your employees and the specific hazards they encounter. For example, nose cups reduce lens fogging with full facepiece respirators and lens covers protect the lens from paint, minor chemical splash and scratches. Spectacle kits are needed when using prescription corrective lenses. The frame mounts into full-face masks, and the prescription lenses are made by the users' optometrist. This allows the wearer to maintain a proper fit and still wear prescription lenses.

Cautions and limitations

Sometimes you can practice using your own respirator. Some escape respirators come in a package that must remain sealed until use, so you need to be trained using a special â&#x20AC;&#x153;practiceâ&#x20AC;? version. Training is extremely important in regard to the storage, maintenance, use, and disposal of the respirator.

have different shapes. You also need training to know how to correctly put the mask on and wear it correctly. This information should be provided by the supplier of the respirator. The only way to tell if a tight-fitting respirator fits you properly, and is capable of protecting you, is to fit test the respirator. Fit testing can be accomplished a number of different ways and should be done by a health and safety professional before workers wear a respirator in a hazardous environment. Respirators must be checked for proper fit each time they are donned to ensure they provide adequate protection.

"Breathing through a respirator is more difficult than breathing in open air. People with lung diseases, such as asthma or emphysema, elderly people, and others may have trouble"

Each type of respirator can come in several varieties, each with its own set of cautions, limitations, and restrictions of use. Tight fitting respirators require fit testing to ensure an adequate fit to the face and cannot be used with facial hair. Certain escape respirators use a nose clip and mouthpiece, which is clenched between your teeth, similar to a snorkel. Some respirators prevent the user from talking while others have speaking diaphragms or electronic communication devices. Every respirator contaminated with hazardous chemicals should be cleaned and decontaminated or disposed of properly. All respirators require training in order to be properly used.

This information is provided by the supplier of the respirator. If you do not use a respirator correctly, it is very likely that it will not adequately protect you and may even hurt you.

How well does a respirator need to fit me?

If your mask does not make a tight seal all the way around your face when you inhale, you may breathe contaminated air that leaks around the edges of the face seal. Most respirators come in different styles and sizes, and fit different people differently because people's faces

Can I wear a respirator if I have a beard?

Anything that prevents the face mask from fitting tightly against your face, such as a beard or long sideburns, may cause leakage. If your respirator requires a tight fit, you must trim back your beard so that it will not interfere with the face-facepiece seal. If your respirator is a loose-fitting (hooded) positive pressure respirator (eg a powered air-purifying respirator, PAPR) then you may have a beard. ISN.CO.NZ

AUGUST 2018

Protect me always?

SAFETY NEWS

If I have the right cartridges/filters for a certain hazard, and my mask fits, will they always protect me against that hazard? No. Gas masks and respirators reduce exposure to the hazard, but if the exposure is such that it goes beyond what the filter is capable of handling (either because the amount of toxic gas or particles is more than what the filter is designed to handle, or because the exposure lasts longer than what the filter is designed to handle), the filter may not be effective in providing required protection. Also, there may be a small amount of leakage even if the fit of the respirator has been tested. If so, and if there is a large amount of a toxic chemical in the outside air, even that small leakage can be dangerous.

Can anyone wear a respirator?

No. Breathing through a respirator is more difficult than breathing in open air. People with lung diseases, such as asthma or emphysema, elderly people, and others may have trouble breathing. People with claustrophobia may not be able to wear a full facepiece or hooded respirator. People with vision problems may have trouble seeing while wearing a mask or hood (there are special masks for people who need glasses). Employees must be medically evaluated before assigned to use a respirator.

Life expectancy

Cartridges, filters, and masks get old. If the filter cartridges are outdated, have been open to the air or are damaged, you may not be protected. Cartridges that contain charcoal or other chemicals for filtering the air should be kept in air-tight packages until use. If cartridges are open or not packed in air-tight packaging, they should not be used. Even cartridges in original packaging have expiration dates that should be checked before purchase and use. Also, over time your mask can get old and break down. Keep your mask in a clean, dry place, away from extreme heat or cold. Inspect it before and after use according to the manufacturer's instructions. Cartridges also have a limited service life; they must be changed periodically during use.

in a fire or a confined space, you are in danger of asphyxiation.

including hoods and facepieces, of many of the gas masks and escape respirators may melt if exposed to a fire.

"It is important to know what hazards you will face in order to be certain you are choosing the right filters/cartridges"

Oxygen shortage

Will a gas mask protect me if there is not enough oxygen in the air? No. Air-purifying respirators do not provide oxygen. If used in an environment with low oxygen levels, such as 34

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Will a gas mask protect me if there is a fire?

Most will not. It's important to read the manufacturer's information if your main concern is to be able to escape from a smoke-filled building. Smoke particles can rapidly clog gas mask filters, and filters with special chemicals are needed to protect against carbon monoxide and other gases that may occur in a fire. Not all gas masks or escape respirators protect against these hazards. Some components,

Once I put on my gas mask, how long will it last?

That depends on how much filtering capacity the respirator has and the amount of hazard in the air â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the more chemical or biological hazard in the air (higher concentration), the shorter the time your filter will last. There is no absolute time limit, and it will vary by each respirator model's capacities and the concentration of the hazard.

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EXPOL, one of New Zealand’s largest polystyrene manufacturers, has invested in dedicated polystyrene recycling plants for its manufacturing facilities nationwide*

n the case of disputes caused by construction, there are often conflicting accounts of who is to blame. As our cities densify and age, these conflicts become increasingly bitter. All buildings -- skyscrapers, apartment blocks and even the humble residential home -- are in constant motion. Minute vibrations undetectable by humans can tell us a lot about a building’s stability, capacity and the impact of nearby construction. Buildings expand and contract with heat and cold. Foot traffic and passing vehicles cause movement. This means EXPOL customers can now have their unused EXPOL polystyrene picked up and recycled. At every stage of its lifecycle, from production to recovery or recycling, expanded polystyrene offers exceptional eco-credentials and is therefore ideally suited to the new generation of eco-friendly building projects. The use of expanded polystyrene in building has been around for many years due to its qualities as a strong, durable and lightweight material with excellent thermal properties. Unlike many other building products, expanded polystyrene can be recycled countless times without losing quality. As a result, we are now seeing a prevalence of recycled content in the polystyrene products we use, which means a more positive environmental impact due to less wastage.

Reprocessed waste

Advances in technology and manufacturing have helped increase the possible uses for expanded polystyrene and its potential for recycling.

Recycling in action

Building products now account for nearly three-quarters of the approx 8500 tonnes of expanded polystyrene manufactured in New Zealand annually. This is primarily made up of thermal insulation and a product used in concrete floors called ‘waffle pods’. In the case of pods, the recycled content can be as much as 50%. Throughout New Zealand, customers can benefit from a recycling service offered by EXPOL. Customers receive bags to collect their clean EXPOL product offcuts at their building sites. A dedicated collection service sees the product picked up and the ‘waste’ is then reprocessed and reused in other EXPOL products, rather than going to landfill. “In providing this service, we believe EXPOL is demonstrating a commitment to the industry’s waste minimisation initiative, and customers avoid the need to manage and store a material that, if not handled appropriately, can end up causing problems, such as litter,” says EXPOL’s Mark Mischefski.

Good management

Mike and Matt both manage concrete floor-laying companies. Both their companies are using and benefitting from the recycling service EXPOL offers and helping to maintain litter-free building sites. “Handling polystyrene on building sites to avoid problems is ‘just good management’,” says Matt. “We don’t get the product until we’re ready to use it, and we very rarely have problems. For clients, dealing with waste that’s light and bulky is difficult. The service we get makes removal easy, and the use of what’s not used is

great. It’s also a great saving for us.” For Mike, the ease and the savings make getting a service a big plus. “I’m a very happy customer,” he says. “We order about 5000 pods a month, and we get a collection almost every day for the product we don’t use. This saves us about $400 a week that we’d have to pay if the waste went to landfill.” The recycling initiative is available to EXPOL customers in all major New Zealand cities. However, tradespeople who are using polystyrene products need to be proactive when dealing with their waste in order to benefit, notes Mark Mischefski. “The point is: why pay landfill fees when EXPOL offers a service that benefits customers and the environment?” Within the next few months EXPOL will be launching a Recycling App that gives the user the ability to book a recycling collection onsite from their cell phone. *PLEASE NOTE - EXPOL's recycling service is only available for EXPOL Tuff Pods and EXPOL building site polystyrene products, and a waste collection fee applies. The polystyrene must be clean. Polystyrene products produced by other manufacturers cannot be recycled by EXPOL EXPOL is in Auckland, Tauranga, Blenheim Christchurch (Belfast, Rolleston) Cromwell Tel: 09 634 3449; 0800 86 33 73 Email sales@expol.co.nz For technical advice or quotes Email tech@expol.co.nz www.expol.co.nz INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

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EXPOL leads the way in polystyrene recycling

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Chemical industry leads by example

SAFETY NEWS

hile 130,000 businesses are reportedly captured by the Hazardous Substances and Major Hazard Facilities regulations, the official mantra of “600-900 persons seriously harmed each year by unwanted exposure to chemicals in their workplace” presumably applies to all of the country’s 530,000 workplaces. Downgrading the flawed but effective HSNO Certified Handler requirement has inadvertently undermined an invaluable capability. The action deprived businesses, particularly SMEs, of an immediate and recognisable source of workplace chemical safety and compliance advice -- a safe chemical handling capability and emergency response knowledge – critical when a chemical incident occurs. PCBUs and SMEs must now devise their own solutions to ensure employees are competent to safely handle the chemicals with which they work.

So where to from here?

Responsible Care is a global voluntary chemical industry initiative developed autonomously by the chemical industry for the chemical industry. Chemical suppliers continue to help customers achieve workplace chemi-

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The chemical industry continues to lead by example, helping to ensure essential chemicals encountered at work and at home are safely managed - safeguarding employees, communities and our environment cal safety aspirations through product stewardship initiatives. To help solve the in-house chemical compliance dilemma in New Zealand, Responsible Care NZ www.responsiblecarenz.com delivers specialist and cost-effective Certified Handler standard training, complete with a certificate. Internationally, chemical industry leaders are moving away from relying on lagging indicators of safety performance in favour of identifying safer work practices and workplaces, by responding to workers’ suggestions about improvements. WorkSafe NZ has warned against business operators falling victim to uninformed and always expensive ‘consultants’. Responsible Care NZ site compliance assessments are non-threatening, effectively capturing and assessing chemical safety performance in a variety of workplaces.

Conscientious business operators can add value by sourcing accurate, cost-effective workplace chemical safety advice and compliance tools from their suppliers, industry partners and Responsible Care NZ.

The core problem

Hundreds of business operators turned out for a free Responsible Care NZ compliance workshop, eager for accurate and practical advice, indicating an unsatisfied demand for assistance and education. Attendance highlighted the need to provide SMEs and others with the ability to access, correctly interpret and successfully implement complex regulations with clear and concise compliance advice. Inviting enquirers to “read the regulations” is falling well short of the industry educational expectations arising from WorkSafe’s Statement of Intent 2016-2020.

Responsible Care NZ provides practical products and services to enable compliance with New Zealand’s world class chemical management regime. Talk to us today about your compliance requirements. Phone: +64 4 499 4311 Email: info@responsiblecarenz.com Website: www.responsiblecarenz.com

Ethical, moral and legal duties Ritchie Bower is the Chief Executive of HSE New Zealand and Asbestos Environmental Consultants

An Occupational Health and Safety Management System helps companies meet due diligence requirements under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015, says Ritchie Bower

Irrespective of the mandated purpose of an Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS), its effectiveness will vary depending on stakeholders’ participation and investment in the system, and the priority it receives within the organisation. New Zealand’s Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) “places a positive duty on directors, as officers of a PCBU (Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking), to exercise due diligence to ensure that the organisation complies with its health and safety duties and obligations.”

SAFETY NEWS

A proven strategy is government agencies collaborating with proactive industry associations to best achieve workplace safety aspirations. The problem is that SMEs rarely join associations. However they all obtain their chemical requirements from suppliers and can benefit from product stewardship advice and cost-effective industry compliance initiatives. Responsible Care NZ extols less regulation in favour of enabling business operators to be increasingly self-sufficient, using cost-effective products and services such as site compliance assessments and specialist training. The focus is keeping people safe around the chemicals we encounter every day, by once again adding value to businesses. Proven, collaborative and cost-effective initiatives to raise awareness and improve workplace chemical safety performance include: • Joint agency and industry-focused local compliance workshops at times convenient to SME operators. • WorkSafe NZ inspectors distributing free copies of user-friendly ‘compliance tools’ such as the Storage of Hazardous Substances HSNO Approved Code of Practice and posters explaining GHS pictogrammes • Supporting industry initiatives such as product stewardship • Referencing industry ‘compliance tools’ • Upskilling workplace inspectors in chemical safety. • Encouraging ‘no blame’ reporting of incidents • Acknowledging successful, proactive industry compliance initiatives • Restoring the status of Approved Industry Codes of Practice A refreshed and energized government strategy for improving workplace chemical safety is both welcome and essential if we are to significantly improve sub-standard performance and learn from our successes and shortfalls. Expanding mutually beneficial government- industry partnerships helping business operators ‘do the right thing’ with minimal fuss and expense should be ‘a no brainer’. Chemical suppliers are ‘Impatient optimists’. They know we can all collectively do better through continuous improvement.

From a moral, legal and ethical perspective, the primary purpose of an OHSMS should be to provide a safe and healthy workplace and create a structured, consistent and documented approach to managing health and safety. The International Labour Organization says that “OSHMS is a ‘generic’ method that can be tailored to the management of hazards specific to a given industry or process, particularly in high-risk industries where the implementation of preventive and protective measures requires a comprehensive and organized evaluation of risks and monitoring of performance of complex control systems on a continuous basis.” It is increasingly common for legislation to require PCBUs, particularly in high-risk industries, to implement an OHSMS. WorkSafe NZ requires Class A Asbestos Removal Specialists to hold a JAS/ANZ (Joint Accreditation System of Australia and New Zealand) accredited OHSMS audited to AS/NZS4801:2001 standard. The purpose of the OHSMS in this instance is to ensure high-risk work is suitably controlled and that performance criteria are met. “Working with asbestos should be performed in a manner that is at least as safe and effective as the practices described in the WorkSafe New Zealand Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) - Management and Removal of Asbestos,” according to JAS/ANZ The Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand and Maritime New Zealand (MNZ), the lead agencies in their particular specialist areas, have industry-specific OHSMS. MNZ, for example, introduced OHSMS to be “in line with a global move to put ongoing safety measures in place to prevent maritime accidents and place the responsibility of this on vessel owners and operators.” The agency requires NZ-flagged ships which meet certain criteria to comply with Maritime Rule Part 21 which incorporates the requirements of the International Safety Management Code, the purpose of which is “to provide an international standard for the safe management and operation of ships and for pollution prevention.” ISN.CO.NZ

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hurdles to overcome. One of the most formidable being enhancing consumer understanding of the benefits of bioplastics and the various options on the market.

INFRASTRUCTURE

No single definition for sustainability

An introduction to a sustainable future with plastics Luckily, there are many ways to make plastic more sustainable and the confluence of available technologies and consumer preferences are making it more feasible than ever before

ioplastics seem poised to take their spot in the limelight. From using more renewable content and reclaiming and recycling material to reducing the energy needed for manufacturing and returning material to nature at the end of its life. It is now possible to make more sustainable plastics with unique physical performance and aesthetic qualities. This means these materials are not

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only better for the environment and price-competitive but also excel from a performance standpoint. The possibilities of bioplastics are endless. Bio-based World News announced that Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai has developed a “completely compostable mango-based plastic” that “keeps meat fresher for longer.” But there remain some significant

There are a number of characteristics that a product can possess, both independent of one another and together, that will determine a product’s sustainability. Here are a few terms it can be helpful to keep straight when investigating the feasibility of a bioplastic for a product: Bioplastics are a family of materials with differing properties and applications. A material is defined as a bioplastic if it is either biobased, biodegradable or features both properties. Biobased materials are made from organic (carbon-based) materials that contain in whole or part biogenic (biological) carbon – replacing petrol/fossil carbon with bio/renewable carbon. In the United States, the USDA Biopreferred Program certifies materials as biobased. Products made with certified biobased materials can receive preferential purchasing from Federal procurement agencies. The percentage of renewable material necessary to meet this requirement varies according to the product. Biocomposite materials combine biomaterials like wood, starch, flax, jute, hemp, and other similar materials with traditional plastics. These materials are used to imbue a natural aesthetic and enhance physical characteristics while reducing the amount of non-renewable petroleum-based plastic. Biodegradable is the ability of a material to undergo biodegradation, a chemical process during which micro-organisms that are available in the environment convert materials into natural substances such as water, carbon dioxide, and compost. The process of biodegradation depends on the surrounding environmental conditions. Compostable plastic products are defined by ASTM International standards 6400 and 6868. These standards require that the material biodegrades in a certain period of time and leaves no toxic residue in the soil.

A multi-faceted approach

Just as early installations of wind turbines and rooftop solar panels haven’t eliminated the need for fossil fuels completely, bioplastics won’t be the silver bullet that eliminates the planet’s need for fossil fuels. But they are a more sustainable alternative to petroleum-based plastics, and they are ready to be substituted

Renewable and reclaimed feedstock

Organic materials like starch and other natural fibers act as substitutes for petroleum-based feedstock and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions associated with plastic production. Biobased plastic resins can be made to behave similarly to traditional plastics in the manufacturing phase and to preserve much of the look and feel of purely petroleum-based plastics. One industry’s byproducts are another’s path to sustainability. Wood fibres from milling operations and agricultural waste materials can also be used to substitute some of the petroleum-based feedstock that goes into traditional plastics. In some cases, up to 70 percent of non-renewable resources can be

replaced. With widespread use, reclaimed feedstock could make a serious dent in the amount of fossil fuels used by the global plastics industry.

Biodegradable materials, recycled and upcycled goods

Compostable plastics can help reduce landfill waste, especially when used for food service in conjunction with composting of food waste, and in many packagingapplications. In some cases, such as mulch films, biodegradability provides products with a functional advantage. Opting for recycled plastic over vir-

US data gives a lead to what can be achieved • Reducing the amount of petroleum-based plastics in the US by just 10 percent saves 280 million barrels of oil a year, reducing CO2 emissions the equivalent of the Co2 sequestrated by 250 million acres of forests. • Reducing the amount of petroleum-based plastics by 25 percent can decrease greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 16.5 million passenger cars from the road every year. • Increasing composting of food scraps by 25 percent in the US would decrease greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to saving more than 15 million barrels of oil per year. • Using one ton of recycled plastic to replace some or all of the virgin petroleum-based feedstock can save 16.3 barrels (almost 2600 litres) of oil, 23 cubic yards of landfill space, and 5,744 kWh energy – that’s enough energy to power the average American home for over 6 months.

gin plastic yields tremendous energy savings. Upcycling reclaimed and recycled materials into biocomposites used for high-quality durable goods not only lightens the environmental footprint of these products, but also creates and expands markets for waste materials that may otherwise be discarded in a landfill.

Growing demand

There are a growing variety of more sustainable plastics. As demand continues to rise, so will the utilisation of these materials in products and packaging. Consumers want to know about the materials used in a product, how and where it is made, how far it travels and how it is packaged, but they may have varying criteria for what makes a product more sustainable. Successful companies are differentiating their products by clearly stating the environmental benefits of their product, whether it be using more renewable materials, using reclaimed or recycled materials, or materials that can be returned to nature when their useful life has ended. Adapted from material provided by Bioplastics 101: An introduction to key terms in sustainable plastics produced by Green Dot Bioplastics 226 Broadway PO Box #142 Cottonwood Falls, KS 66845. Read the dedicated white paper to learn more about the global move towards sustainability, meeting your sustainability goals and the future of bioplastics. INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

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INFRASTRUCTURE

into plastics manufacturing operations right now. Pursuing four avenues for reducing the environmental impact of plastics should prove more effective than any one strategy on its own. Together, the following strategies utilised in the production of bioplastics have an effect on both beginning-of-life and end-of-life issues surrounding plastic production.

Everything you hoped you would never need to know about synthetic cannabis In the year to June, the deaths of between 40 and 45 Kiwis are believed to be linked to the use of synthetic cannabis. In the five years prior to that the number was two

SAFETY NEWS

cting Prime Minister at the time Winston Peters said that “whatever the number is 40 to 45 is a serious spike”. While Peters recognised that previous action to deal with the problem had not been successful and a multi-agency response was needed as fast as possible, he dismissed MP Simeon Brown's proposed bill which would have increased the maximum jail sentence for selling or supplying synthetic drugs from two years to eight. Police advice was that increasing penalties for dealers would not work, he said.

What are synthetic drugs? • Smokable products containing varieties of plant matter that have been infused with synthetic cannabinomimetic or other often-toxic substances. • They were intended to be a legal alternative to cannabis. • Synthetic drugs have been linked to an increased risk of seizures. • Effects include, but are not limited to: decreased motor co-ordination, fast or irregular heartbeat, disassociation, dizziness, paranoia, psychosis. • Use of synthetic drugs in New Zealand has also been linked to renal failure and heart failure.

Uncomfortable discussion

Getting the problem aired at all is seen as a major step forward. AUT Professor Max Abbott1 says the prohibition and war on drugs simply has not worked. “We’ve learnt we need to communicate about these things very quickly. This one that's happened over the last 12 months should have been picked up a lot sooner,” says “Say there was an issue with the food or water supply and you had a few people die. There would be an immediate public health response. To

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have that many people die is absolutely appalling.” Masseys University’s Chris Wilkins2 says the development of an early warning drug system was signalled as far back as 2015 as part of the National Drug Policy 2015-2020. “The large number of synthetic cannabinoid compounds, the speed which they appear, their chemical diversity, and lack of research of their health risks present considerable challenges to the authorities,” he says.

Chase dealers not victims

Abbott says the prohibition and war on drugs simply has not worked. “Of all the money spent in relation of drugs – courts, police and health,” says Abbott, one fifth of that total is spent on health. “I’d like to see that turned around so people who are caught, in relation to any substance -- you don’t go to prison for it, you get referred for help. “The Drug Foundation has put forward a sensible response. . . In the case of more harmful drugs, police would still issue a warning and confiscate but there would be pressure for people to engage in terms of getting help. Synthetic cannabinoids fulfil all of the criteria required to be made a Class A1 drug; addictive, harmful to society and, directly associated with death and other health harms notes Wellington Regional Hospital’s Dr Paul Quigley3. "However, placing ‘synnies’ as a Class A drug would then place users under significant threat of prosecution themselves. “This is one of the leading reason why the Misuse of Drugs Act (MODA) needs to be completely revised and we need to explore decriminalisation for drug use versus increased penal-

ties for manufacture, trafficking and supply. "One consideration is to use existing law to charge those who deal and supply an agent that is known to be illegal and results in death, they should be charged with manslaughter. That would be a significant deterrent and may have impact the market supply,” he says.

No one has died from taking cannabis

And the government says

Cabinet has reviewed the actions that the agencies are currently taking, says Peters, and the Ministers of Health, Justice, Police and Customs will now be seeking co-ordinated

advice from their various agencies on how to best urgently reduce the size and the supply of this drug with the aim of turning this spike around and getting this dangerous drug out of our communities," Peters said.

Monitoring and surveillance.

The Institute of Environmental Science and Research (ESR) says its scientists are developing a platform for a national drug monitoring and surveillance system to tackle the wave of evolving synthetic drugs. Alongside other agencies and affected organisations, it aims to create a drug early warning system.

Sharing is caring

The ESR scientists began collaborating with police and the Coroner last year in response to a suspected link between synthetic drugs and a cluster of deaths around the country. ESR spokeswoman Mary Jane McCarthy said since then, that joint work had helped ESR to promptly identify the novel psycho-active drugs coming into New Zealand, as well as enabling greater sharing of information among ESR, the Police, the Coroner, NZ Customs and the Ministry of Health. "We were trying to determine whether there was a causal link, given the known and reported deaths and other

ISN.CO.NZ

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SAFETY NEWS

Abbot also is advocating quick changes. “My view is the same as it was when we introduced the Psychoactive Substances Act, which is why don’t you legalise possession and use of cannabis . . . I still see that as an essential part of countering this current, appalling number of deaths” “I don’t believe anybody has ever actually died from taking cannabis. That’s not to say it doesn’t have adverse health and other effects – it does – but they’re minuscule compared to alcohol, tobacco and synthetics. That approach needs to be accompanied by a big increase in what we’re putting into education around cannabis and other drugs.

Supply and demand

incidents involving the emergence of new psycho-active drugs on the market."

Changing playing field

The key to reducing the use of synthetic cannabinoids is to try and find out more about what is driving demand, says Dr Paul Quigley

McCarthy says the detection of synthetic cannabinoids was complex because of the continual emergence of new varieties. "There is often little or no published data available detailing the toxicity, the potency and risks from the use of the latest compounds. "While there was an awareness, from an early stage, of the identity of the synthetic cannabinoid involved, AMB-FUBINACA, there was no international literature linking it with death."

SAFETY NEWS

Hope on the horizon

Users of 'synnies' uniformly state that they do not enjoy smoking them and that when compared to other recreational drugs they are 'shit'. They are also aware of the harms that synnies cause, with many of them witnessing associates collapsing, fitting, acting like zombies, and some have had friends die from their use. Yet, despite this, they continue to seek and use them avidly. Addiction is certainly one of the reasons they continue. The very high potency of these agents means that they become dependent upon them very quickly and need to continue to consume to prevent withdrawal. This has created a captured market for the dealers. Deliberate price setting, ease of access and focused targeting of vulnerable populations by the dealers is a significant factor as well. Users of synnies often state that they would take something else but they can not get hold of alternatives or afford them. Natural cannabis currently falls into this category being regarded as relatively hard and expensive to obtain (compared to synnies). The large profit margin associated with the manufacture of synthetic cannabinoids combined with a very low level of associated peril is maintaining a very high level of supply to the community. The raw product can be purchased for a few hundred dollars that then returns thousands in return. ($150 to $5,000 has been quoted in one example). As synthetic cannabinoids fall under the PSA then the penalty for manufacture and sale is relatively low (maximum of two years) which is not seen as a deterrent. The majority of these agents are being imported/obtained via the dark web and via â&#x20AC;&#x153;mailâ&#x20AC;?. Increased effort needs to be committed by the government to review internet security and to strengthen our border especially for high frequency low volume imports which is how synthetic cannabinoids are imported." 42

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A significant turning point came last May, after the first death in New Zealand, with the discovery that much, but not all, of the plant material found associated with incidents and patients arriving at emergency departments had very high concentrations of synthetic cannabinoids. "Police were very quick to react by investigating the source of the plant material laced with synthetic cannabinoids, disrupting supplies and making arrests," McCarthy says. "ESR's work with Customs, in monitoring the incidents of synthetic cannabinoids intercepts at the border, showed there was an immediate and significant decline of importation of synthetic cannabinoids throughout last September and October."

Reducing harm

ESR has also been involved in a range of projects aimed at reducing harm. One has been to work with emergency departments to help them recognise when they are dealing with a synthetic cannabinoid and not another drug. ESR scientists also worked closely with a Porirua Task Force, collaborating with Police and a wide range of social agencies, responding to the sale, supply and consumption of synthetic drugs within the district. Further funding has been invested by ESR into research to develop an early warning system that would provide timely information to help agencies intervene to protect the public. Michael Bishara is chief executive of Media Solutions and publisher of Industrial Safety News, AsiaPacific Infrastructure and Property&Build

Smart things to do to manage tough employees Here's what to do when faced with challenging employees acting irresponsibly

SAFETY NEWS

ccasionally showing up late to work or missing a day is not an issue. But with chronic tardiness, absenteeism, and other irresponsible behaviours detrimental to the workplace, problem employees can take down company morale and stifl e productivity. Some companies are known for docking the pay of chronically-late employees or even fining them. Even so, chances are that latecomers will still show up late (much like those who arrive early will still come early). Managers are often stumped about how to put an end to these unwanted behaviours in talent they would rather keep. One sure strategy starts with leadership setting the right culture in place â&#x20AC;&#x201C; we need more work cultures of accountability If employees are chronically late or absent, this is symptomatic of a bigger issue. One of the problems I've found with many of my clients stems from well-intentioned employees feeling like they're being treated like children. When employees are caught in a parent-child relationship rather than being influenced by servant leaders interested in their development, you'll find employees unwilling to accept accountability for their work or the success of the business. Intrinsically-motivated employees who feel accountable for their performance and their company's success are less likely to behave in destructive and irresponsible ways. Rather than acting like parents trying to persuade rebellious children to obey, a company's management culture must first foster the environment for employees to view themselves as being accountable for the effect their chronic irresponsible behaviours have on the business.

Inspiring personal accountability

First, shifting a company culture from parent-child to everyone-held-accountable for success requires leaders seeing the potential in all people and treating them with dignity and respect. Here is a five-step strategy to generate a culture of high accountability. 1. Educate and communicate to your most valued employees about the mission, how the business works, and the impact their day-to-day work has on both short- and long-term success. 2. Include employees in the decision-making process related to things like work processes and how to increase customer satisfaction. 3. Empower your high potentials and other key employees with leadership concepts that help them make better decisions and support business

objectives. 4. Identify and remove obstacles that get in the way of employee commitment and loyalty. 5. Teach managers a "bottom up" leadership approach by eliminating micro-managing, removing fear, and giving employees more access to information. To recap, a sound strategy for removing costly irresponsible behaviours like chronic tardiness from your company is to arouse a culture of accountability that enables employee commitment. When employees are held in high esteem and trusted with owning their work, it's easier to bring up the business impact of unwanted behav-

iours (like chronic tardiness) when it happens. At the same time, leaders will want to engage employees by involving them in problem-solving and creating solutions they, themselves, will want to implement. First published in INC. Marcel Schwantes is principal and founder, Leadership From the Core ISN.CO.NZ

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ACROSS THE DITCH

Sinnathamby’s A 52-Hectare ‘Health City’ Vision for Springfield Singapore-based Broadway Malyan will design a 52-hectare health city in Springfield on the outskirts of Brisbane

key feature of the project includes a Living Lab, which the urban planners say will act as a testbed for new technology related to smart living and healthcare. Springfield founder and property mogul Maha Sinnathamby purchased the 7000-acre parcel of land no developer wanted to touch in 1992. Three decades later, Greater Springfield has transitioned from a completely undeveloped site to a residential population of 36,000 with estimates 150,000 will call Springfield home come 2035. Broadway Malyan director Ed Baker says the health city masterplan will see the creation of a community that functions beyond the working day. “We have used the concept of healthy living as our guiding design principle, focusing on a development that will support and encourage the wellbeing of the people who will live, work and visit Health City.” Springfield’s Health City marks Broadway Malyan’s first appointment in Australia, after securing the project through an international competition working alongside local partner Conrad Gargett. Located on Brisbane’s fringes, at 33-kilometres from the CBD, Greater Springfield sits among one of Australia’s fastest urban-growth corridors. To date, more than $15 billion has been invested by public and private stakeholders into the master-planned city, with estimates the area will be worth more than $85 billion upon completion. Go to Urban Developer Health City

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INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

Queensland’s $46 Billion Infrastructure Boom

he second part of its State Infrastructure Plan (SIP) focuses on a range of infrastructure spending with its updated release, outlining the $11.6 billion of infrastructure investment to be rolled out in 2018-19, which aims to support up to 38,000 jobs. Economic forecaster Deloitte Access Economics said that the outlook for engineering construction in Queensland is better than it has been for some time. “Rather than wallowing in cash from a strong property market and asset privatisations as NSW and Victoria

are, the Government is relying more heavily on raising new tax revenue and increasing debt to fund this infrastructure,” Deloitte’s quarterly Business Outlook report said. Up to 65 per cent of the Queensland’s infrastructure budget is allocated outside of the greater Brisbane area, explained Minister for State Development, Manufacturing, Infrastructure and Planning Cameron Dick. “Programs like the Queensland Transport Roads and Investment Program 2018-19 to 2021-22 outlines $21.7 billion in transport and road

infrastructure over the next four years, estimated to support an average of 19,200 direct jobs over the life of the program. The $5.4 billion Cross River Rail project, the biggest state funded infrastructure commitment in more than a decade, will be delivered in partnership with the private sector, explains Dick. Infrastructure Association of Queensland chief executive Steve Abson said the infrastructure investment strategies update provides the private sector with confidence to invest in their Queensland operations. With it now required to be “actioned collaboratively by all levels of government and the private sector”. Seven new projects have been added to the Building Queensland (BQ) infrastructure pipeline, including upgrades to the centenary motorway and Sunshine Motorway, and a third track to be added to the Gold Coast rail line between Kuraby and Beenleigh. BQ Infrastructure Pipeline Report which presents priority infrastructure proposals under development by the Queensland government, shows 18 proposals from the pipeline has received funding commitments from state government since June 2016. These include upgrades to the M1 from Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill, and Varsity Lakes to Tugan, the Beerburrum to Nambour Rail Upgrade, the Lower Fitzroy River Infrastructure Project and the New Performing Arts Venue. A rise in interstate migration is seeing more people moving to Queensland, according to the Deloitte's Business Outlook report, which says the sunshine state now has the third-fastest rate of population growth behind Victoria and the ACT. The report said that Queensland is "well and truly" through the worst of its mining construction downturn as eye-watering house prices south of the border are sending more "economic refugees north to Queensland". Go to Urban Developer $45 billion Infrastructure budget INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

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ACROSS THE DITCH

The Queensland Government has released an update to its 2018 State Infrastructure Plan as it aims to roll-out a total of $45.8 billion worth of infrastructure over the next four years

AROUND THE GLOBE

ocated in Dubai Creek Harbour, the $3.5 billion project will boast 750,000sq m of retail space spread across three levels. The retail metropolis is set to become the world's largest shopping centre, dwarfing the 660,000sq m New South China Mall in Dongguan. Integrating indoor and outdoor shopping, Dubai Square will be more than twice the size of the existing The Dubai Mall. The wider retail, entertainment and residential complex will be 2.8 million sq m in size. The shopping centre will lie at the base of Dubai Creek Tower designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, a super-tall structure which, at 928 meters, will eclipse the Burj Khalifa. Dubai Holding, the government’s global investment holding, and property developer Emaar Properties have styled Dubai Square after famous shopping districts from around the world, including Oxford Street in London, Beverly Hills in Los Angeles and the Champs-Élysées in Paris. With Dubai being the fourth most visited destination in the world, Dubai Square will also be the closest mega-retail district to millions of visitors passing through Dubai International Airport, located just 10 minutes away. “The destinations we have delivered, such as Jumeirah Burj Al Arab, JBR, Global Village and Business Bay, are some of the most recognisable urban landmarks of today,” Dubai Holding chairman Abdulla Al Habbai said. “Dubai Square is our new retail and leisure destination, and with this we aim to actually redefine the shopping experience by introducing a variety of innovative concepts.” “This is our latest endeavour to bring the best to Dubai, as part of Dubai Holding’s promise, ‘for the good of tomorrow’.” The first floor will be entirely dedicated to luxury retail, dining and leisure outlets. Shopping for fashion will be “unique and immersive” thanks to special VIP dressing rooms, smart fitting rooms with interactive mirrors, curated private fashion collections, personalised AI recommendations and 3D printed clothing and accessories. Quick checkout solutions, search and barcode scanning applications, radio-frequency identification technology, mobile payments and clickand-collect services will also be incorporated into retail stores. Specially designed apps for ordering food and beverage on the premises will minimise queuing and long waittimes, while some vendors are set to provide personalised dining recommendations and 3D-printed food delicacies. 46

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Dubai unveils world's biggest shopping mall Dubai Holding and Emaar Properties have announced Dubai Square, a new retail metropolis in Dubai, that will “push the boundaries of modern retail and leisure by drawing on next-generation technology”

There will also be live cooking stations, street vendors, festive pop-up markets, grab-and-go F&B offerings and an organic market. Furthermore, Dubai Square will feature an Art District - from permanent exhibitions to ephemeral performance art, from large-scale concerts to oneman shows. The shopping centre will also offer a waterpark, cinema, sports arena and will also be home to the Middle East's largest Chinatown. “Dubai Square disrupts the traditional mall and retail experience.” Emaar Properties chairman Mohamed Alabbar said.

As the centrepiece of Dubai's new Creek Harbour, the mall will eventually be part of a 550-hectare mega-development. Creek Harbour will eventually comprise 7.3m sq m of residential space, 940,000sq m of retail precincts, 300,000sq m of commercial space, over 66,000sq m of cultural space, 700,000sq m of parks and open spaces, and 24 hotels with 5,800 rooms. When completed, Dubai Creek Harbour will be home to over 200,000 people. Go to Urban Developer Dubai Shopping Centre

AROUND THE GLOBE

San Francisco's $3.1bn Mega Transit Centre opens After 20 years of planning and nearly a decade of construction, the Salesforce Transit Centre has opened to the public in San Francisco

he $2.3 billion (A$3.1bn) centre spans four city blocks and is topped by a 1.5-hectare park. The 110,000sq m transit hub will eventually connect 11 regional, state and national public transport modes. In 2005, San Francisco city officials approved a plan to redevelop what they dubbed the Transbay District, a rundown 16-hectare area to the south of the city’s financial centre. Two years later, the developer-architect team of Hines and Pelli Clarke Pelli won an international design competition for the transit centre and a neighbouring skyscraper, now known as Salesforce Tower. The technology company's tower opened earlier this year and is now connected to the transit centre's rooftop park by a footbridge. Salesforce will pay $110 million (AUD$150 million) for naming rights over the next 25 years to help fund the operations of the centre. The centre's most striking feature, its rooftop park, was designed by PWP Landscape Architecture which co-designed the 9/11 memorial plaza

in New York. The park comprises 13 gardens, a great lawn, a half-mile jogging track, a restaurant and an 800-seat amphitheater. The park's rolling landscape cleverly integrates exit stairs, elevator overruns, and mechanical vents amid its hillocks as well as more than 600 trees and 16,000 plants. Within the centre are two floors of concourse and 9,000sq m of retail space, topped by the bus deck. Below ground sit two levels of platforms as well as rail infrastructure for future commuter and high-speed trains, and a train-concourse level that is yet to be completed. “Salesforce Transit Center represents San Francisco at our best,” San Francisco mayor London Breed said. “It reflects our commitment to innovation, transportation, environmental sustainability and community development.” The original scheme included undulating glass facades, bulging out where columns inclined outward to support the cantilevered bus deck.

But the curved glass would have been too thick to meet blast requirements and consequently was removed from the final concept. Instead, the project team wrapped the building with a perforated aluminium screen. The new centre replaces the former Transbay Terminal built in the late 1930s which was found to be seismically deficient and lacked the capacity to handle modern-day transit demands. More than 490,000 cubic metres were excavated and 70,000 cubic metres of concrete were recycled from the old terminal, enough to fill 28 Olympic-size swimming pools. The centre is scheduled to open in phases with full bus services commencing last weekend, while all the rail connections should become active between 2020 and 2025. It is set to create 14,000 new jobs in the Bay Area and has spurred $9 billion in nearby private development. Go to Urban Developer salesforce Transit Centre PROPERTYANDBUILD.COM

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PROPERTY & BUILD

Melbourne Boutique Developers to Keynote Urbanity ’18 Melbourne boutique property developers Sonya Miller and Olivia Christie are keynote speakers at Urbanity ’18

onya and Olivia will be joining Urbanity — flying the flag for the next generation of city shapers — for a candid conversation on this year's theme: what is our urban legacy? The pair are the founders and directors of the boutique development company Dynamic Property Group. Before Dynamic, the two founded Armitage Jones, a Melbourne-based property development and project management consultancy. Sonya and Olivia remain an integral part of Armitage Jones, working with a wide range of companies and consulting on the full development lifecycle – from due diligence, financial analysis, planning approval and funding through to sales and marketing, design, construction, project management and settlements. The duo launched their first residential project under the Dynamic Property Group banner in April. The boutique "Elwood Park" project is a $25 million, 14-apartment development overlooking Elsternwick Park in Melbourne's inner south. Sonya and Olivia both have a passion for delivering thoughtful projects centred around the health and happiness of their inhabitants. The two are driven by creating a lasting legacy defined by successful social, environmental, community and economic outcomes. In the lead up to Sonya and Olivia's keynote at Urbanity, here's an overview of a few projects the two have worked on with their project and development management consultancy, Armitage Jones.

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PROPERTYANDBUILD.COM

Chin Chin

Chris Lucas' Chin Chin Sydney restaurant in Surry Hills. Chris Lucas' Chin Chin Sydney restaurant in Surry Hills. Armitage Jones project managed the delivery of both the Sydney and Melbourne arms of one of Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most iconic restaurants. The Melbourne upgrade to the Lucas Group's original Chin Chin venue saw construction completed in less than two weeks. Armitage Jones recreated the second Chin Chin restaurant, adapting it to a Sydney setting. The 1,000sq m tenancy, sits over two floors within the heritage The Griffith Teas building in Surry Hills.

Chris Lucas' Chin Chin Sydney restaurant in Surry Hills.

Armitage Jones was responsible for overseeing the development of Nightingale 3.0 in Brunswick. Armitage Jones was responsible for overseeing the development of Nightingale 3.0 in Brunswick. After the success of previous Nightingale projects, the developer brought Armitage Jones on board as development and project managers of the third iteration of Nightingale in Brunswick. The Austin Maynard-designed boutique apartment complex comprises 20 apartments over seven-storeys with retail at ground level and a rooftop deck featuring a garden, communal laundry and photovoltaic cells on the roof.

PROPERTY & BUILD

Nightingale 3

Armitage Jones was responsible for overseeing the development of Nightingale 3.0 in Brunswick.

Wesley Place

Armitage Jones are the project managers of Charter Hall's $600 million Wesley Place. Armitage Jones are the project managers of Charter Hall's $600 million Wesley Place. Developed by Charter Hall, Wesley Place is a 33-storey, A-grade office tower at 130 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne. Armitage Jones won the rights to manage the project, which comprises 55,000sq m of commercial space and 4,500sq m of retail. Charter Hall's total investment in the Wesley Place precinct will rise to $1 billion upon completion.

Armitage Jones are the project managers of Charter Hall's $600 million Wesley Place.

Click here if you want to secure your place at Urbanity or learn more about the program.

PROPERTYANDBUILD.COM

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INFRASTRUCTURE

Tackling wastewater emissions more than just a smelly problem Wastewater treatment plant operators are used to thinking about the air emissions around their facilities, Lesley Smith notes

dour complaints from a smelly wastewater treatment plant can be one of the surest bets for annoying your neighbours. However, a less commonly considered impact from the gases coming off our wastewater treatment plants is the impact they have on climate change. In greenhouse gas accounting parlance these are commonly referred to as “fugitive emissions”. Wastewater fugitive emissions are principally composed of methane and nitrous oxide, both potent greenhouse gases. Methane has approximately 25 times the greenhouse gas warming potential of carbon dioxide and around 298 times the potential of nitrous oxide. The impact of our wastewater treatment plants became the subject of some frenzied research around the Water New Zealand office when the Productivity Commission, looking into transitioning New Zealand to a low emissions economy, recently posed the question; should wastewater 50

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treatment plants be included in the Emissions Trading Scheme?

Mixed response

The response from Water New Zealand members was mixed. Many pointed out that as the water sector sits on the front line of climate

change impacts, all measures (including inclusion in the emissions trading scheme) should be on the table. Others were more wary, asking; do we even know enough about our wastewater emissions for these to be included in the emissions trading scheme? What opportunities would

How big a deal are wastewater treatment plant emissions? In 2016-17 fugitive emissions from wastewater treatment and discharge contributed 396.8 kt CO2-e to national emissions. The energy consumption of wastewater treatment systems (which includes pumping in reticulation networks in addition to wastewater treatment) used upwards of 1,302,007 GJ of energy in 2016-17, corresponding with approximate emissions of 43 kt CO2-e. To put these figures in context, New Zealand’s gross greenhouse gas emissions were 78.7 Mt CO2-e in 2016 , putting the contribution of wastewater treatment plant fugitive emissions and wastewater system energy use at 0.35% and 0.05% of all national emissions respectively.

Emissions reduction opportunities at domestic wastewater treatment plants Energy Recovery

Energy Efficiency

It has been estimated that the energy contained in wastewater and bio-solids exceeds the energy needed for its treatment by 10-fold. Energy recovery technologies in various stages of maturity, include;

Many domestic wastewater treatment plants use energy-demanding processes, presenting a number of areas to make energy efficiency gains;

Anaerobic digestion

Aeration system optimisation, addition

Biosolids energy recovery

Pre-anoxic zone for biological nutrient removal

Heat recovery

Flexible sequencing of aerations basins

Conversion into fuel cells

Informed guesses and woolly areas

At an aggregate level we have some informed guesses about roughly the size of our emissions (see breakout box and referenced links for more detail). At an individual plant level however, the picture becomes a little woollier. A quick browse through local authority greenhouse gas inventories and you might notice a stark absence of information on wastewater treatment plant emissions. To anybody who has compiled a greenhouse gas inventory this will probably come as no surprise. Nowhere is New Zealand specific guidance material on how to determine wastewater fugitive emissions published. For authorities using land treatment systems, a style fairly unique to New Zealand, little exists in the international literature either. However, not all authorities have let the absence of local guidance stop them from attempting to measure emissions.

High efficiency UV systems

runs a highly robust emissions accounting framework. Emissions sources as diverse as embodied carbon in lime, biosolids, sludge dewatering and septic tanks are all accounted for on an annual basis, providing a potential example for other authorities who wish to get a better grip of their own wastewater emissions. Water New Zealand has suggested that an important first step towards tackling wastewater treatment plant emissions is to get a better handle on our emissions and greenhouse gas methodologies for some of New Zealand’s relatively unique treatment processes (in particular land application).

Trade-offs aplenty

Circling back to where we began, would including wastewater treatment plants in the emissions trading scheme bring about such changes? And at what cost? Wastewater treatment plants have the important purpose of protecting public health and the environment and accordingly treating effluent needs to remain the focus of their operation. The trade-offs between energy, carbon and effluent quality are many. For example, energy UV disinfection systems, or aerated lagoons, improve effluent quality but come with a high energy penalty. Any moves that force trade-offs with public health at risk in the name of emissions reductions should raise eyebrows. Add to this, the existing pressures on already stretched local council resources and staff time and there is a question about whether a price signal alone is enough to create change in local authorities. The risk is that another line item is simply passed on through the rates bill to local communities.

"As the water sector sits on the front line of climate change impacts, all measures should be on the table"

Methods of measure

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, document, Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories 2006 contains methods for determining wastewater treatment plant emissions. With a few exceptions these mostly work in New Zealand as well. Our country’s biggest wastewater treatment plant operator, Watercare,

Help needed

For this to happen we can’t rely on local councils alone. Understanding carbon and nitrogen cycles is a difficult task, one where detailed expertise sits with central government agencies and academia. The mantra you can’t manage what you can’t measure springs to mind. Accounting is the key to understanding and unlocking the many exciting emissions reduction opportunities that exist at wastewater treatment plants. Water New Zealand’s submission broadly suggests four categories of opportunities; energy recover, energy efficiency, onsite effluent emissions labelling, and possibly nitrous oxide reduction through recovery systems.

Water New Zealand’s full submission to the Productivity Commission is available on both the Water New Zealand and the Productivity Commission’s websites Lesley Smith is Technical Co-ordinator at Water New Zealand, a national not-for-profit sector organisation comprising approximately 1500 corporate and individual members in New Zealand and overseas that focuses on the sustainable management and promotion of the water environment encompassing the 3 waters – fresh, waste and storm waters INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

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we have to reduce emissions anyway? It turns out the answers to these questions are; not really and heaps, respectively.

Wastewater pumping optimisation

Construction sector experiencing worrying woes PROPERTY & BUILD

There are strong indications that the construction industry faces some serious challenges, according to Alan McMahon

bert Construction hit headlines recently when announcements were made that they had entered receivership. Recorded as the fourth largest construction company in the country, they were working on 15 projects including the Indian High Commission in Wellington, a mental health unit in Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital, and the Union Green apartments in Auckland. Their downfall is said to be due to poor performing contracts leading to cost overruns, but full details are still to come.

Tricky business

This recent announcement adds to a list of construction related firm failures (interiors and prefab manufacturing), which have hit headlines over the past month or so. Construction can be a tricky busi-

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ness, and it can be a case of big risk, little reward if pricing, margins, capacity, and timing are out of sync with market realities. One of these issues in particular receiving a lot of airtime has been cost inflation, which continues to exceed many people’s expectations. The latest construction cost price index shows an annual 4.6 percent increase in March 2018 for residential buildings and 4.3 percent for non-residential buildings. The increase in non-residential construction costs is set to continue at a rate of 4.7 percent per year in early 2019. By late 2020, this is set to ease to 3.5 percent a year, according to NZIER’s forecasts.

Many would argue rates are higher

Hiring intentions remain positive, but access to skilled labour is still a

concern for many, ultimately adding to labour costs. When conditions are challenging, the added development intricacies involved in high-rise commercial and residential projects can create obstacles that lead to a reduction in future supply and/or extend project timeframes. The industrial sector can be less affected by this, but the sector faces its own added challenges with restricted land availability and land values appreciating at record highs in many locations. Measures are being taken to reduce these challenges and a shakeup of the industry is being called for, but will it be in time and enough to stop further failures and alleviate pent-up demand?

Growth still expected

Despite the woes, construction activity is expected to grow steadily over the next few years. According to the latest Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) National Construction Pipeline report, the construction pipeline in New Zealand will grow close to 10 percent from 2018 forecasts, to an estimated $41 billion in 2023. Activity in the housing market is forecast to rise with 43,000 consents to be issued in 2023, reaching a new high. This will be led by apartment developments, which is projected to make up 60percent of all dwellings by 2023, outstripping that of detached houses. Much of the growth will occur in Auckland, making up 41 percent of the total national construction value and 40 percent of dwelling unit consents in 2023, according to MBIE. The same report shows Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty will contribute 61 percent of the non-residen-

PROPERTY & BUILD

Much of the growth will occur in Auckland, making up 41 percent of the total national construction value and 40 percent of dwelling unit consents in 2023

tial construction value by 2023. Canterbury is expected to slowly decline from current highs throughout 2018 to 2023 as rebuild activity moderates.

Office overview

Coliers latest vacancy survey indicates Auckland’s overall CBD office market remains in a period of low vacancy at 6.2% in June 2018, albeit, up slightly compared to last year. Prime vacancy fell 0.3 percentage points from a year ago reaching 3.5 percent in June 2018. Conversely, secondary vacancy climbed 1.2 percentage points to 8.1 percent for the same period, explaining the overall increase in office vacancy. Percent. Wellington’s overall CBD office vacancy decreased marginally to 7.7%. This was despite new supply with the completion of three prime office buildings, adding around 25,200 sqm in the Core precinct and 3,200 sqm in the CBD Fringe precinct.

Retail review

New Zealand’s growing population, record tourist numbers and strong economic growth over the past 12 months have continued to bolster demand for goods and services. Latest figures from Statistics New Zealand finds total electronic card transactions by value increased 3.8 percent for the June 2018 quarter, relative to the same quarter a year ago. CPI appreciated a modest 1.5 percent over the same period indicating growth in transactional value represents continued consumer demand. The retail services category marked the greatest increase (6.3 percent) followed closely by the hospitality industry (5.7 percent).

Industrial information

According to the BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI), New Zealand’s manufacturing sector has remained in continuous positive expansion since October 2012. The seasonally adjusted PMI for June 2018 was 52.8, a decrease of 1.5 points in May. This still marks as a positive score with PMI above 50 considered expansionary. The services sector is also thriving as indicated by the BNZ-BusinessNZ Performance of Services Index (PSI), which measures New Zealand’s services sector (such as supplier deliv-

eries). The seasonally adjusted PSI for June 2018 was 52.8, a decrease of 4.3 points relative to May, but once again still positive and in expansion mode since August 2010. Alan McMahon is National Director Research & Consulting at Colliers International, a leading commercial real estate company and has you covered worldwide, with 396 offices in 66 countries PROPERTYANDBUILD.COM

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Listening to buildings talk All the work amidst the country’s building boom does not go unnoticed by neighbouring properties. The buildings themselves, if only we would listen, have a lot to tell us on the matter

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has spent decades researching how buildings respond to external impacts. Following large scale structural engineering tests in the UK to study the resulting vibrations, Jeary had his ‘eureka’ moment 20 years ago. He realised these vibrations can tell you everything you need to know about a building’s integrity, including how it responds to nearby construction over time.

Cracking new technology

Although 20 years have passed since Jeary’s initial realisation, only in the past five years has it become possible to measure the unique dynamic signature or ‘heartbeat’ of any aboveground structure. It took decades of work to perfect the algorithms and pair it with the sensor technology to monitor buildings in real-time. STructural Risk Assessment And Management, or STRAAM as Jeary’s

method is now called, represents an ideological shift in the way buildings are analysed. Compared to the prevailing methodology of visual inspection, STRAAM provides much needed objectivity and transparency. “Without STRAAM the engineering profession has a bit of a problem,” says Jeary. “At present, you send someone in to have a look and there’s a lot of damage that you just can’t see. They look at the cracks, but really they are just taking an educated guess. A crack is the result of some energy seeking a convenient location to downgrade. “By measuring the non-linear structural behaviour, we get to understand where that energy dissipates.” STRAAM uses accelerometers to measure a structure’s response, and thereby its non-linear behaviour. The other common method currently used involves devices that measure velocities in the building’s movement,

Few have the confidence

This need for objectivity and transparency has already driven STRAAM’s use in high profile building projects in New York City. When construction began next door to a Manhattan school, the administrators wanted to ensure there was no danger to the children. With the information they received from STRAAM, they were able to confirm that it would be safe – a statement that Jeary claims very few people would be able to make with confidence. Closer to home, STRAAM is also beginning to find its footing according to specialist engineering firm and exclusive provider of STRAAM in Australasia, Mainmark. Business Development Manager NZ, James O’Grady, describes the solution as a panacea to the uncertainty that has plagued engineering for far too long. “Until now, monitoring operations have been aimed at resolving disputes after the fact,” says O’Grady. “We provide an objective measurement to baseline measure a structure’s capacity and performance, avoid damage to the structure, and provide real-time response alerts and warnings to all parties to mitigate unnecessary litigation. “The STRAAM monitoring is unique in that many monitoring systems will tell us that an event has occurred and the size of that event. “Only STRAAM tells us whether the event had a detrimental impact on the structure or not.” “All in all, it’s about real-time awareness and the sharing of information – everybody wins.” Mainmark has begun monitoring a New Zealand heritage building, known as Britomart Hotel (also known as White Rabbit), a two-storey, unreinforced, bluestone masonry structure in poor condition due to its age. There was concern that the building would be vulnerable to structural damage while a new apartment building was being developed next door, particularly during the early excavation and piling phases, which tend to shake the ground. These vibrations can undermine the footings and cause significant structural damage. Over the next two years, STRAAM will be used to monitor the building and determine how a neighbouring construction site is impacting the

building. Every drill and hammer stroke will be monitored and logged throughout the course of the two years. Mainmark has established alarms so that if forces exceed set parameters, all relevant parties will be informed in real-time and can adjust practices accordingly. Already the technology has been useful to determine safe work levels for construction workers around the heritage building. In Australia, Mainmark will soon use STRAAM to monitor a bridge for unloading materials in a busy Queensland mine. Transporting materials in and out of the facility is a continuous operation running on a 24-hour cycle. The speed at which materials are transported from the facility directly impact the dollar value of each tonne extracted. At present, one vehicle is permitted across the access bridge at any one time, creating a limit on the mine’s

output. However, if STRAAM can determine with certainty that the bridge can handle an increased load, the result could mean millions of dollars of extra annual profit.

How STRAAM works

Even in the absence of external factors, minute vibrations can be detected in just about any structure. By using accelerometers sensitive enough to detect these vibrations, STRAAM can say with certainty precisely what is happening. To collect the vibration data, a technician installs a portable device the size of a large briefcase. Its components consist of a data logger known as an SCG (structurocardiograph) connected to high precision accelerometers and strain gauges. The accelerometers measure displacement, tilt and dynamics, while the strain gauges measure deflection. Depending on the application, the derived data can be live-streamed

An 'anchor point' bolted on with heavy duty fittings to a the masonry parapet on the rooftop of the Britomart Hotel (White Rabbit). The accelerometers are then mounted to these brackets and shielded

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but relies on assumptions about intensity correlations with damage, and as a result can overestimate values. “Our approach is different,” says Jeary. “We provide an objective measurement by using a risk ratio – this is a very new approach. We don’t assume anything; we measure it.”

over the internet for the duration of a project. This provides real-time guidance to how a project is going and can also provide a log of incidents over the history of a project. STRAAM can be used on a one-off application to provide a snapshot of a building’s structural integrity, however it is best utilised when continuously monitoring. By measuring before and after changes to a building or its surrounding environment, it is possible to tell whether the building is structurally sound, whether it needs some remediation, or in extreme cases, whether it needs to be pulled down.

Beyond buildings

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Jeary also points to disaster response as another crucial application. When seismic activity hits, Jeary

anticipates STRAAM will be there to assess the damage. By memorialising the building condition now with a STRAAM baseline, any loss of stiffness or capacity can be quickly identified by repeating the STRAAM analysis after an event. “Essentially what you are doing is looking for the response of a structure to a particular event,” says Jeary. “We can then look at a risk ratio to see how much residual capacity is left after the event. “We compare the measured capacity with what would be required for a new construction. “If the capacity is about two thirds, you’re okay. “If it’s between one-third and twothirds, then remediation work may be required. If below one-third, the best thing may be to redevelop the structure,”

Jeary advises. “STRAAM is absolutely ideal when major construction is going on, because it allows continuous vibration measurement in real time,” says Jeary. Mainmark provides a range of specialist ground engineering and asset preservation solutions for residential, commercial, industrial, civil infrastructure and mining sectors via 15 sites across Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Japan and the UK. Its products and services include solutions for ground stabilisation, void filling, stopping water ingress, raising and levelling on-ground and in-ground structures, fixing anchors into rock faces and embankments, and other related ground engineering processes. Visit www.mainmark.com/products/ straam The SCG (data logger) receives and performs the initial processing of the raw data that comes from the accelerometers and then sends wirelessly to the on-line cloud

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Bridge corrosion is a costly problem

The centre pylon of the Makatote viaduct prepared for restoration - Layher

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Avoidable corrosion damage accounts for A$8 billion of Australiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s A$32 billion asset management bill. The proportional costs and impact of corrosion are similar for most countries in the Asia Pacific region, says the Australian Corrosion Association

orrosion will affect all types of metals to varying degrees of severity and speed. Degradation of bridges is caused by many different factors, including corrosion and other stresses from both the environment and heavy vehicles. The problem has a major economic impact on industry and the wider community. Unless comprehensive management plans are developed and implemented, steel and other metals will rust and reinforced concrete will spall and crack. Corrosion can be prevented or minimised by either isolating the material from its environment with some sort of coating or implementing an active intervention system such as cathodic protection.

Environmental effects

The environment and prevailing climatic conditions also contribute to the degradation of bridges. The largest cities in the region are either in coastal or tropical zones, with some even exposed to the combination of both. Bridges in Darwin and Brisbane, along with many other cities throughout the region, can be impacted by extreme wind speeds of tropical storms in addition to the high levels of airborne salt found in coastal locations. Harsh environments â&#x20AC;&#x201C; especially with high chemical levels or extreme temperatures -- can accelerate rates of corrosion. Bridges also carry massive loads from moving vehicles which impose vibrational and other stresses onto structures. Approximately 200,000 cars and trucks cross Melbourne's Westgate Bridge each day, making it one of the country's busiest road corridors. Sydney's Harbour Bridge carries 160,000 vehicles each day between North Sydney and the CBD as well as 58

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204 trains. The Auckland Harbour Bridge carries a similar volume of road traffic, although it is estimated that half the people crossing the bridge in the morning peak hour are on buses.

Asset management strategies

The owners and managers of these assets must ensure that bridges are safe while maintaining acceptable levels of service for the duration of the expected life of the asset. If appropriate asset management strategies are implemented, it is possible to restore an asset to near its original condition and maintain its functionality for the remaining service life and, possibly, even beyond. Working with industry and academia to research all aspects of corrosion, the Australasian Corrosion Association Inc. (ACA) provides an extensive knowledge base that supports best practice in corrosion management, thereby ensuring all impacts of corrosion are responsibly managed, the environment is protected, public safety enhanced, and economies improved.

Awareness increasing

Recognition of the need to effectively maintain road and rail infrastructure is increasing, as witnessed by the announcement by the Australian Federal government of further funding of its national Bridges Renewal Programme. Darren Chester, former Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, notes that the Australian government's funding would see an additional 186 projects added to the replacement or upgrade work being carried out on 201 bridges already. The new funding is in addition to the A$216 million already committed under the first two rounds of the program. Another sign of increasing awaremness was the initiation by Raed El Sarraf, Corrosion and Asset Integrity

Consultant with WSP Opus in New Zealand of a Big Bridges Workshop in 2017 that was held in Sydney and attended by representatives of the stakeholders in the larger, iconic bridges in the region, including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Auckland Harbour Bridge, Brisbane's Story Bridge and Melbourne's Westgate Bridge.

Common causes

The two most common causes of concrete corrosion are carbonation and chloride or salt attack. The alkaline (high pH) conditions in concrete forms a passive film on the surface of the steel reinforcing bars, thus preventing or minimising corrosion. Reduction of the pH caused by carbonation or ingress of chloride (salt) causes the passive film to degrade, allowing the reinforcement to corrode in the presence of oxygen and moisture. Leaching of the alkalinity from concrete also lowers pH to cause corrosion of steel reinforcement. Stray electrical currents, most

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commonly from electrified traction systems, can also breakdown the passive film and cause corrosion of steel reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete elements. As reinforcing bars rust, the volume of the rust products can increase up to six times that of the original steel, thus increasing pressure on the surrounding material which slowly cracks the concrete. The most exposed elements usually deteriorate first, and it may take five to 15 years for the effects of reinforcing steel corrosion to become visibly noticeable. Cracks eventually appear on the surface and concrete starts to flake off or spall.

Sectional losses

Warren Green, Director and Corrosion Engineer at engineering consultancy firm, Vinsi Partners, notes that not all corrosion of reinforcement leads to visible rust staining, cracking, delamination or spalling of cover concrete. Significant section loss can also occur where there is localised pitting

or localised corrosion at cracks and surface defects. Ultimately, structural failure may occur without any visible consequences of corrosion on the surface of the concrete. Pits usually start out quite narrow, but with time coalesce to form larger ones and result in section loss over a greater (anodic) area.

Maintenance and repair

Various repair and protection technologies and approaches are possible during the lifetime of a reinforced concrete structure, depending on the type of corrosion mechanism. Remedial options available that can slow the rate of reinforcement corrosion include coatings, penetrants, waterproofing, corrosion inhibitors, electrochemical (galvanic anodes) and electrochemical (hybrid treatment). There are also remedial options to stop corrosion of reinforcement. These include cathodic protection, electrochemical chloride extraction and electrochemical re-alkalisation. In addition to the range of repair

and protection approaches, the latest concrete structures incorporate new materials and production methods which improve longevity and performance. As a result of the research into concrete additives, construction companies and engineering consultancies have access to all the latest technologies that yield a suite of proactive and reactive processes and procedures to maximise the durability of reinforced and pre-stressed concrete.

Challenges

The physical aspects of applying a coating or repairing a section of steel or concrete present their own challenges for owners and operators of bridges. The towers and stays of suspension-type bridges often require staff to have advanced abseiling skills so they can access them. Metal structures usually need specialised equipment and scaffolding to allow workers to safely perform maintenance work. New Zealand has about 2300 bridgINFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

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es of varying size and a large proportion are concrete decks on steel frames and supports or pre-stressed concrete structures.This is in addition to bridges made of conventional reinforced concrete and timber. According to Willie Mandeno, Principal Materials and Corrosion Engineer with WSP Opus, the maintenance and monitoring of these structures continually adapts to changing conditions and technologies.

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Auckland Harbour Bridge

The iconic Auckland Harbour Bridge is a steel truss and box girder design. For many years, the maintenance of this bridge involved a continuing program of painting, where applicators started at one end and when they got to the other end, went back to the beginning again. According to Mandeno, this has changed. “Old oil-based paints became very brittle and could crack then delaminate,” he says. “In the late 1990s they changed to a moisture cured urethane which gives approximately a 20-year lifespan before the bridge needs to be repainted.” While the time between recoating is now much longer, it is still necessary to continually monitor the old coatings to ensure adhesion is maintained. “When re-coating, the ideal is to just replace the top coat,” Mandeno says, “but we usually have to do some maintenance work first, such as cleaning and re-priming of edges and around rivet heads.”

Hazardous chemical solutions

Early solvent-based paints used to contain chromates and lead, along with a range of other hazardous chemicals. “We have had to balance protecting the environment with the reduced performance of water-based coat-

A weathering steel narrow-gauge rail bridge in New Zealand

ings,” Mandeno explains. “One solvent-free long-life coating that we now recommend for use in coastal areas is thermal sprayed zinc. “One limitation of this material, and the alternative high-build inorganic zinc silicate coatings, is that they are only available in shades of grey.”

Roading standards

Many roads throughout the region are being upgraded to allow for longer and heavier trucks. All road authorities face similar challenges when managing the risks of ageing infrastructure designed to a much lower standard, whilst still providing access for modern heavy vehicles. Short span structures like culverts

Auckland Harbour Bridge now uses a moisture cured urethane with a 20-year lifespan 60

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are only exposed to one axle group at any one time whereas longer span structures built during the past century are now required to carry substantially more load than they were originally designed for.

Better designs

Mandeno says that many of New Zealand’s older timber rail bridges nearing the end of their useful life are being replaced by weathering steel girder bridges which should provide a longer operational lifespan. Officially known as “structural steel with improved atmospheric corrosion resistance,” weathering steel is a highstrength, low-alloy steel that, in suitable environments. Those not exposed to high levels of salinity and pollutants

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Corrosion mitigation flowchart

-- may be left unpainted allowing a protective rust â&#x20AC;&#x153;patinaâ&#x20AC;? to form and minimise further corrosion. Alloy components such as copper, chromium, silicon and phosphorus form less than two percent of the steel but it retains appropriate strength, ductility, toughness and weldability so that it can be used for bridge construction.

Slowing the process

All structural steel rusts at a rate determined by the amount of moisture and oxygen to which the metallic iron is exposed. As this process continues, the oxide (rust) layer becomes a barrier restricting further ingress of moisture and oxygen to the metal, and the rate of corrosion slows down. The rust layer that forms on most conventional carbon-manganese structural steels is relatively porous and flakes off the surface allowing a fresh corrosion cycle to occur. However, due to the alloying elements in weathering steel, a stable rust layer is produced that adheres to the base metal and is much less porous. This layer develops under conditions of alternate wetting and drying to produce a protective barrier which impedes further access of oxygen and moisture. It is possible that if the rust layer remains sufficiently impervious and tightly adhering, the corrosion rate may reduce to an extremely low one.

Bridge stresses

It can be relatively simple to calculate loads and stresses on bridges when weights are distributed evenly

across the structure, but road authorities also have to deal with heavy and over-dimension loads. Movement of such vehicles requires special planning as there are some roads and bridges that are physically unable to support massive weight concentrated into a small area. Modern technology can assist in managing some structures sensitive to vibration from heavy vehicles. Electronic sensors can be set up to monitor vibrations and other stresses on structures so that a large number of data points are logged that can be downloaded for analysis. Sensors can also be connected to remote cameras that are triggered whenever a threshold vibration level is exceeded to identify which vehicles are producing these effects.

Durability plan

It is strongly recommended that a durability plan be developed which then becomes a critical tool in supporting an overarching asset management strategy. The plan should clearly outline likely corrosion-related risks and agreed mitigation approaches as early as possible in an assetâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lifecycle, ideally during the planning and design stage. INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

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Tax revenue allocation a key question for reform There are four “macro” questions to consider when reviewing the tax system, says Hamish Glenn. Who pays the tax, how much do they pay, where does the tax go and who allocates the tax revenue?

reater consideration needs to be given to the fourth question. It is not just tax payers who are incentivised by different tax structures, it is also the administering bodies. Central government, which is majority funded by taxes tied to economic performance, has different incentives than local government, whose funding is tied to capped property rates which are guaranteed regardless of economic performance. Central government is incentivised to want, invest in and proactively pursue economic growth. Local government is much more focused on cost minimisation.

Not all taxes are equal

Some taxes are gathered at the point of value creation, while others are gathered retrospectively from individuals and businesses. Income tax on wages and salaries, for example, tends to be levied before payments are made to workers. In contrast, local government rates are paid out of a home-owner’s after-tax income. To pay income tax, a worker does nothing. 62

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The money is redirected before the salary or wage is deposited into the worker’s account and, other than in the unusual instance of a tax rate increase, the impact on the worker’s income, earnings or wealth is unnoticeable. To pay a rates levy, a home-owning worker must actively transfer money from their own savings account to their local council.

Politics and local government

Each payment “hurts” and every increase takes more money away from a voter which they in most cases considered rightfully theirs. The combination of guaranteed revenue not tied to economic performance and heavily politicised taxation practices is shaping local government priorities in ways which are having severely negative impacts on New Zealand. Most notably, the reluctance of councils to invest in infrastructure to support new housing and development and zone land sufficient to promote competitive urban land markets is the driving force behind housing unaffordability and undersupply.

Fairer and more efficient

A much more efficient, fair and effective taxation system needs to reallocate funding from economic performance taxes – GST, income and/ or corporate tax – to local government to align councils’ priorities with wider society and central government. Whether councils are granted a share of GST, income or corporate tax, or given some scope to levy additional GST, income or corporate tax, is something that needs to be given a high level of consideration. As long as councils have a guaranteed funding source, independent of council performance and central government direction, councils cannot be expected to act in manner which promotes wider societal objectives.

Rates and land taxes

The Tax Working Group’s Discussion Document highlights an issue with the taxation of property. Most notably, Working Group evidence suggests that capital and, in particular, property is taxed comparatively little in New Zealand. The greater part of this issue can be remedied simply, efficiently and fairly by resolving the obvious inconsisten-

Housing crisis

Land use regulations, including urban boundaries to prevent urban expansion and height restrictions to limit densification, are designed to protect the interests of established residents either by controlling the speed of change in local areas or by limiting

the exposure of existing residents to the costs of new infrastructure. Land use regulation also restricts the supply of urban land, increases the cost of development and slows the supply of housing. Greater land use regulation therefore benefits existing property owners by protecting local areas and amenity from change, limiting new rates-funded capital investment and inflating capital values by restricting the supply of new housing (thereby increasing relative demand). Rate (and also weak capital gains policies) should act as a counterweight by increasing the revenue to councils from rising property values caused by restrictive land use policies, but under current settings do not. Capped rates protect established residents from rising land taxes, even while their wealth expands, and provide no additional revenue to councils to address the negative externalities of restrictive land use regulation.

Ad Valorem land tax

Under an ad valorem land tax approach, land use restrictions which slow the speed of housing and push up land values would come with three major consequences. First, land value increases would be met with a proportionate increase in council/government revenue to address emerging needs, such as demand for subsidised housing. Second, established residents would “feel” the impact of land use policies which constrain development by way of rapidly increasing “rates”. Third, higher and more rapidly

changing “rates” would improve the price signals sent to land owners about the true value of their land. These consequences would, in our view, provide some balance to urban land use policies which at the moment are strongly in favour of existing residents over future residents. Furthermore, readily accessible evidence from the Auckland Council and others indicates that property owners are much more likely to engage in local body elections. This has given rise to what the Productivity Commission has labelled a “democratic deficit”, whereby the interests of established voting residents has been reinforced in policies promoted by politicians striving for election.

Capital rich and cash poor

Infrastructure New Zealand acknowledges that residents can be “capital rich” and “cash poor”, making it significantly more complex politically to gather a pure land tax than a capped rate. However, councils already have in place policies which allow particularly older residents on fixed incomes to defer rates payments until a home is sold. This policy can be expanded so that those benefitting from increases in wealth can in part be insulated from the most significant impacts of this benefit, while still paying a tax rate which reflects their benefit. Another advantage of land tax is that it operates as a much more accurate “value capture” tool, potentially removing the need for expansion of this

Land use regulation also restricts the supply of urban land, increases the cost of development and slows the supply of housing

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cy in the way that land is taxed in New Zealand. Unlike GST, income and corporate tax, increases in land value are for all intents and purposes not taxed in New Zealand. Rates are charged based on a series of inputs, reflecting among other things land values. However, rates are not “ad valorem” (ie levied in proportion to a property’s land or capital value), they are capped and reflect relative rather than absolute value. Thus, in a city like Auckland which has seen very rapid increases in land value, rates for many residents have at times fallen in spite of land value increases because their property values have increased more slowly than others. The complex and inconsistent way that property is taxed does have advantages, including insulating councils and residents from fluctuations in property values. But to continue to limit the exposure of the wealthiest New Zealanders and by far the largest asset class in the country to what strongly appears to be their “fair share” of the tax burden is not only questionable from an equity perspective, it is having a deleterious effect on urban growth policies.

theoretically attractive, but in practice complex, concept. We highlight the work of Infrastructure Australia in their investigation of value capture. After significant analysis, Infrastructure Australia determined that the fairest, most efficient and effective way to capture land value improvement was as simple as a broad-based land tax.

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Tax swap

broader tax base would offset some of this risk. More importantly, councils would have incentives realigned with wider societal objectives and central government would receive a share of

"A much more efficient, fair and effective taxation system needs to reallocate funding from economic performance taxes – GST, income and/or corporate tax – to local government to align councils’ priorities with wider society and central government"

Concerns that, with an ad valorem land tax in place, councils could be exposed to severe reductions in revenue if property prices fall could be mitigated by a “tax swap” with central government. If central government was to receive a share of land taxes, most notably the variable component reflecting the value of overall property/land, and local councils a share of GST, income and/ or corporate taxes, concerns about council financial resilience could be mitigated. Although councils would be exposed to some risk via their share of local GST, income and/or corporate tax, the

the benefit from major Government decisions. If a portion of local government revenue was tied to the value created by council activities, local government would be incentivised “go for growth”, effecting a culture shift inside many councils challenged by high costs and limited revenue. Central government and, to the extent it is exposed, local government would, meanwhile, see a direct benefit from activities which add value to land. Major city shaping infrastructure like the City Rail Link, light rail or an even-

Visualisation of light rail on Dominion Road - Auckland Transport

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tual Weymouth crossing which unlock vast tracts of land for development would be much more likely to achieve cross-government support. The Working Group needs to look closely at who gets what type of tax and whether changes to the allocation of different taxes could achieve better alignment of government generally with public outcomes. An analysis of whether local government in its current form is capable of managing more complex funding systems should comprise part of this work.

Revenue bonds

A further taxation tool we consider should be given consideration by the Working Group are directly elected taxes tied to defined projects or initiatives. Under this approach, councils could ask the electorate for support to raise debt to finance an investment as well as to levy the tax to pay off the debt over the long term. Such tools are commonplace in the United States, where they are most

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commonly implemented as revenue bonds. The principal advantage of this approach is that, while the debt sits on an organisation’s consolidated balance sheet, with appropriate ring-fencing of the obligation and future tax revenue, ratings agencies permit a much higher degree of leverage. Both sales and land tax revenues are used in the US to repay bond issuances for major public projects. A one percent sales tax increase, for example, was supported by the greater Dallas electorate as a means to rolling out a rapid transit system. An attractive outcome from wider use of this type of project finance in the US is some apparent depoliticisation of investments; rather that contesting projects through elections, direct votes are held helping to separate parties from projects. The Working Group could investigate revenue bonds and whether there are barriers to their adoption here.

Road pricing and water metering

Infrastructure New Zealand supports the wider application of direct user charges, most notably road pricing and water metering. Traditionally, water and transport investment has been managed by councils and government agencies because charging and use for the assets has been difficult to oversee. Technology has radically broken down the barriers to accurate and equitable charging for “public” services. Infrastructure NZ believes that water charging should be disaggregated from local body rates and water use metered. Charging for the operation of water assets based on consumption has been proven to lower total water demand and the presence of a revenue stream to repay debt means public water companies can be separated from council balance sheets. This will enable water companies to borrow more heavily to invest in services, opening more land for development and promoting the government’s objective of competitive urban land markets. The technology is now available to charge all vehicles using public roads by total trip length, location and time of day. Further, prices for using roads can be raised and lowered to reflect road scarcity, ie higher charges can be applied at busy times and lower charges at less busy times. This approach is much more efficient than existing road user charges and fuel excise and is inevitable given the shift already underway to electric vehicles.

However, the Working Group should also investigate the monopoly risks of the state determining road pricing levels.

Invest the proceeds back

While Infrastructure New Zealand is a strong proponent of road pricing, there is a clear risk that suboptimal implementation could lead to an inefficient tax on travel. That is, the objective of transport policy is always to facilitate and enable travel. Travel is essential to economic, social and political integration and any charge which exceeds the actual cost of providing services is impeding the most fundamental societal outcomes. If other objectives prevail, for example, congestion reduction or moving trips to public transport, road users will be charged a price which overestimates the cost of their decisions, disincentivising travel. In order for road pricing to be efficient, fair and supportive of broad societal outcomes, the revenue generated by road charges must be fully hypothecated to the people who pay the charges. That is, revenue must be injected into maintaining existing roads,

expanding capacity where revenue exceeds the cost of improvements or into alternatives which benefit the users paying the road charges (for example, a public transport solution where the contribution of road charges is proportionate to the number of vehicles taken off the road). Infrastructure New Zealand considers it important that the Working Group investigates the fundamentals of fair, efficient and equitable road pricing policy as this initiative is now being worked through inside government.

Hamish Glenn is Policy Director at Infrastructure New Zealand, the peak industry body for the infrastructure sector that promotes best practice in national infrastructure development through research, advocacy and public and private sector collaboration INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

AUGUST 2018

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A package of funding options is needed to fund mixed-use infrastructure provision and maintenance, says Dave Cull

ocal Government New Zealand congratulated the government on recognising “what councils have been saying for some time “ that tourists should contribute to the costs of the infrastructure that they use. The government plan proposes a border levy on some overseas visitors entering New Zealand, to fund mixeduse infrastructure used by tourists such as toilets, car parking, access ways, local transport, drinking water supply, wastewater services and solid waste refuse. But, having agreed on this important principle, it’s now time to move the conversation onto the development of a package of fit for purpose funding options, including a “ocal tourist levy. It’s no secret that record tourism growth is straining infrastructure, both

solely used by tourists, and mixed use for both locals and tourists, which has to be built to specifications beyond local needs to accommodate peak tourist season demands. The combined investment of LGNZ’s 78-member councils on infrastructure make local government the largest contributor to the tourism industry in New Zealand, but while central government receives all the GST revenue, local government are picking up the majority of the costs. The government via its proposed International Visitor and Conservation Tourism Levy (or border tax) accepts there is a funding shortfall, however this represents only a partial solution to maintaining the social licence that tourism holds with New Zealanders, as a significant number of tourists,

Dave Cull is President of Local Government New Zealand

INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

AUGUST 2018

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Local tourist levy needed to fund mixed-use tourism infrastructure

including Australian, Pacific Island and domestic tourists will be exempt from the levy. This is why LGNZ are proposing a local tourist levy to achieve a solution to local and mixed-use infrastructure provision and maintenance. Throughout the world local tourist levies are a common way of meeting the costs that tourism creates in local communities, with, for example, accommodation levies used commonly throughout Europe, the United States, Spain, Fiji, Vanuatu, Canada and Japan. Currently, New Zealand is an outlier in respect of its lack of a local tourist levy. While the detail is yet to be worked through, as a general principle a Local Tourist Levy will apply to the number of bed nights occupied by tourists in all forms of commercial accommodation – a form of “bed tax” via a flat rate per night or percentage of accommodation bill. It would provide a number of benefits to both tourists and New Zealanders by ensuring that tourists contribute to the costs of infrastructure, removing red tape and distribution issues associated with a central tax as the levy would go directly back to the council, and would allow for all visitors to contribute – the current border tax excludes a substantial percentage of visitors, including the growing Australian market, with 1.5 million tourists from across the Tasman visiting each year. Importantly, as part of a package of funding tools, it would ensure that future visitors to New Zealand get an improved customer experience. A local tourist levy would also provide an incentive to councils to raise their service level offering to tourists. Present funding arrangements achieve the exact opposite of that goal. Because local communities face all of the costs but capture none of the revenue, they are not always incentivised to welcome tourists. Local government is committed to preserving and enhancing the ongoing success of the tourism industry, but to achieve that goal a fairer solution for infrastructure must be found if ordinary New Zealanders are to continue to support the growth of the industry.

INFRASTRUCTURE

B Forecast infrastructure investment cause for concern “The National Construction Pipeline report issued today by MBIE shows infrastructure investment projections down dramatically on those of 2017, highlighting the problem of uncertainty in the infrastructure sector and raising serious questions about New Zealand’s ability to service new housing,” says Stephen Selwood CEO of Infrastructure New Zealand

East West link waiting in the wings - NZTA Artist's impression of Penlink, a bridge over the Weiti River linking the Whangaparaoa Peninsula - Auckland Transport

RANZ research shows last year's spending was down 9% on the 2017 projections. While their research indicates an increase in capital intentions in the near term, they also show a subsequent drop-off from the beginning of 2021. Putting the initial bump aside, overall infrastructure capital expenditure is forecast to flatline over the next five years. The Capital Goods Price Index (CGPI) has been rising at 3 per cent over the past decade, suggesting there could be even less investment in infrastructure in the early 2020s than there is today – and we already know that we’re well short of where we need to be. Auckland, a city buckling under the pressure of growth compounded by decades of infrastructure underinvestment, will, even with major Government investments announced to date, fall in real terms over the next five years. BRANZ projections show that construction activity is projected to fall everywhere outside of Auckland over the next couple of years. We will not be able to address homelessness and meet growth with less infrastructure investment. Homes need pipes, roads and cables and new approaches to infrastructure investment need to be implemented. This is a very timely report and provides a clear signal to Government that it needs to move up a gear with urgency. There are projects in the pipeline sitting there waiting for signoff, including Mill Rd, Penlink and the East West Link in Auckland as well as components of Let’s Get Wellington Moving and major upgrades to the SH2 corridor north of Tauranga among other state highway projects nationwide. These projects are needed for homes, tourism and regional economic development. If the government chooses not to fund these and other projects itself, it needs to allow private capital to be deployed to accelerate investment in transport, water and social infrastructure to support housing and growth. Click here to view a copy of the National Construction Pipeline.

Stephen Selwood is the Chief Executive of Infrastructure New Zealand

AUGUST 2018

Artist's impression of trams on Lambton Quay - Light Rail Transit Association

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National infrastructure pipeline needs work Kiwi civil contractors warn that while a recent construction forecast looks to steady the ship, the current course risks an underwhelming response to major challenges and losing talent to a booming overseas infrastructure markets

he National Construction Pipeline Report 2018 forecasts future building and construction activity across New Zealand, covering a sixyear period to 2023. Civil Contractors New Zealand (CCNZ) Chief Executive Peter Silcock said while marginal increases in infrastructure investment are planned and may give contractors confidence to invest for future growth, more is needed to tackle challenges resulting from increased severe weather events, population growth and chronic underinvestment in New Zealand’s water infrastructure. “While it’s good to see steady longterm growth, a lot of this is coming from increased residential development. Marginal increases for major projects simply aren’t enough to tackle the challenges we’re facing in our water and transport infrastructure.” Mr Silcock said CCNZ was also concerned transport infrastructure construction expenditure would reduce as design, consenting and preparatory work for new projects over the next two to three years as the Government’s focus shifted from state highways to light rail and rapid transit. “Most of the work on the ground

won’t begin for several years. This is a serious concern for contractors. Planning and consenting work for major infrastructure projects needs to start now for work intended to start in 2023.” Mr Silcock said while promising language features heavily in the report, it remains to be seen how this will be put into practice across local government, where a substantial gap between intentions and activity can often be seen and work on the ground rarely matches forecasts. He said the Office of the Auditor General had repeatedly raised concerns around local government spending less than projected on capital projects, including new infrastructure and major upgrades. In the 2015/16 audit results, local authorities local authorities spent only 70 per cent of what was budgeted for capital expenditure, with little improvement in the 2016-17 results. Any reduction in projects on the ground would come at a critical time when infrastructure work on Australia’s east coast is booming, and New Zealand looked set to lose talent and capabilities across the Tasman if projects were not moved forward to

bridge the lull in project work. Despite these concerns, contractors welcomed the intent of the report, which placed a focus on consistent workflow and development of skills – important factors for contractors in planning future investment in their people, plant and systems, Mr Silcock said. “It’s great to see appreciation of key concerns such as the need for steady workflow and industry training pathways coming through so strongly in the National Construction Pipeline Report. These have been major concerns for the industry and if they can be addressed correctly, we will have a future to look forward to.”

Peter Silcock is the Chief Executive of Civil Contractors New Zealand

INFRASTRUCTURENEWS.CO.NZ

AUGUST 2018

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