Property & Build: Summer 2022

Keeping your worksite safe this flu season

Health experts across New Zealand are warning Kiwis to prepare for what could be a severe flu season this year.

The national lockdown in 2020 essentially stamped out what was already circulating in New Zealand, with flu rates plummeting 99 per cent that year, basically ridding the country of the influenza virus.

Now with relaxing restrictions and New Zealand reopening to the world, health experts are concerned that two years of living in a flu-free environment may have left our immunity levels vulnerable to the virus.

And there is reason to be concerned. The flu usually infects around one in four Kiwis annually - mainly between May and October.

The prospect of a severe flu season, adding to a construction industry already hampered by labour and supply shortages, stresses how it is more important than ever to

safeguard yourself and others on site.

Site Safe training advisor

Kyle O’Keefe said the best way those on-site can prepare for a severe flu season is to get vaccinated and stay fit and active.

“On average, those [who] get the flu are sick for five to 10 days, which could be two weeks off work. Often people report feeling fatigued for a few weeks after that, but it may take weeks to start feeling better if you’re unvaccinated and out of shape.”

Kyle said it was important to be prepared as New Zealand’s isolation from the rest of the world will likely mean more people will get sick due to the lack of exposure.

Promoting wellness, getting immunised and encouraging the workforce to “get off the couch and away from screens” while

also encouraging them to stay away from work when they’re symptomatic was a “huge step in the right direction” for mitigating the risks of illnesses at work.

Southern Cross Health Insurance chief medical officer, Dr Stephen Child, said getting as many New Zealanders as possible vaccinated against influenza will be critical this season.

That’s why the health insurer offers its members a free flu jab.

“New Zealand’s strict border controls for managing the spread of Covid-19 mean the influenza virus has largely been absent for a significant period of time, which creates an immunity gap. The most effective tool we have for closing this gap is the influenza vaccine.”

Dr Child said last year’s Respiratory Syncytial Virus

outbreak following the short opening of the border between New Zealand and Australia shows the pressure such immunity gaps can place on the health system.

Meanwhile, Site Safe recently formed a Covid-19 protocols document in collaboration with an industry working group of health and safety experts as a go-to guide for the industry.

It reflects the realities of managing Covid-19 and other respiratory illnesses on-site and highlights some key actions that can help keep your workforce healthy.

You can find the complete industry protocols guide on the Site Safe website under guides and resources.

Jonathan Guildford

Identified shortcomings adversely impact safe chemical management

Responding to WorkSafe NZ seeking additional funding to carry out its role, the just released 2021 WorkSafe Strategic Baseline Review commissioned by MBIE concluded the organisation will never have the resources to effectively undertake the everwidening range of duties

relating to ensuring safe and healthy workplaces.

The report commended WorkSafe for progress achieved since its inception following the Pike River Mine tragedy but found problems in the organisation’s ability to undertake its regulatory role, beginning with not having a clear strategy for

achieving it.

The report found the organisation cannot clearly describe what it does, nor assess the effectiveness of its many interventions. There is no clear promulgation of WorkSafe’s core responsibilities to secure buy-in from key stakeholders.

Of particular interest to the chemical industry was the recommendation that WorkSafe would be more effective by involving industry sector stakeholders.

WorkSafe diverts already scarce resources to meet ever-changing Ministerial priorities and increasingly diverse ‘wellbeing’

"A rule of government is never look into anything you don't have to, never start an enquiry unless you know what its findings will be"

Sir Humphrey Appleby

demands.

Engaging with proactive industry associations to help develop and implement effective workplace health and safety strategies and practices, reducing demand for WorkSafe involvement, would allow limited capability and funding to be better applied.

A timely example highlighted in the review is the finding that WorkSafe is struggling with the regulatory responsibility to develop and maintain codes of practice and guidance material.

The former NZ Chemical Industry Council (now Responsible Care NZ) was one of three ‘midwives’ at the birth of the much-loved Hazardous Substances and New Organisms (HSNO) legislation.

A key industry contribution was the suite of enforceable Approved HSNO Codes of Practice (ACoPs) which comprehensively answered the “Just tell me what to do and how to do it” requirements of chemical suppliers, their customers, the regulators and the enforcement agencies.

Chemical industry RCNZ ACoPs, developed with the rigour required of international Standards, provide the industry best practice performance standards required for training, compliance and enforcement.

Our HSNO Code

Committees included representation from every user group, particularly the relevant regulatory bodies, validated by extensive consultation with stakeholders.

WorkSafe NZ publications intended to provide ‘good practice’ compliance solutions include ‘Quick

controversial compliance requirements. These range from clarifying compliance options to obtaining authoritative advice from risk-averse officials.

Responsible Care NZ continues to seek a mutually beneficial partnership with each of the nine government agencies

the training of industry certifiers and enforcement agencies, delivering common understanding and interpretation.

Acknowledging the benefit of this proven yet abandoned approach, would relieve pressure on WorkSafe resources.

The government is proposing to implement an Infringement Offence scheme to incentivise compliance with increasingly confounding regulations.

Guides’, technical guidelines, good practice guides and even the allimportant ‘approved codes’. While reflecting the best practice intentions and even the content of our HSNO ACoPs, none of the present WorkSafe chemical-related

involved in safe chemical management, most of which continue to work in isolation from an industry sector they serve.

Returning to proven, international best practice, whereby industry sectors produce and maintain user-

It is always disappointing when threats and penalties are the government’s first response when attempting to improve workplace health and safety performance, especially when industry has solutions to offer.

Business operators’ needs for safely managing the chemicals present in every workplace are simple and bear repeating: “Just tell me what I have to do and how to do it and I will do it.”

guidance material has been developed in collaboration with Responsible Care NZ.

Routinely declining RCNZ offers to help improve national chemical safety by contributing our collective and increasingly unique expertise, frustrates our members who are grappling with complex and often

friendly, performance-based codes of practice developed in conjunction with, and accepted by, the authorities, enables PCBUs, their workers, contractors and customers to successfully achieve their conflicting compliance obligations.

Importantly, endorsement and acceptance of industry codes of practice enables

Accepting user-friendly, performance-based codes, produced by industry for industry and accepted by the authorities, is a pragmatic solution to at least part of WorkSafe NZ’s woes. With apologies the the Bard “A code, an approved code – my kingdom for an industry

“Never set up an enquiry unless you know in advance what the findings will be.”

-Sir Humphrey Appleby.

“A

an approved code –my kingdom for an industry approved code!”

Repeating past mistakes of RMA

The development community remains in the dark as to how the new system will be governed, funded, or practically implemented by those at the coalface, says Property Council New Zealand chief executive Leonie Freeman.

“On the one hand, we applaud the government for reviewing a system that was fundamentally broken, but on the other, we had expected far greater detail to be shared given how long has been spent in the development of these

proposals.”

“It is merely a foundation for building a system that may or may not stack up. Without context and the input of those who actively use the system on a daily basis, it is very difficult to foresee how the proposed Acts might work cohesively together.

“We have dubbed it the Wasgij of planning systems; we have several pieces of the puzzle but no idea what the picture on the front of the box might look like once configured.

“Property Council

members shape the cities and spaces where New Zealanders live, work, play and shop. It is critical to the development community that this review is done right, to ensure the development pipeline continues to flow, planning costs are streamlined, and we don’t end up with greater strain on our housing market,” says Freeman.

“Overall, we want detail. We want to know how regional plans will be financed, which government agency or

ministry will be leading this work, and how is the government going to organise itself to ensure this doesn’t turn into a can of worms, weighed down by bureaucracy?”

But Housing Minister Megan Woods says New Zealand’s housing and urban system will benefit from the overhaul of the Resource Management system, making the ability to build new housing simpler, faster and cheaper.

“The intent is that is that more housing and urban activities will be permitted

The Government has introduced two of the three bills meant to replace and simplify the Resource Management Act, but skeptics are not sure what it will do for the housing crisis

and fewer consents needed.

“These reforms simplify the consenting process by replacing complex consent applications with standards. This has the ability to enable faster consenting timeframes and more affordable housing, through lower development costs.

Estimates suggest the new system will provide annual benefits from increased housing affordability of $146 million under a conservative scenario to $834.3 million.”

The requirement for regional spatial strategies will provide direction on where development, growth and infrastructure should be provided over 30-plus years, Woods says.

“These spatial strategies will align infrastructure and land use planning to support well-functioning urban areas, and provide certainty to the sector.”

Environment Minister David Parker adds that New Zealand developers’ consenting costs of 5.5 per cent of total project costs are at the extreme end compared with the UK and the EU, where consenting costs are between 0.1 per cent and 5 per cent.

“Unduly restrictive planning restraints have led to New Zealand’s urban land prices and housing being amongst the least affordable in the OECD.

“More than 100 RMA plans will reduce to just 15

regional-level plans across the country. The time taken to prepare them will reduce from 10 years under the current system to a maximum of four years.

Other parties are skeptical of the new legislation, however.

National’s Housing, Infrastructure and Acting Environment spokesperson Chris Bishop says it is likely worse than what we have now.

“The new Bills will add yet more bureaucracy, add more complexity to the system, introduce significant legal uncertainty, and risk repeating the mistakes of the past.”

The ACT Party explains that the RMA failed because it became too convoluted, but the Government risks repeating past mistakes.

“The proposed Natural and Built Environments Act will require 15 new plans, instead of the current 100 nationwide. To do this, it will create 15 new planning bureaus, but Council planning departments will still issue consents under the plans they create.

“At the time of the RMA, the Government had just merged about 400 councils nationwide into about 70.

“The Natural and Built Environment Act is 806 pages, with a few years of the inevitable amendments it will outgrow its 890 page predecessor. The transition

costs of adapting to the new concepts and terms in this bill will outweigh any benefits,” ACT says.

“The shift to outcomes has a familiar ring to it, too. Just as the RMA shifted from rules-based to effectsbased, now planning, and consenting agencies must think about 16 different ‘system outcomes’ and suboutcomes.

“Just as the RMA’s purpose was sustainable development, the Natural and Built Environments Act requires that everyone ‘supports the well-being of present generations without compromising the wellbeing of future generations,’ but it has a new purpose as well.

“The purpose of the new Natural and Built Environments Act includes Te Oranga o te Taiao. According to the new Bill that means ‘interconnectedness of all parts of the environment’ and the ‘intrinsic relationship between iwi and hapū and te Taiao,’ must be preserved.

“These, of course, could and will mean anything. Whoever can afford the best lawyers will win.”

Even the Green Party, being in Government itself, is calling it a missed opportunity.

“What the Government has come up with as a solution falls short of what

is required,” says the party’s Environment spokesperson, Eugenie Sage.

“Instead of coming up with new laws that put nature and the climate at the heart of our planning and resource management system, the Government seems to have bought into the outdated idea that there is a trade-off between quality infrastructure and good environmental outcomes. This just isn’t true.

“Over the next 30 years we will need to build new warm, dry, energy efficient housing; more renewable energy capacity; and more carbon-zero transport options like rail. At the same time we need to protect and restore coastal and estuarine areas, remaining wetlands, native shrublands, forests and waterways.

“We also need to see a step change for urban trees to ensure our towns and cities are more resilient to warming temperatures, and pleasant places to live which benefit our mental and physical wellbeing.

“We need a planning and resource management system that will deliver more clean power; thriving natural habitats; liveable towns and cities connected by low carbon public transport; and warm, affordable homes for everyone.”

How BIM Will Impact Your Future Infrastructure Projects

For nearly 40 years, building information modelling (BIM) has been a mainstay in architecture circles within the industry. But it’s only really gained ground in actual construction over the last two decades. If your company is among these near-future BIM adopters, what impact can you anticipate for your projects?

— can be leveraged again and again throughout the project’s construction and beyond from within its own common data environment (CDE).

The key is to enter all that data into the BIM model during the estimate phase so it can serve as an interactive reference going forward. That’s when it becomes the foundation

construction begins opens up opportunities to experience things you hadn’t been able to with traditional design methods. For instance, designing a structure through BIM modelling frees you up to experiment with variations on materials, exteriors, door and window placement, layout configurations, and more. You’re able to virtually

for change orders for anything from minor alterations to full-on budget-eating rework down the road. You preserve not only the original cost and schedule estimate, but your profit margin.

Financial

efficiency with better use of capital project data

Having to rely on traditional construction practices involving 2D drawings and decentralised project details can be very limiting. Think of all the data that starts rolling in from day one. And it continues to accumulate when the completed project has been handed over to the owner’s operations and facility management team. It can be somewhat of a challenge, not to mention overwhelming, to track and understand everything.

Buy that’s where BIM can help. What often makes it stand out is the BIM model’s ability to link directly to all the details associated with each individual element within it, from the smallest nail to the largest volume of concrete. Those include all usable and actionable data, including size, current cost, replacement value, lifespan, warranty information and more. These specific details — or project intelligence

for data-driven decision making. Based on the model-linked data, the owner, contractors and other stakeholders can evaluate and agree on the most appropriate material and equipment options to invest in for the project based on cost effectiveness, durability and/or repair record, for example.

Optimised design phase efficiency

Building your project through BIM before real

walk through a model for a realistic view of the flow, the aesthetics, the space, and even any design mistakes to fix on the spot.

The BIM process also acts like a risk mitigation tool enabling you to discover structural and spatial interferences through automated clash detection. Catching these early enables you to correct them at the design stage — before they’ve had a chance to be built into the structure, which would set the stage

Maximising design phase efficiency with BIM means being confident that those choices you make for your future capital projects are cost-efficient with regard to the construction estimate and to future maintenance after handoff.

Interactive data to foster interactive teams

Being able to access and interact with all your projects’ constantly updated details at such a granular level is the kind of transparency that sets the stage for better understanding of the build and more effective communication among project teams, including those disciplines that may not normally have had a seat at the design table.

With all the data linked from the model housed in BIM’s CDE, it serves as a central hub where everyone can interact with the wealth of information it contains. Teams can interact with each other — sharing updated models, asking and answering questions, suggesting modification ideas, reviewing solutions to problems oftentimes before they occur.

The Evolution of BEING 100% CERTAIN

Higher mortgages create hesitant housing market

Property market activity remains subdued as rising interest rates, access to finance and concerns around the economy are fueling uncertainty, REINZ Chief Executive Jen Baird says

Market activity through spring has been subdued and median prices continue to soften as buyers remain hesitant, according to the latest data and insights from the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand (REINZ).

The number of residential property sales across New Zealand decreased annually by 36.1%, from 8,644 in November 2021 to 5,525 in November 2022. Monthon-month, there was an increase of 7.7%.

The sales count for New Zealand excluding Auckland decreased by 31.7% annually, from 5,462 to 3,728. Sales activity was up 5.6% compared to October 2022.

Sales counts in all regions declined compared to

November 2021 — all had a double-digit percentage drop. The West Coast was the only region to see a decrease of less than 20% (down 15%, from 40 to 34). Three regions saw a decrease on October 2022: Gisborne (-10.5%), Wellington (-8.4%) and Taranaki (-1.6%).

The regions with the greatest annual percentage decrease were: Gisborne, which decreased 45.2% annually from 62 to 34

Auckland, which decreased 43.5% annually from 3,182 to 1,797 Manawatu/Whanganui, which decreased 39.1% annually from 414 to 252 Wellington, which decreased 36.2% annually from 870 to 555.

When looking at the

November figures, we’re comparing to a market at its peak with one that has moderated over the past 12 months.

In a recent survey of REINZ membership, conducted with economist Tony Alexander, real estate professionals reported the top concerns of buyers in the market are high interest rates, access to finance and purchasing and seeing prices soften. Add to these concerns of recession, global economic and geopolitical uncertainty.

In late November, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) raised the OCR by a record 75 basis points to 4.25%. The central bank also forecasts a peak of 5.5% next year and predicts a further rise in inflation. The immediate

effect on the real estate market was more hesitancy.

Buyers are again weighing up the likely impact on mortgage rates with current downward pressure on property prices. Those thinking of selling are again looking at the market and asking, ‘Is this the right time?’

For many it is the right time. In November, people continued to transact — 5,525 according to our sales count.

Median price continues to soften

Across New Zealand, the median price for residential property (excluding sections) decreased 12.4% annually, from $925,000 in November 2021 to $810,000 in November 2022. Month-

on-month, this represents a 1.2% decrease from $820,000 in October.

The median residential property price for New Zealand excluding Auckland, decreased 7.1% — from $770,000 to $715,000. There was a month-onmonth decrease of 1.4% from $725,000 in October.

Fourteen of 16 regions had negative annual median price movements; last month, there were 12. This is the first time since January 2009 that 14 or more regions recorded negative annual median price movement. Six regions recorded negative monthly movements.

West Coast achieved a record median price, up 20.0% annually from $350,000 to $420,000. While Southland reached an equal high (last reached in February 2022) — up 10.5% annually to $475,000.

Auckland saw the greatest median price decrease — down 18.1% compared to November last year, from a record $1,300,000 to $1,065,000. All seven Auckland districts had negative movements, with Papakura down 24.8%, and Auckland City and Waitakere City down 22.7%.

In Wellington, the median price was down 17.4% annually, from $962,500 to $795,000 in November 2022. Six of the eight territorial authorities (TAs) in the region had negative median price movements. The Masterton District (+3.5%) and the Carterton District (+1.4%) saw annual increases, with Lower Hutt City (-26.6%) and Porirua City (-19.5%) seeing the greatest decreases in median price movement.

Three TAs achieved record median prices; in the West Coast the Buller District reached a median price

record of $420,000, while in Southland the Gore District and Invercargill City reached record medians — at $435,000 and $485,000, respectively. More information on activity by region can be found in the regional commentaries section of the Monthly Property Report. While property prices have softened, and agents report hesitancy amongst buyers, we see indications sentiment is shifting.

Agents around the country say sellers are realistic, they are meeting the market, they are entering negotiations. The most sought-after properties are well-presented and wellmarketed.

If you can make the finances work, this is a good time to be a buyer. Firstly, there is significantly more stock on the market.

At the end of November, there were 28,449 properties available for sale

across New Zealand — an annual increase of 47.7%.

Secondly, the market is less competitive. While owner occupiers remain a strong presence, investors have largely stepped back — for now.

Thirdly, we have seen prices come down 12.4% since their peak last November. Affordability will remain an influencing factor, but for those previously sidelined in last year’s quick-paced market

now is a great time to take another look at what’s out there.

The impact of increasing interest rates on mortgage serviceability will put pressure on people, but rates are likely to peak in 2023 and start to fall again.

HPI: all regions see annual decrease in value of property

The REINZ House Price Index (HPI) for New

Zealand, which measures the changing value of residential property nationwide, showed an annual decrease of 13.7% from 4,276 in November 2021 to 3,692.

New Zealand saw a 1.4% decrease in terms of monthon-month HPI movement.

For New Zealand excluding Auckland, the HPI decreased 10.2% annually — from 4,279 in November 2021 to 3,842 in November 2022.

All regions saw an annual decrease in HPI movement. Down 2.2% annually, Southland was the topranking region on the Index in November, followed by Otago (-3.4%) and Taranaki (-3.8%).

In November, Wellington again had the greatest percentage decrease in the value of residential property — down 19.5% annually on the REINZ HPI. The region has ranked bottom of the Index for 12 consecutive

months. However, we are seeing some positive indicators. When we look at HPI movement over the past three months, Wellington is the sixth best performer (at -2.1%), suggesting the intensity of downward pressure on property value is easing in the region,” says Baird.

Auckland had the second greatest decrease in HPI movement, with an annual decrease on the Index of 18.4%.

New Zealand’s median days to sell still high at 41

Across New Zealand, the median number of days to sell (DTS) a property in November was 41 — up 12 days compared to November 2021’s hyperactive market, and selling three days faster than last month.

For New Zealand excluding Auckland, DTS increased 12 days to 41 — though down three days compared to October.

Southland had the lowest DTS of all regions at 30, an annual increase of three days. Northland and Hawke’s Bay had the highest median DTS at 54.

Median days to sell remain elevated, though down on last month — in part due to transactions taking longer to execute with more sales subject to finance or sale. However, real estate professionals also note buyer hesitancy as they weigh up mortgage rates and the gamble of prices softening post-purchase.

New listings down, inventory levels easing

Nationally, listings were down 26.0% annually to 10,185. New Zealand

excluding Auckland saw an annual decrease of 16.1%.

Except for Marlborough (no change), all regions saw listings decrease compared to November 2021, with five seeing decreases of 20% or more. Auckland had the greatest decrease in listings, down 39.8%, followed by Gisborne (32.9%), Wellington (24.7%) and Northland (21.5%).

At the end of November, the total number of properties available for sale across New Zealand was 28,449 — an annual increase of 47.7%, up from 19,260 in November 2021. For New Zealand excluding Auckland, it was 17,579 — an annual increase of 64.9%, from 10,661.

While two-thirds of all regions have an annual increase in inventory of at least 50%, only Nelson recorded an increase of over 100% compared to last November. In October, five regions had an annual increase over 100%.

In line with seasonal expectations, we have seeing listings climb since the start of spring. November saw 10,185 new listings. However, this is an annual decrease of 26.0%.

At the same time, there was an annual increase in the number of properties available for sale of 47.7% — sitting at 28,449 at months’ end.

With decreasing demand and more supply on the market, able-buyers have the luxury of choice and time to make informed purchasing decisions.

Inventory and listing data come from realestate.co.nz.

Auctions: seasonal uptick reflected in auction numbers

Nationally, 14.7% of properties (812) were sold

at auction in November 2022, compared to 32.1% in 2021. New Zealand excluding Auckland saw 10.6% of properties (388) sell by auction, compared to 15.6% the year prior.

Auctions represented 35.3% of sales (12) in Gisborne, down from 58.1% in November 2021. In Auckland, 23.6% of sales were by auction (424) — compared to 51.4% at the same time last year.

While the percentage of

properties sold by auction remains low compared to the heights achieved through 2021, we are seeing an uptick in the data. In August 2022, 9% of properties were sold by auction across New Zealand, in November that figure sits at 14.7%.

Salespeople in some regions — such as Gisborne and Central Otago — reported that auctions performed well. That said, compared to November

last year, we have seen a significant drop in sales by auction.

The potential of further increases to the OCR and concern around the impact on mortgage rates has caused hesitancy across the market, including in auction attendance. Anecdotally, there has been an increase the number of sales subject to finance or sale, resulting in an increase in other sales methods.

‘One bright light’ amidst housing market downturn

Owner Tim Kearins says

REINZ’s Monthly Property Report for November saw median house prices across New Zealand decrease 12.4% annually. At $810,000, the national median house price is down from $925,000 in November 2021. Month-onmonth saw a 1.2% decrease compared to October.

One bright light in the latest real estate statistics is that the number of sales nationwide increased by nearly eight percent from October to November.

Let’s also not forget that this is all averages. There are still pockets to the contrary. If buyers or sellers want to know what’s happening in their areas and price brackets, we strongly encourage them to talk to a local expert.

REINZ says buyers are again weighing up the likely impact on mortgage rates with current downward pressure on property prices.

“Those thinking of selling are again looking at the market and asking, ‘Is this the right time?’”

For many it is the right time. In November, people continued to transact — 5,525 according to our sales count.

Across New Zealand, the number of residential property sales in November decreased annually by 36.1%, from 8,644 in November 2021 to 5,525 in November 2022. Month-on-month, there was an increase of 7.7%.

The Reserve Bank’s open war on inflation has contributed to buyer hesitancy.

On 23 November, RBNZ increased the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by a record 75 basis points to 4.25% and forecasted a peak of 5.5% next year.

The good news is the next OCR decision is not until 22 February. That means we’re going to see some stability in interest rates in the interim. For many, this summer could be a good time to borrow and buy. Also helping buyers is that property prices have softened, vendors are more realistic, and there’s significantly more stock to choose from.

In fact, at the end of November there were 28,449 properties available for sale across New Zealand — an annual increase of 47.7%.

For those contemplating listing and selling, they also

need to seriously consider acting this summer. Buyers are re-emerging, with many keen to lock in an interest rate while they’re still manageable and securing finance is still achievable. Vendors also need to weigh up the Reserve Bank’s talk of a recession next year, a likely winter of discontent, followed by a general election which halts a lot of activity.

With 2023 set to be an even more challenging year, many buyers and sellers are increasingly viewing this summer as probably the best opportunity in the foreseeable future to make a reasonably positive move.

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Commercial property market snapshot Q4 2022

JLL provides property insights into how the office, retail and industrial markets are faring within New Zealand's biggest cities

With workplaces shifting focus to building the office of the future to help attract and retain top talent, what markets are providing opportunities for investors?

With the battle to attract and retain the best talent in the workforce, the ‘flight to quality’ we have seen over the past two years is continuing. This is driving further divergence between prime and secondary office

space for lease in cost per sqm as well as uptake of vacant property.

Employers are following their employees favouring higher quality workplace environments, and therefore see the investment in prime

space as a key strategy in providing fit-for-purpose, flexible offices.

The evolving use of the office in this post-pandemic environment requires organisations to reflect on the best use of the

workplace to encourage people back to the office and reduce ‘desk vacancy’.

Grade A office space in Auckland CBD has remained stable since 1H22, with vacancy at 6.6%. Secondary follows

Office

suit, remaining the same at 16.6%. As more occupiers move to prime offices in response to the shifting demands of the workforce, this divergence is expected to grow.

Prime CBD office vacancy decreased to under 10%, while grade and location across Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington shows a widening gulf.

Vacancy rates in the Wellington market continue at record-lows, in turn driving up prime rents which are forecast to reach $638 per sqm in 2023. Government tenancies continue to be a strong driver for the office market in the capital. Soon-to-becompleted developments at 15 Customhouse Quay

will add 3,600sqm of office space in the next few months.

Secondary office space in Christchurch showed

Victoria Street. Further out of the CBD, vacancies on Wairakei Road drove secondary suburban vacancies up to 24.4% (a

pipeline, much of that space pre-leased, with expected completions in 2023 and 2024.

increased vacancy from 6.0% to 8.0% primarily due to space arising on

difference of 13.9%). More than 4,000sqm of office developments are in the

Retail

Download the full report

While there are signs of recovery appearing, net rents in Auckland CBD decreased over the last quarter. Wellington and Christchurch markets are stable, but what factors should occupiers and investors look at heading into 2023?

Following a whole year of unchanged prime average net rents, Auckland CBD saw a lowering of 6.8% ($175 per sqm) due to the slow rebuilding of city centre foot traffic following the lifting of pandemic restrictions.

There remains international interest from retailers in the Auckland CBD, however this interest is pushing into 2023 with some key brands intending to come to market as we experience higher CBD populations across Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch.

In the Wellington retail property market (CBD and southern CBD), vacancies continued their positive (downward) trajectory, dipping below 10% to sit at 9.1% (a change of 4%). With more than $200 million in

the Wellington CBD pipeline due to be completed in 2023, retail continues to be a small component of the developments.

Christchurch continues its stable rent outlook, with prime retail space remaining unchanged

at $575 per sqm since the third quarter of 2020. Similarly, secondary retail rates have remained steady at $315 per sqm since the beginning of 2021. Mixed-use developments that include notable retail space around Gloucester

Street, Victoria Street, High Street, and Cashel Street highlight the strength of the Christchurch market and indicate to stable performance for the beginning of 2023.

Download the full report

Industrial

Stable occupancy rates and continued low vacancy are key factors driving rental growth in the logistics and industrial property market.

For the second quarter in a row, prime industrial net rents have increased in Christchurch (by 3.8%), with a similar trend seen in Auckland.

The most notable change was in south Auckland, where prime industrial rent increased by 5.6% ($10 per sqm), and secondary space increased by 3.5% ($5 per sqm).

Natural competitiveness in the sector due to occupier demand, limited new stock in the pipeline, and increasing yields will continue to drive the performance of industrial assets into 2023.

Vacancy rates for industrial assets on Auckland’s North

Shore lowered to 0.7% in the first half of the year, highlighting the demand in this precinct.

The significant uptick in attention to Environmental, Social, and Governance considerations across all markets remains front of mind for owners and occupiers alike. While there are no regulatory requirements for Green Star and NABERS ratings for commercial real estate currently, observing offshore trends in Australia, the UK, and Europe points to New Zealand adopting its own regulatory framework.

We have unintentionally

A similar story is seen in the Wellington market where vacancy is below 2% (1.8%) largely due to local demand and a lack of available greenfield land for new

developments. Christchurch’s industrial pipeline is experiencing opposite conditions, with approximately 60,000sqm of industrial development due to be completed by the end of 2022, and a further 25,000sqm in the pipeline. These additions

to the market drive the message that Christchurch is seen as an important investment market, performing consistently despite the rising interest rate environment.

Download the full report

Looking Ahead

entered into a ‘price discovery’ phase as buyers and sellers work through the higher interest rates environment and its impact for yields.

Occupiers are actively encouraging employees to return to their workplaces, using strategies such as social events and better collaborative environments and tools to reduce desk vacancies.

Attracting and retaining tenants will continue to be driven by quality offerings across asset classes,

underpinning the ‘flight to quality’ and resulting in the evolving rising rental narrative and widening divergence between prime and secondary assets. This is forecast to carry over into 2023.

JLL real estate market research is based on data from several reputable sources including on-theground insights from its own departments. First published November 2022.

Gavin

JLL is a leading professional services firm that specialises in real estate and investment management.

Read is the Head of Research at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) New Zealand.

Stable demand for prime space is driving low vacancy rates even further. What factors will impact performance as we continue to operate in a high interest rate environment?

SLABX200 is specifically designed to deliver high compressive strength and improve insulation under concrete slabs.

Developed by trusted Kiwi insulation experts EXPOL, this exciting new innovation has quickly become the product of choice for specifiers and others in the construction industry.

Why do I need to insulate the concrete slab?

Slab insulation is important not only to save on energy bills for future owners and tenants, but also to improve comfort.

Insulation will reduce heat loss and make the slab easier to heat. It offers a layer of projection against moisture and will provide a thermal mass to regulate temperatures.

If embedded floor heating is incorporated in a concrete slab-on-ground, the slab must be insulated so that heat from the slab is delivered up into the space above and not lost to the exterior and ground below.

Kiwi innovation leading the way in concrete slab insulation

A new generation of Expanded Polystyrene Board insulation has arrived

What makes SLABX200 different?

We chatted to Wayne Watson a Structural EPS and GeoFoam Consultant at EXPOL to see what makes SLABX200 different.

Wayne told us that due to its compressive strength rating of 200Kpa there is no comparable product on the market. He states “SLABX200 is specifically designed for insulating concrete slabs.

It has a rating of 200kpa at 10 percent compression or 20 ton per square meter.

Its high performance specs are designed to give Engineer’s peace of mind so that they can recommend this product with 100 percent confidence”.

The team at EXPOL recognised that there was nothing on the market that offered a cost-effective yet high performance solution to concrete insulation.

So they set about to develop a product with New Zealand residential and commercial projects in mind.

The durable nature of SLABX200 means that it won’t degrade over time, keeping its integrity for the life of the structure.

Due to the lightweight nature of Expanded Polystyrene the product is also easy to handle and install making quick work of slab insulation on site.

How does this product compare to Healthy Homes standards?

The Healthy Homes insulation standards across New Zealand states than underfloor insulation should have an R-Value of 1.3 or

greater.

With several thicknesses available SLABX200 ranges from an R-Value of R 1.5 at 50mm thickness through to an impressive R6.0 at 200mm thickness.

Therefore, all thicknesses offer R-Values over and above the standards to ensure healthy and efficient homes.

How does this product work in my sustainable building project?

The team at EXPOL are committed to the environment. In a true closed loop process 100 percent of manufacturing waste is recycled in their seven recycling plants nationwide.

Expanded Polystyrene offers great eco credentials and at the end of a products life it can be turned into other EXPOL products.

The high performance of the SLABX product also ensures that your building project is sustainable to heat and cool and therefore leading to less energy consumption over the life of the building.

If you’d like to learn more about the SLABX200 product, the team at EXPOL are happy to have a chat. Visit their website on www.expol.co.nz or give the Technical Manager at call on 0800 86 33 73.

Wayne Watson Technical Manager EXPOL doing a visual check of SLABX200 to ensure it meets EXPOL’s high technical specifications.

New building code requirements come into effect

Clause H1 of the New Zealand Building Code, which regulates the energy efficiency of buildings, was updated in November last year and the first phase of implementation began on Thursday 3 November. This will see initial increases in thermal resistance or R value requirements for roofs, walls, floors, and windows and doors in effect for any buildings submitted for consent from this date. Further increases follow on 1 May 2023 and again on 2 November 2023.

Any building consents lodged from Thursday, 3

November 2022, will need to satisfy the first phase of these new requirements.

And while the increases in R value requirements for windows and doors will vary depending on a building’s type and location, for many, the initial increases will require a change in glazing solutions.

Tools available to determine requirements

Three key things are needed to determine the new requirements a building is subject to: the building type – being housing, other buildings up to 300m² or other buildings greater than

300m², the site address of the building to determine which of six new Climate Zones it’s in, and when the consent application will be submitted.

We’ve created a simple tool for Housing requirements in the H1 Info Hub on the Association’s website and have Quick Reference Guides for all the building types available also.

For Housing, the first phase of implementation is a move to R0.37 for windows and doors in houses planned for all areas of the country between 3 November 2022 and 31 April 2023.

This means minimum compliance can be achieved through a change in glazing, and specifically through the use of high performance double glazed Low E IGUs – or Insulated Glass Units, in aluminium frames as we know them. These glazing units use Low E or low emissivity glass, which has a lower rate of heat-loss due to the use of extremely thin layers of silver and/or other low emissivity material on one side of the glass, which is then enclosed in double or triple glazing to protect the coating. The use of inert gas like argon, rather than normal air, between the

The building industry is prepared for the coming increase in demand for ‘Low

E’ glazing as new thermal performance requirements are phased in across the country, Window & Glass Association of New Zealand Chief Executive Brett Francis says

layers of glazing further improves the insulating properties of the units.

Thermally broken aluminium, uPVC and Timber frames with doubleglazed Low E IGUs will also meet or exceed the standard. And of course, higher specification solutions are encouraged and will result in more thermally efficient homes.

A doubling in thermal performance ahead

Two more phase-in periods will see further increases in requirements

that will result in an overall near doubling of thermal performance for windows

and doors in New Zealand homes, making them much more energy efficient.

In Zones 1 and 2, encompassing Auckland where 70 percent of the country’s residential construction occurs, there are no further changes for housing until 2 November 2023, when requirements lift to R0.46 and demand different window frame solutions.

In cooler regions, that move comes earlier, in 1 May 2023, moving to R0.46 in Zones 3 and 4, and R0.50 in Zones 5 and 6.

At these levels, the cold aluminium frames that are a mainstay in so many New Zealand homes will become a thing of this past. Instead, compliance will require double-glazed Low E IGUs combined with thermally broken aluminium, uPVC or timber frames.

A note on other buildings

Most of the changes in the commercial sector –including for the likes of hotels, schools, restaurants, retirement villages and more, are implemented in this first phase.

For such buildings up to 300m², Zones 1 and 2 move to R0.37, and will be the only segment to shift again on May 1 2023 to R0.46. Zones 3 and 4 will sit at R0.46, and Zones 5 and 6 at R0.50.

For buildings greater than 300m², Zones 1 and 2 will move to R0.33, Zones 3 and 4 to R0.37, and Zones 5 and 6 split into R0.40 and R0.42 respectively.

More resources and regular updates are available from the Window & Glass Association of New Zealand’s H1 Info Hub at https://www.wganz.org.nz/ h1-information-hub/

Map of New Zealand climate zones

Hard work gets results

Rapid

The team was forged by three friends working in the industry who realised that the key thing stressed building managers, business owners and landlords needed was to make a single call and get a reliable and qualified support team that would cover any aspect of facilities management.

The Rapid trio set down a business philosophy that “we will do what others can’t or won’t do “ and set about assembling a highly trained, efficient and safety-conscious team of professionals who get the job done right, the first time.

Today that service stretches from food manufacturers’ audit cleaning, all aspects of industrial cleaning, painting, building and floor safety management to anti-microbial and moss

The success of

Facility Services is driven by a team that combines experience, commitment and a professional skillset that covers every aspect of facilities management with personal service

Having worked in the industry for many years, three friends, Paul Schoch, Robyn Schoch and Andrew Chan realised that by combining their skills, they could create a company unlike any other

Team members Darren, Brandon and Akeli

and mould treatments to prevent surface damage to roofs, ceilings, walls, floors and specialised equipment.

Third of homeowners not confident they are adequately insured

A significant proportion of ‘insured’ residential property owners may not have sufficient insurance cover to rebuild their home in the event of total loss, new research commissioned by CoreLogic suggests

Anew survey commissioned by independent property data and analytics provider CoreLogic NZ is giving detailed insight into New Zealand’s established problem of home underinsurance amid high construction cost inflation, rising insurance premiums, and wider cost of living pressures.

The research gauges the insurance attitudes, behaviours, and knowledge of New Zealanders who own insured residential property, and makes significant findings around insurance cover and confidence, and general knowledge about

policies, including:

• Almost a third (30%) of respondents are not confident their property is adequately insured, with 91% believing this is due to a lack of knowledge.

• One quarter (26%) of respondents with complete rebuild cover are not confident they are fully insured for the rebuild of their home.

• More than one third (38%) of respondents don’t know what their sum insured amount on their policy is.

• The average New Zea-

land homeowner last reviewed their home insurance cover nearly 2.5 years ago.

• Despite one in ten (8%) respondents selecting their current insurance because of low excess, only two thirds (65%) know what their insurance excess amount is.

CoreLogic NZ Country Manager Simone Moors says while having a high home insurance rate of 96-98% across the market is a good thing, it may be buttressing a false sense of protection.

“People are paying for insurance, but if the sum insured is insufficient for the cost of rebuild, they are not fully covered and may only find out about this at the worst possible time.

“Even the most risk-averse consumers can be underinsured very quickly. This plays into the confidence issue identified in the survey, with lack of understanding about rebuild / construction costs (69%) or the cost of a rebuild (64%) being the two most common reasons why respondents don’t feel confident their property is adequately insured.

“This is not only a risk to

the consumer, but for mortgaged homeowners there is a hidden risk sitting on New Zealand banks’ balance sheets.”

CoreLogic NZ’s Cordell Construction Cost Index (CCCI) for Q3 2022 showed national residential construction cost pressures have continued to escalate, with both quarterly and annual rates of indexed growth reaching new record highs.

The CCCI indicates the indexed cost to build a ‘standard’ 200-square-metre three-bedroom, two-bathroom single-storey brickand-tile house in Aotearoa rose 3.4% over the quarter, lifting annual growth to 9.6%, the largest increase since the CCCI commenced in late 2012.

With home insurance premiums informed largely by the sum insured designated for the property – in other words, the amount an insurer would pay to cover the cost of rebuilding the property in the event of total loss – the survey provided important insights into how New Zealanders are assessing their sum insured for rebuild, and reviewing their existing cover, including:

• While around three in five (63%) New Zealand homeowners are insuring their property based on an ‘official’ or recommended method (a calculator on an insurer’s website, or a rebuild estimate or insurance valuation from a registered valuer or quantity surveyor), 22% used the average property value in the area to decide how much they needed to insure their property for, while 12% are basing it on a ‘best

guess’.

• Respondents believe over the past 12 months the cost of building a new home has increased by an average of 45% with around one third (36%) believing it has increased by more than 50%.

• Despite respondents believing property values rose 31% and rebuilding costs increased by 41% in the past 12 months, more than half (56%) haven’t reviewed their home insurance cover in the last year, putting

significant proportion of “insured” residential property owners do not have sufficient cover to rebuild their home in the event of total loss, a problem amplified by the increasing occurrence and intensity of weather events connected to climate change and rising construction costs.

“Coupled with the ongoing risk of earthquake, the data and insights indicate many insurance policyholders are highly exposed, most of them unwittingly – not just to the loss of their home but to serious financial harm, given that for most homeowners their property

Insurance Survey:

• Almost half (49%) of New Zealand homeowners who reviewed their home insurance typically increase their insurance when they review their level of cover, while 40% of respondents leave it unchanged and 2% reduce it.

• Men are more likely to increase their level of cover when they review it than women (Male 53%; cf. Female 43%), while Baby Boomers are the generation most likely to increase their level of cover when they review it (61%; cf. national average 49%).

• More than half (52%) of respondents used the guidance provided by their insurer when taking out their policy to determine the sum insured or total build replacement cover. (This guidance is not financial advice but suggested tools and methods to calculate insurance needs.)

them at risk of underinsurance.

Giving further context to the survey results is a complementary white paper compiled by CoreLogic.

The white paper, titled Solving the Home Insurance Problem in Aotearoa New Zealand, is directed at insurers and their partners, residential property investors and owners, and general consumers.

CoreLogic Head of Insurance Solutions Matthew Walker says industry experts were invited to probe beneath the survey findings and explain more about the serious and growing risk of underinsurance: that is, a

represents the bedrock of their wealth.

“This white paper explores and quantifies this insurance gap and identifies possible solutions for insurers, their partners, and all those who are connected to or invested in the residential property sector.

“Our intention is that this research, insights and solutions can be applied to rebalance home insurance policies at a consumer level, inform insurer strategies to support policyholders, and contribute to closing the underinsurance gap.”

Further findings from the CoreLogic Homeowners

• Millennials are most likely to use the guidance provided by their insurance provider (57%; cf. Gen Z 47%*, Gen X 49%, Baby Boomers 52%).

• More than half (52%) of respondents looked at the current market value of their property when deciding on their level of cover, while 24% took into account their current income/budget and 11% recent environmental factors.

• One in six (17%) New Zealand homeowners just automatically renew their cover.

Health and Safety pre-qualification – where to next

An examination of how a prequalification framework could evolve

In July 2021 we submitted an article to this publication that detailed the development and roll out of Totika.

To refresh the reader’s memory the Totika scheme is a framework for the Construction industry to provide assurance of a consistent level of Health & Safety performance within a tendering business.

Totika was developed by Construction Health & Safety New Zealand (CHASNZ). The launch of the framework was the result of a number of years of industry led work to develop an acceptable framework that simplified the method by which subcontractors could prove that they had a robust Health & Safety system in their business (this is known as pre-qualification).

This month we are going to look into the crystal ball and see here where a pre-qualification framework could evolve to. Totika is an example of a prequalification framework that mirrors like frameworks utilised all over the work.

And, as previously communicated, they are designed to determine assurance against a predetermined standard for supplier selection during the pre-qualification process. The rationale for the development of Totika was to create a single mechanism through which buyers (Procurers) of construction related services could confidently pre-screen suppliers to ensure they met a certified level of Health & Safety performance.

In this paper we talk

about Totika. The crystal ball exercise and the subsequent opinion below is the view of the writer and is based upon their experience with other prequalification frameworks as well the way in which standards are evolving globally for utilisation during procurement and contractual negotiations.

Buyers of services have many aspects of supplier performance that they have to evaluate to ensure the supplier selected is going to deliver the services required in a manner that provides acceptable levels of delivery and risk management during the course of delivery.

So when looking at the possible evolution of a prequalification scheme the obvious opportunities that arise are created through

looking at the options available to leverage the existing framework into other aspects of the procurement process.

To do that it is important to break the procurement process down into bite size chunks based on areas that a possible prime contractor would base their decision on. From there it is possible to evaluate the level of sameness that, by nature, the other areas provide to leverage the prequalification framework.

Below are six areas of procurement that are generally accepted as forming the core criteria for supplier selection.

i.) Price

– this should come as no surprise. Most prime contractors have submitted

a tender price based on their experience and knowledge of like projects. From there they look to find suppliers who can subcontract the component parts within the price envelope they need to make the job successful

ii.) Capacity/ Capability

– most tenders evaluate a supplier’s abilities and limitations. Potential suppliers must be able to scale the right type, and number, of resource and equipment to meet the requirements of the project at hand up for tender

iii.) Quality

– quantifying quality can be challenging. Evaluating that a supplier is going to provide a solution that

will stand the test of time is very important for the prime contractor and the end client. Historical work and relationships go some way toward providing confidence in suppliers.

In the case where a potential providers quality performance is not fully understood ISO9001 remains the global industry standard. Being certified against this standard provides comfort that the provider under consideration has in place a proven management system that’

a. Active management engagement

b. Clearly aligned policies, procedures and work activities

c. Product realisation – incl. quality objectives, processes, documentation, resources, success criteria, checks and records

d. Measurement, analysis

and improvement

iv.) Performance

– this requires a review of previous experience with like companies, recent like projects, innovative approaches developed and the success of them, delivery of projects on time, in spec and on budget.

v.) Risk

– this revolves around the ability of a supplier to actively manage risk across many dimensions. This can go all the way from supply chain management through to unplanned outages or changes in work conditions through to individual’s wellbeing i.e. Health & Safety, providing confidence that a vendor has an ability to actively manage risk through a proven risk

management framework. This is an important element of any vendor evaluation to ensure the vendor selected is minimising the risk to the prime contractor throughout the proposed engagement.

vi.) Environmental impact

– sustainability is an increasingly critical component in vendor analysis from both a financial perspective but as importantly from an ethical perspective. Evaluating waste management strategies, hazardous and general waste disposal processes, procurement practices for the betterment of the environment and methods to minimise carbon emissions are becoming increasingly table stakes for being a

Telarc is a Jas-anz Accredited Certification Body which provides qualified, competent, New Zealand auditors, who are industry coded to provide relevant and impartial intervention for a large range of New Zealand business regardless of the business size.

The body is able to provide New Zealand business with an individual or a team of auditors capable of assessing one or multiple standards across one or multiple sites.

While the key priority of any commercial relationship is to deliver a product or a service, there is an increasing need from businesses to have confidence that their tendering parties and suppliers are managing their business in a manner that won’t negatively impact the supply relationship.

There are increasing demands from buyers for their suppliers to provide confidence that they are operating their business in a manner that is delivering good quality and environmentally aware

products (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001) while managing workers in a way that protects worker well-being and safety (ISO 45001).

There is more demand across other areas such as ethical work practices, Asset Management (ISO 55001) and IT Management (ISO 27001).

Accredited Certification looks for gaps, risks and improvements in the way that work is actually done versus the way it is planned and communicated.

This provides visibility of where work practice and or documentation anomalies lie in all levels of the business. This then leads to improvement activity so Certification can be granted.

The second growing area that is driving minimisation of risk through Certification is through board and senior leader directives.

Over the last decade, legislation and regulations have looked to push culpability for sub-optimal work practices towards senior leaders and boards.

successful sub contractor. When evaluating the potential for rolling one or more of the areas detailed above into a pre-qualification framework a simple ease of implementation and value delivered exercise starts to show what areas could be considered and what areas should remain independently pre-qualified.

There are a number of local and internationally recognised standards that support aspects of environmental performance, ISO140641:2018 (Greenhouse Gas emissions) is a good example.

The most widely recognised management system certification standard is ISO14001 (Environmental Management) that.

Some industries have developed globally recognised standards to assess management Environmental performance. A great example in the timber industry is PEFC and FSC. These are two globally recognised standards that provide assurance to end users that selected Timber products originate and are finished from sustainably managed forests.

So when we look at where to next for a prequalification framework we start to recognise that of the six areas detailed above, three of them could be deemed to be logical extensions i.e. easy to implement from the Totika scheme as it is today.

These all lie in the top right quadrant. It should be noted that all six aspects listed deliver value. The big difference is that for Risk, Product and Quality internationally and locally recognised standards

Risk comes in many forms and certification helps over a variety of levels

that leverage a common framework could easily be included in the prequalification framework.

Areas such as Price, Capacity/Capability and Performance are far more difficult to implement due to their being far more specific to the opportunity being tendered.

Over time though it could be seen that common elements could be defined for these three areas that can then be populated by prospective sub-contract partners. The could then be added in as separate table that can provide a prime contractor with a balanced scored card of the ability of a prospective supplier to meet the criteria established to achieve a met in the pre-qualification stage of the tender process.

Technologies such as Blockchain could be a future option as the various elements and their associated criteria for success become clearer and better (commonly) defined. That is some way off and at this time getting the Health & Safety element of the pre-qualification process accepted in the market is the first step for a scheme like Totika. Once this aspect is working and is being leveraged into other industry sectors, on a broader basis, then there is no reason why other Quality, Environmental and other risk aspects could not be considered for inclusion in the pre-qualification framework.

The main objective in achieving this is to streamline the way in

which suppliers are being requested to provide information for pre-qualification. And, additionally, to minimise the number data bases that suppliers are required to maintain and update. Having a simple on stop shop for all your pre-qualification needs by industry sector had significant appeal for suppliers, prime contractors and as importantly asset owners. The variability that exists in the current

procurement channels creates opportunities for inconsistencies and for cutting corners.

Being able to stipulate requirements from potential suppliers via a clear and transparent set of industry specific criteria makes for the potential to significantly reduce the risk and in turn liability for the senior leaders and governance layer of the organisations procuring the services outcomes.

www.telarc.org | 0800 004 004

Philip Cryer is CEO of Telarc, a Crown Entity subsidiary with a vision to provide its clients with end to end, impartially audited Food & Wine and Management Systems Certification and Training services.

No matter where your business travel takes you, you can live as local as you like. Want to find an award-winning flat white? How about the best restaurant to charm clients in town? Because we’re local, we can point you towards the very best.

No better investment than chemical safety training

Changes to our Global Harmonisation System (GHS) chemical regime applying from 30 April 2021 require accurate and timely advice - non-compliance could prove costly.

Competent staff avoid expensive and sometimes confusing compliance advice, while enabling an effective response to chemical incidents, often without requiring emergency services.

Inspectors and certifiers with years of expertise warn of a declining national workplace chemical safety performance.

A crucial factor is the continuing loss of onsite chemical safety advice, primarily due to replacing flawed but effective mandatory Approved Handlers with whatever employers now deem sufficient.

A second major chemical incident in the same public facility is a timely reminder that safe chemical management is not receiving the attention it deserves. Competent staff are essential.

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RCNZ Competent Chemical Handlers (CCH) are increasingly in demand, resulting from our popular ‘Walk and Talk’ site visit to assess actual chemical management performance, identifying the need for specialist training, throughout the product life cycle.

Chemical incidents now guarantee media attention, often sensationalising the incident by highlighting persons adversely affected by unwanted exposure to chemicals.

This can irretrievably damage reputations to both customers and suppliers, particularly if employers have not taken all practicable steps to safely manage their chemical inventory throughout their operations.

When chemicals do cause problems, employees, customers, WorkSafe

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Ensuring staff are competent to safely manage the harmful chemicals essential to your business includes your effective response to a chemical incident.

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What employers need to know about Fair Pay Agreements

The Fair Pay Agreements (FPA) Bill has been passed into law, with the new system of employment bargaining to take effect on 1 December

The Fair Pay

Agreements system brings together unions and employer associations within a sector to bargain for minimum employment terms for all covered employees in an industry or occupation. This means that these organisations will meet to discuss and agree on a set of employment terms for the work being done.

Throughout the Fair Pay Agreement process you have responsibilities to

keep employees covered by the proposed Fair Pay Agreement informed. What you are required to do by law is explained below.

Bargaining is between

an employee side and an employer

side

Fair Pay Agreement bargaining is between an employee bargaining side and an employer bargaining side. Eligible unions that are approved to be an employee bargaining party

bargain on the employee bargaining side. This includes employees that are not members of the union. If an employee is covered by the proposed Fair Pay Agreement, the union(s) must bargain on their behalf.

Eligible employer associations, including industry associations, that are approved to be an employer bargaining party may bargain on the employer bargaining side. These organisations must

also bargain on behalf of employers that are not their members.

Māori must be represented

Both bargaining sides must use their best efforts to make sure Māori employees and employers are represented in the process. This includes by:

• getting and considering feedback from representatives of Māori employees/

employers and • considering whether each bargaining side should include a person that represents the interests of Māori employees or employers.

Employment terms that must be in a Fair Pay Agreement

A Fair Pay Agreement must include what work is covered by the Fair Pay Agreement, standard hours, minimum pay rates (including overtime rates and penalty rates), training and development, how much leave an employee can have and how long the Fair Pay Agreement applies for.

Bargaining, voting and the Fair Pay Agreement becoming law

It will take time for both bargaining sides to come to an agreement on a set of employment terms they both agree with. Once the bargaining sides agree and the proposed Fair Pay Agreement is confirmed to be compliant with the law, covered employees and employers in that sector will be able to vote on whether they agree with the terms or not. If a majority agrees from both bargaining sides, the voting process and result will be confirmed by MBIE (Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment) and the Fair Pay Agreement will be finalised and set as law.

More information about the Fair Pay Agreement process

The Fair Pay Agreement system [PDF 249KB]

Overview of the Fair Pay Agreement process

Your rights as an employer – employer association representation

If you are a covered employer, you have rights in the Fair Pay Agreement process including being kept informed about what is happening and being represented.

While unions that are employee bargaining parties represent the employee side in bargaining, the employer bargaining side is made up of eligible employer associations that have been approved to be employer bargaining parties. The employer bargaining parties represent the interests of all employers covered in the proposed Fair Pay Agreement, including those that are not part of an employer association. The employer bargaining side may be made up of several employer associations or just one.

As an employer covered by a proposed Fair Pay Agreement you will be kept informed throughout the Fair Pay Agreement process. The employer bargaining side needs to use its best efforts to: provide regular updates to you if you are a covered employer give you the opportunity to provide feedback during the bargaining process make sure Māori employers are represented in the process. This includes getting and considering feedback from representatives of Māori employers and considering whether to include a representative of the interests of Māori employers on the

bargaining side consider all interest groups of covered employers advise of any ratification vote.

Your rights as an employer – no employer representation

If, after three months from approval to initiate bargaining, no bargaining party for the employer side has stepped forward, then the law provides a ‘default bargaining party’ for the Fair Pay Agreement process. The default employer bargaining party will be given one month to decide if they want to become an employer bargaining party. If the default bargaining party doesn’t want to, any employee bargaining party can apply to the Employment Relations Authority (the Authority) to make a decision on the Fair Pay Agreement terms. Decisions by the Authority are called a determination. If this happens, the Authority will set the terms of the Fair Pay Agreement without any bargaining.

Working with your employees in good faith

Timing: Throughout the bargaining process and when the Fair Pay Agreement is in force.

Responsibility: Like all interactions with your employees, you need to communicate and work with them in good faith. This means that you can’t mislead them or act in a deceptive way. This also means you can’t influence them about joining or leaving a union or how they may choose to vote on the terms of a proposed Fair

Pay Agreement.

Provide information to unions your employees are members of

Timing: Within 15 working days of the initiating union telling you they have been given approval to start bargaining for a new Fair Pay Agreement.

Responsibility: If your employees covered by the proposed Fair Pay Agreement are members of a union not involved in bargaining, you must do your best to identify and inform those unions about the approval to initiate bargaining. You must also let them know where the notice from the Chief Executive of MBIE giving that approval can be found.

Provide information about the Fair Pay Agreement to your employees

Timing: You must give information to your employees as soon as possible, and no later than 30 working days after you received notice from the initiating union, or you were made aware of the approval to start bargaining in another way.

Responsibility: When the initiating union (the union that applies to start bargaining for a new Fair Pay Agreement), or another union not involved in bargaining, lets you know that the initiating union has been approved to start bargaining, they need to give you certain information, including:

• where to find the notice issued by the Chief Executive

• a statement for you to provide to your covered employees

• an opt out form (see below).

The statement you need to provide to your employees must be in plain language, and include:

• the fact that the initiating union has been approved to initiate bargaining

• the name of the initiating union and how to contact them

• how the proposed Fair Pay Agreement could affect your employee

• where to find more information about the proposed Fair Pay Agreement and bargaining process.

It is your responsibility to pass on the information above, including the statement, to your employees.

If the union doesn’t provide this information to you, it is your responsibility to prepare this and provide it to your employees in writing. You can find the information needed on the

initiating union’s website.

Share an opt out form

Timing: You must give the opt out form to your employees as soon as possible, and no later than 30 working days after either you received the notice from the initiating union or you were made aware of the approval to start bargaining in another way (for example, seeing it in the newspaper).

Responsibility: The union must also provide you with a form approved by MBIE to allow your employees to opt out of the Fair Pay Agreement process if they choose to. You must give this form to your employees.

If any of your employees complete the form and want to opt out, they need to give the form back to you. You need to keep all completed opt out forms

as a record for the duration of the bargaining process. Covered employees that have opted out of the process will still be covered by the Fair Pay Agreement if it is passed into law.

Prepare and provide an electronic record of employee contact details

Timing: No later than 30 working days after giving the opt out forms to employees but no earlier than 20 working days.

Responsibility: You must provide, in electronic form, to the initiating union the contact details of all your covered employees who have not opted out of the Fair Pay Agreement process.

You must make sure that you do not provide the details of anyone who has opted out of the process.

Allow employees to attend two 2-hour Fair Pay Agreement meetings

Timing: Two meetings no longer than 2 hours each during the bargaining process.

Responsibility: During the bargaining process, employee bargaining party representatives may need to meet with your employees that are within the cover of the proposed Fair Pay Agreement. You must allow your employees to attend these meetings and pay them for that time if the meeting occurs during work time.

The employee bargaining party is required to give you at least 14 days’ notice of the date and time of the meeting and work with you to make sure your business can continue to operate during that time.

Allow a representative of an employee bargaining party access to your workplace

Timing: Throughout the Fair Pay Agreement process.

Unless you have a certificate of exemption, a representative of an employee bargaining party can access your workplace without your consent if the primary purpose for their visit is to do with the Fair Pay Agreement. The representative must comply with any health, safety, and security processes in place at your workplace.

Exemption on religious grounds

You can apply for a certificate of exemption on the grounds that you are a practising member of a religious society or order, and your beliefs preclude membership of anyone outside that religious society or order.

Related information

Information about employers’ rights and obligations under the Fair Pay Agreement Law is also available in information sheet form:

Understanding Fair Pay Agreements – A quick guide for employers [PDF 267KB]

When a Fair Pay Agreement is in force

Once a Fair Pay Agreement is finalised and set as law, all employers covered must make sure their covered employees have terms that are the same as, or better, than those in the Fair Pay Agreement.

Industry leader in soft fall protection on construction sites

Massey University rigorously tested all elements of the Safety Nets NZ system

With the enactment of the Health and Safety at Work Act (2015) it became apparent that there was a need to assure customers that they comply the requirements of the Act in safety measures for fall arrest.

“We needed to have our system independently analysed, engineered and ultimately certified. This meant that not only did the individual components of the safety net fall arrest sys-

tem have to be tested, the performance of the safety fall arrest system as a whole also needed to be studied,” says General Manager Craig Daly.

A team at the School of Engineering and Technology at Massey University tested a variety of drop heights and weights, different bracket centres, various net sizes and points where the load strikes the net.

“It even tested nets of different ages and repaired

nets, with the results being collated and analysed to effectively confirm that our safety fall arrest system works,” says Daly.

“This enables PCBU’s to discharge their responsibilities in regard to the requirements of the in the use of a system that is without risk to the health and safety of it’s workforce.”

When the nets have been installed and inspected by a Safety Nets NZ team and a handover certificate

completed by our certified rigger, the client can then commence works above the safe area of the net.

“All of our safety documentation has been produced in such a format as to ensure that it complements the overall site safety policy and manual that the Principal Contractor is required to establish on all projects,” says Daly.

Click here to read inspection guidelines

Pay cuts and redundancies –how a company lost $280k

Four employees who were terminated by the management of a large oil and gas company in Taranaki have been awarded almost $280,000 in lost wages, reimbursements and compensation by the Employment Relations Authority (ERA)

In a determination released mid-May, the ERA found the oil and gas company guilty of breaching good faith as an employer, after it made the four employees redundant “out of blue” after it claimed it was in a dire financial position due to falling oil prices and the outbreak of the Covid pandemic in 2020.

The four employees initially took pay cuts –which was a breach of their employment agreements –believing if they did so, their jobs would remain. The ERA found that the decision to deduct 30% from each of the employees’ salaries was done without the informed consent of any of them.

What followed soon after the pay cuts was their roles were made redundant without any consultation, leaving them collectively feeling hurt and humiliated with a loss of their dignity. The four former employees

argued that their dismissals were unjustified and the process – or lack of it –unjustifiably disadvantaged them because they were not given a chance to consult on the redundancies.

Failure to follow the correct employment process resulted in a combined Hurt & Humiliation compensation order for the hurt caused of $74,000. The ERA also ordered compensation for lost wages and reimbursement of the pay that was cut prior to the terminations to be paid to a collective total of $278,589.

All four employees expressed shock at their terminations with no apparent indication redundancy was going to occur. To add insult to injury, one of the employees was required to spend a week training another colleague on their role prior to their employment officially ending.

A representative of the oil

and gas employer advised the ERA urgent steps were needed to reduce costs and losses, and redundancies were “absolutely necessary” to restructure the business as a result of the Covid pandemic and financial challenges.

The company justified the redundancies because it believed consultation was not necessary because of an “exceptional circumstances provision” in the employment agreements.

However, the legislation this employer believed it was acting under had long been changed in 2004 and the ERA determined the employer did not consult. It scolded them for not consulting in such a process, noting consultation in any proposed restructuring was mandatory in New Zealand.

The ERA determined it was possible the employees might have been dismissed on the basis of wrong infor-

mation when consultation might have corrected that, and the resulting outcome was that all four employees had been unjustifiably dismissed.

Further – in a damning decision around process, the ERA found the oil and gas company guilty of breaching good faith as an employer.

Employer Learnings

• Any variations to an employee’s terms and conditions cannot be done unilaterally – they must be made with both party’s agreement

• An employer must have a genuine commercial reason for restructuring

• In the event of a restructuring situation, consultation is compulsory

• If an employee raises a personal grievance in respect of the restructure or any resulting redundancy, the employer’s consultation process, decision making process and reasons for undertaking the restructure will all come under scrutiny

• Ignorance of employment law changes (dating back to 2004!) does not protect an employer

This case is a timely reminder for employers to ensure they have appropriate Individual Employment Agreements and relevant HR Policies in place for their workplaces, or at the very least, a fit-for-purpose redundancy clause in their Individual Employment Agreements.

Safe Business Solutions

Battery fire in underground storage

Idle tools and equipment become that much more of a risk when stored underground

Two tunnel workers observed smoke emerging out of a heavy-duty steel toolbox that was stored underground on 8 July 2022 at 10.55pm. A third worker radioed in for assistance in extinguishing the fire.

A worker started to remove tools and other gear from the toolbox whilst the two other workers obtained a 9kg dry powder extinguisher.

The worker who was removing tools and gear from the toolbox observed sparks flying towards them. They stepped back and, after using the extinguisher, the fire was thought to have been put out.

However, the tool sparked a fire for the second time.

The workers closed the toolbox lid and a leading hand arrived at the scene with a second 9kg dry powder extinguisher. Workers opened the lid using scaffold tubes and the fire was extinguished a second time. Workers started removing tools out of the toolbox and placed them on a nearby scaffold.

Upon removing, workers found a 6V Hilti Lithium Battery 822 5.2 Li-Ion melted (connected) to a Hilti Sabre Saw SR6–A22.

The leading hand used the extinguisher to spray down the battery and Sabre Saw. The fire had spread to other tools and batteries stored in the toolbox but the prompt actions of the workers prevented a larger fire.

What we know:

• Lithium battery fires have occurred in the past.

• Lithium battery fires can be difficult to extinguish.

• Poorly maintained battery-operated tools could contribute to these types of fires.

• Any combustible material stored underground is potential fuel for a fire.

PCBUs should:

• undertake a risk assessment of any underground operations to determine if battery-operated tools can be stored above ground

• avoid storing multiple

tools together

• ensure an inspection system is in place to monitor tool condition

• charge tools above ground

• consider steel toolboxes to contain potential fires

• ensure workers are trained to use fire extinguishers

• ensure the correct fire extinguishers are available

• alert workers to the potential for battery fires and the difficulty in extinguishing a battery fire

• consider removing the battery from the tool when not in use.

The explosive risks working with heatpumps, air-cons & fridges

An uncontrolled release or leak of hydrocarbon gas is a health and safety risk which has the potential to cause a serious fire or explosion

For businesses who design, manufacture, install, maintain, or repair air-conditioning, heat pump or refrigeration equipment, all equipment that uses hydrocarbon refrigerants must comply with the relevant safety standards and regulations.

New Zealand is one of many countries who have agreed to take steps to reduce and eliminate the use of environmentally harmful refrigerants, such as hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs).

The refrigerants that are being introduced to replace HFCs and HCFCs are often hydrocarbons which are flammable. This is leading to the regulation of the importation, exportation and use of those refrigerants.

What are hydrocarbon refrigerants?

Hydrocarbon refrigerants are non-toxic refrigerants. Their use is becoming popular as they are one of the most climate-friendly and cost-effective refrigerants used in heating and cooling.

All hydrocarbon refrigerants are classified as highly flammable. Below are common examples:

in Employment (Pressure Equipment, Cranes and Passenger Ropeways) Regulations 1999.

Under the Hazardous Substances Regulations air-conditioning, heat pump or refrigeration equipment operating on a hydrocarbon refrigerant must comply with AS/NZS 5149:2016.

1 According to standard AS/NZS ISO 817:2016.

Designing, manufacturing or installing equipment that uses a hydrocarbon refrigerant

Refrigeration, airconditioning and heat pump equipment that uses flammable refrigerants must be designed and installed specifically for those refrigerants to avoid being

in breach of:

• Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010

• Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances)

• Regulations 2017 (the Hazardous Substances Regulations)

• Health and Safety

Note: The Hazardous Substances Regulations do not apply to domestic refrigerators, domestic heat pumps, or room airconditioners. These are required to comply with relevant appliance standard (AS/NZS 60335).

Repairing or maintaining equipment, including replacing refrigerants

Significant safety concerns have been raised about the practice of retrofitting hydrocarbon

refrigerant into existing airconditioning, heat pump or refrigeration equipment that is not specifically designed for a flammable type.

This greatly increases the risk of a serious fire or explosion.

Under the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010, an installation is deemed unsafe if it is retrofitted with a refrigerant other than the one that it was designed to operate on.

The replacement of a nonflammable refrigerant with a flammable refrigerant renders the heat pump, refrigeration or airconditioning system unsafe unless:

• the equipment has been adapted to operate safely, or

• the equipment was designed to be retrofitted with that refrigerant.

Retrofitting must not be undertaken, unless the person retrofitting existing equipment with a hydrocarbon refrigerant has:

• undertaken a full redesign of the refrigerant system

• completed a process safety review identifying and controlling all the risks of commissioning and operating the reengineered system

• ensured compliance with all relevant standards, including but not limited to AS/NZS 5149 and AS 4343 or AS/NZS 603335.

Note: Compliance with AS/NZ 5149 is deemed to be compliance with AS/NZ 1677.2 as cited in the Electricity (Safety) Regulations.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA)

A PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers, and that other persons are not put at risk by its work.

Risks associated with the installing, commissioning, operating, maintaining or servicing air-conditioning, heat pump or refrigeration plant must be managed appropriately, even if the plant is fully compliant with all requirements of AS/NZS 5149.

Persons undertaking redesign of systems take on the duties of a designer. The designer must, so far as is reasonably practicable, ensure that plant is designed to be without risks to the health and safety of workers or others.

For more information including other duties

under HSWA, see our quick reference guide Health and safety at work

Standards

AS/NZS ISO 817:2016 Refrigerants – Designation and safety classification –safety classification AS/NZS 5149:2016 (Parts 1–4) Refrigerating systems and heat pumps –safety and environmental requirements

AS 4343:2005 Pressure equipment – hazard levels

More information

Flammable Refrigerants –Be Informed, Be Aware Fact Sheets 1–4

Flammable Refrigerant Safety Guide (2013) and Update 1 (2018)

Flammable Refrigerant Gases Position Paper

The great unlearning

Iharboured a fervent hope that 25 years of development and refinement of Wayne Milicich’s injury prevention model might contain a few surprises.

The prospect of four hours in what I suspected could be a moralising lecture about how to lift a box was not enthralling. I could see, as we shuffled into the training centre, that the rest of the class felt the same, with a range of resigned, bored and cynical faces.

We were wrong. Boy, were we wrong. Participants soon learned “it was all about them” and their individual quality of life. And how 30 seconds after the training would break the harmful muscle memory that had taken over the way we did things.

“The programme is about unlearning what we learned between the ages of about eight to 13 years old and restoring all the movement patterns that we learned naturally during the first five to eight years of our life,” says Milicich.

For example, children all demonstrate best balance, unlike most adults. About 80 percent of the adult population “half breathe” from the apical area of the lungs as opposed to the diaphragm and lower lobes of the lungs, according to Milicich. “Children all naturally breathe from their belly, diaphragm, unless they are stressed.”

The most hardened cynics in our group quickly became engaged in the programme through a series of

practical truths, illustrated by a range of interactions, sometimes with a workmate.

We emerged half a working day later wondering who to sue for the preventable harm I have inflicted by following instructions. Life quality did not require lifetime dedication, just a reordering of basic instincts and tossing out a few myths.

For our group, the quality of life had become anchored forever around balance and the 70/30 weight split between heels and toes.

We were converts to breathing out like weightlifters, sticking out our butts and letting tummies and abdominals do their thing - we discarded posture misinformation and stress and replaced it with comfort, a safe and secure back and no pain.

Optimum’s programme is of suggested solutions, not imperatives. “When we do this training, it is to benefit the individual. The company

clips the ticket and gets a benefit only when the individual benefits.”

“You cannot stand on a platform and tell people they are wrong. When a person’s belief is challenged, they will do anything to defend that truth as it is what they believe and know and have lived by. The only way to expose the false belief is to lead someone to find the truth for themselves.

In most cases following instilled poor habits is akin to

tapping yourself lightly on the head with a hammer for years. Do it enough times and you will end up permanently damaged.

You cannot separate work safety and whanau safety – they are two sides of the same coin, according to Milicich. Health and safety at home and work are just a component of our life quality. Not something that is separated out with its own rules to be applied at specific times and locations.

To a person, we emerged

Safety News and AsiaPacific Infrastucture publisher Mike Bishara accepts an invitation from Optimum Training to join a four-hour safety training session

Optimum Training manager Dwane Stewart with an eager team of learners

ready to retrain our misguided muscle memory with the 30-secondsa-day-worth of drills to reprogramme our muscle memory that had taken us just four hours to master.

“The training empowers people to work out the truth for themselves and trust themselves. You are the only person who can determine what works best for you. Trust yourself to make a good call,” says Milicich.

With no pen, paper or tables in the room, this programme is “pure adult facilitation of kinesthetic learning followed by cognitive understanding. It is simple to restore what was once in the muscle memory when we were five to eight years old. The original neural pathways just open up again,” he says. We learned and now retain what we learned.

“Stress is recognized as a major cause of MSD and auto-immune disease. We help people understand how their body manifests stress and equip them with the understanding and tools to manage themselves during stressful times,” says Milicich.

Optimum’s facilitation process has four specific steps. When applied correctly to the session, most often the learner has no idea of what

has happened, but they do recognise that their life has changed for the better.

Our session began with participation exercises which showed the overriding importance of balance. The 70/30 rationale was enough to consign to the bin, along with a flurry of other medical myths, the long-held and totally wrong “bend your knees and keep your back straight” doctrine.

It soon became apparent why Optimum’s quality of life programme is used by many of the country’s most astute corporations in an age where time “off the floor” is critical to the bottom line and many companies look only to tick the boxes of compliance.

The benefits are equally cost effective, available and absorbed by SMEs. My class had only nine other participants so having a cast of thousands is not essential – or even recommended.

“Move Smart Think Smart is about addressing the underlying causes of muscle and joint pain that occur as we interact with inert objects both at work and at home. Home injuries affect the workplace. Workplace injuries affect the home and family,” says Milicich.

“Either way the quality

of life of a person is compromised. The traditional medical model calls the problem ‘nonspecific back pain and occupational overuse’. In fact, the pain is about inadvertent personal misuse of the body -- it is very specific.”

The bio-medical model reckons back pain is normal. “No, it is not normal,” says Milicich. “It is common, and the medical model is unwittingly part of the problem.

“Good posture” is nothing more than an old wives’ tale based on the military model of control and it is still believed today. A teacher tells children to sit up straight as a means of controlling the class. It is now portrayed as good posture.

“The medical field is littered with information and advice that was eventually proven wrong and retracted. Some of our western cultural beliefs are based in nothing more than decades or centuries old beliefs and mores.

The sad thing is that more than 80 percent of MSD's are inadvertently and unwittingly self-inflicted. People hurt themselves as they interact with inert objects, and they don't even realise it, says Milicich.

“The only way a box can hurt someone is if it is flying

through the air and strikes them. Or if it is moving on a conveyor and they put their hand where they should not.

A spade and the ground are both inert. To suffer pain while digging a hole is the person hurting themselves as they interact with the spade and ground.

The pain is a direct result of poor skills and technique of movement -- self-inflicted pain.

Most people blame something or someone for this self-inflicted injury. At that point, only the symptom can be addressed with drugs and therapy.

The problem returns as they repeat their old thinking and poor technique once the symptom has eased.

“No one deliberately hurts themselves. Given the opportunity, everyone makes the right choice,” says Milicich.

To a person, everyone was engaged for the full duration of training, always relevant, interesting, practical and beneficial to each person. We felt equipped and empowered to take back responsibility for ourselves. I personally still muse over and apply the learnings. My years of knee pain has gone.

Hydraulics that bump in the night

Heavier workloads for earthmovers, miners, construction and infrastructure, and transport operators are putting the strain on the hydraulic systems of static and mobile machinery essential to their tasks, including graders, diggers, trucks, forklifts, forest and agricultural harvesters,

road and rail maintenance equipment, and fixed and mobile cranes.

Virtually everything depends on hydraulics in the world of lifting, moving and heavy machinery. Properly functioning hydraulic actuation provides the muscle to do the job safely and quickly. Done well, hydraulic

servicing can save money and enhance safety on diesel- powered vehicles and machinery of all sizes. Done poorly – just patching up machinery malfunctions, or ignoring warning signs – is an open door to higher costs and a welcome mat to accidents.

If hydraulic service has been done poorly, often the

first you may know about it is when hydraulic actuation stops dead. Or the machine may let you know something is wrong through abnormal noise, which experienced operators will immediately recognise as a sign of things to come.

Such faults can often be caused by aeration or cavitation in the hydraulic

oil system, which can be a sign of big problems to come. Aeration occurs when air contaminates the hydraulic fluid. Air in the hydraulic fluid makes an alarming banging or knocking noise when it compresses and decompresses, as it circulates through the system.

Apart from costly and extended downtime, a single fault can be deadly where earthmoving equipment is shifting tonnes of rubble in a single bite, harvesting tons of valuable produce in a narrow time frame, grading slopes on infrastructure, lifting loads into heavy trucks and specialist vehicles.

This is a myriad danger because there are scores – sometimes hundreds – of hydraulic hoses and connections upon which earthmovers, graders, cranes, on and off-road trucks, powerful specialist machinery and even the ubiquitous forklifts absolutely depend.

That’s hundreds of opportunities for things to go right or wrong in a single vehicle, and thousands when multiple vehicles are involved. And it is the owner’s choice and Duty of Care to do it right, which is a large responsibility of compliance, traceability and safety.

One of the most important things to have is service staff or service partners who know your machinery, your sites, your work priorities and are available 24/7.

The partnership needs to be like a hand in a glove –the people who are serving you ideally need to know, before they arrive on site, what’s likely to be expected and how to fix it.

Ideally, they need to know both the machinery and the site conditions, which is a matter of experience and efficiency. Otherwise every new issue is a big lesson at the machinery owners’ expense.

If you have to spend half a day educating different people turning up each time, you are wasting your money and your time – then getting a bill for it.

Service partners need to have through familiarity with individual sites and corporate practices –otherwise time and money can be wasted educating them and being billed for it

And if the new service person doesn’t know the safety protocols for your industry, or he is not continuously educated in this changing field, then you may be taking a culpable risk. That’s no exaggeration.

their costly investments. These include checking for wear on the outer cover of hoses; leaks at the end of the hose; exposed wires; and removal of kinks or twists in the hose that will prevent flow and cause early failure. Obviously, prevention here is better than cure, so these are essential routine observations that a competent technician will check so as to prevent breakdown or safety issues arising from failure.

Ask the right questions of anyone who comes on your site:

1. What are their safety compliances relevant to your site? These are absolutely top of the list because all decent operators want to protect their workers – and it is the first thing a statutory body will ask for if there is an accident. Don’t be noncompliant – it can and does shut down business.

not be right today.

4. What backing does the individual have – are they continuously involved as part of a big team or are they more of a lone ranger? Can they come out 24/7 if they have to, do they have 4wds to do the remote jobs when these come up, do they have the workshop facilities to handle the bigger jobs needed by all big machinery from time to time?

Experience – and ongoing education – are to be prized. Customers are correctly concerned to ensure they are sent top people. At a site level, good operators can tell you in five minutes about the quality, knowledge and attitude of people who are sent out to help them.

They can pick it – they ask themselves; do they know what they are talking about in your industry? Are they there to make a positive contribution, or to do the job as quickly as possible and get out of there?”

So how to you know if you are doing right or wrong?

The issue of efficient, effective and safe hydraulic hose service isn’t as simple as having a shed of likely spares on-site and a mobile contact for someone you can call out sometime after something goes wrong.

It is the employers’ responsibility, the site owners’ responsibility, to ensure people coming on site have the right qualifications for the job in hand. Otherwise it is back to the classroom again, at your expense.

While experienced staff or partners are essential to predict and prevent failures – with associated time and safety costs and hazards – Simpson says there are some basic checks owners can undertake to help ensure things are right with

2. What is their experience relevant to your machinery and your industry? Familiarity with customer sites and very diverse machinery being worked upon is important, so service technicians do not cost time, money and downtime learning the job at the customer’s expense. Typically, a skilled technician familiar with multiple machinery typical of an industry can do a better job in less than half the time taken by a less skilled or DIY operator.

3. What programmes of continuing education are they involved in? Hydraulic machinery is a fast-moving field, and what was good enough 10 years ago might

Outstanding hydraulic service is demanding. You have to have deep knowledge and great experience in this area to be able to see issues coming before they arrive. There are huge issues of safety, compliance, machinery knowledge, site knowledge, traceability and accountability involved in big machines.

When servicing hydraulic hoses, fittings and adaptors, mechanics need to be spot on, every time. A faulty hose or incorrect fitting can have dire consequences when operating at high pressure (typically 3,000 – 7,000 PSI in mobile applications).

Ensuring adequate respiratory protection

Worksafe NZ's Clean Air programme was their first targeted intervention on workrelated health. Their goal was to reduce the risk of respiratory ill-health caused by exposure to airborne contaminants in the workplace.

A key part of the programme is to raise awareness and eliminate or control the health risks of silica dust, organic solvents, welding fumes, wood dust, carbon monoxide and agrichemicals.

In New Zealand cancers and respiratory diseases from airborne substances account for at least 31% of total work-related harm and

an estimated 650 deaths per year. They account for 79% of the estimated 750 – 900 people who die annually from work-related health causes - Source: Worksafe NZ. More information here: https://www.worksafe.govt. nz/topic-and-industry/ work-relatedhealth/ carcinogens-and-airbornerisks/

Whether you are an employer who needs respiratory solutions for employees or a welder, plumber, spray painter, asbestos worker, farmer or even a casual carpenter

– LUNG PROTECTION IS VITAL!

It is incumbent on PCBU’s

to ensure that workers are not exposed to carcinogens and airborne risks. When the hierarchy of controls in risk management have been applied and risks remain, Respiratory Protection Equipment is one of the last lines of defence.

Choosing the correct type of respiratory equipment can be quite confusing, but here are a few simple guidelines to ensure that employers and workplaces make the right decision.

• Get advice from experts.

• Use a reputable supplier.

• Ensure the respiratory equipment complies with AS/NZS1716:2012.

• Use the right filters or opt for an airline system if

necessary.

• Change filters regularly.

• Only use the filters supplied by the manufacturer of the respiratory mask to stay compliant.

• Get “fit tested”.

pH7 has the expertise and products to assist companies with their respiratory requirements. Follow pH7’s respiratory “fast facts” articles on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram for more insights.

For end to end solutions, contact us on 0800 323 223, email us at enquiries@ ph7.co.nz or go to www.pH7.co.nz

It is incumbent on PCBU’s to ensure that workers are not exposed to carcinogens and airborne risks

Dwayne Summers died after being trapped and crushed, while using a meal bagging machine at Kakariki Proteins Limited in April 2021. The Feilding business was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court for health and safety failings.

A WorkSafe investigation found that the machine involved was a replica of another installed at the site. The replica had been modified to fit a new location, creating significant crushing hazards that were overlooked by the business. The replica machine was also missing a physical barrier between the worker and exposed moving parts. The company’s health and safety consultant was also not an expert in machine guarding.

The investigation found that Kakariki Proteins did not conduct an adequate risk assessment on the replica, failed to train its staff to use the machine properly, and did not adequately supervise them. There was also no easily accessible lockable isolating switch to stop the machine quickly in an emergency.

WorkSafe’s area investigation manager, Paul West says any business installing a new piece of equipment must identify the risks.

“It sounds simple but is so often missed. You might have a machine that works perfectly well, but if you move or replicate it, ask yourself how the device is going to be used and if a hazard has been introduced.

“If you are bringing in a consultant, make sure they are competent in the job you’re asking them to do.

“Our investigation findings transcend this particular site and industry. As a

Business fined after modified machine kills worker

country, we owe it to victims like Dwayne Summers to pay closer attention to modified machinery.”

Read WorkSafe’s guidelines for the safe use of machinery

Background

• Kakariki Proteins Limited was sentenced in the Palmerston North District Court on 14 November 2022.

• A fine of $350,000 was

imposed, and reparations of $130,000 were ordered

• Kakariki Proteins Limited was charged under sections 36(1)(a), 48(1) and 48(2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

• Being a PCBU having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers who work for the PCBU, including

Dwayne Summers, while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking, namely work at its plant in Feilding, did fail to comply with that duty, and that failure exposed workers to the risk of serious injury or death.

• The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $1.5 million

A Manawatū factory worker’s death underscores the importance of carrying out a dedicated risk assessment before modifying machinery in a workplace

Another fine for unsafe machinery injury

WorkSafe is again urging vigilance on the risks of exposed machinery, in light of a steel fabrication worker suffering a significant injury on the job in Northland

The employer, Donovan Group NZ Limited, has been sentenced in the Whangārei District Court for its health and safety failings in June last year.

While working on a steel bending and pressing machine, the victim became unbalanced, and his left hand slipped into the pressing mechanism as it was operating. The incident resulted in partial amputation of a finger, and the victim was off work for two months recovering.

“This machine was not fitted with any observable safety devices whatsoever. It was possible to have physical guards and safety sensors installed on the machine, which would

have protected the workers using it,” says WorkSafe’s area investigation manager, Danielle Henry.

WorkSafe’s investigation also found the victim was not taken through a risk assessment for the machine, and there was an assumption that the standard operating procedures were for the safety supervisor to be familiar with.

“This is yet another instance where the courts have clearly said it’s not acceptable to expose workers to risk of harm from unguarded machinery. There have been dozens of prosecutions for similar events. The solutions are available and effective, so there are no excuses. Clear guidance, standards, and options for

machine guarding have existed for many years, and the wider manufacturing industry needs to do better.”

Read WorkSafe’s guidance on the safe use of machinery

• Donovan Group NZ Limited was sentenced at the Whangārei District Court on 1 December 2022

• A fine of $220,000 was imposed, and reparations of $31,000 were ordered

• Donovan Ltd was charged under sections 36(1)(a), 48(1) and 48(2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015

• Being a PCBU, having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers who work for the PCBU, while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking, namely while operating an Amada Press Brake (Model Promecam RG80), did fail to comply with that duty, and that failure exposed the workers to a risk of serious injury arising from exposure to moving parts of the Amada Press Brake.

• The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $1.5 million.

Company prosecuted for subcontractor’s death

Subcontractors are entitled to health and safety too and deserve better, WorkSafe says

ACanterbury business, Dan’s Renovations, has been sentenced for health and safety failings over the death of a subcontractor in February 2021. The 56-yearold man was painting the flat, one-storey roof when he fatally fell 4.5 metres to the ground.

In a reserved decision, Judge Gerard Lynch has described the death as having a “devastating and multidimensional impact… felt across generations” for the victim’s family.

Dan’s Renovations did not have significant experience of working at heights.

WorkSafe’s investigation also found there was no site-specific safety plan in place, and no edge protec-

tion (for example, scaffolding) installed around the perimeter of the building in Sydenham. As a result, four workers, including the victim, were exposed to the risk of injury or death.

“This incident is proof that a flat roof does not mean a safe roof – especially when it’s 4.5 metres high. This was an unprotected and unsafe working environment,” says WorkSafe’s Head of Specialist Interventions, Dr Catherine Gardner.

“Lead contractors owe all workers onsite a duty of care, whether they’re subcontractors or your own staff. Lead contractors must ensure the risks are being controlled to ensure everyone’s safety.

“Everybody knows the

dangers of working at height. The expectations are well established and exist for a reason so they need to be followed,” says Dr Gardner.

Read the good practice guidelines for working on roofs

Read more about WorkSafe prosecutions

• Dan’s Renovations was sentenced in a reserved decision from Judge Gerard Lynch of the Christchurch District Court.

• Reparations of $261,695 were ordered, and a fine of $37,500 imposed

• Dan’s Renovations

was charged under sections 36(1)(a), s 48(1) and (2)(c) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.

• being a PCBU, having a duty to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers who work for the PCBU, while the workers are at work in the business carrying out roof repairs and repainting, did fail to comply with that duty and that failure exposed individuals to a risk of death or serious injury arising from a fall from height.

• The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $1.5 million.

Sentencing sends a message to installers

A business has been prosecuted for failing to play its part before a worker suffered significant injuries on the job in a fall from height

The 54-year-old worker was replacing a roof at Auckland’s Glenfield Intermediate School in mid-January 2020. He fell 3.6 metres onto the concrete ground below, after trying to steady himself by holding a guardrail that detached due to improper installation by TPL Access Limited.

The victim sustained a hematoma by his left eye, two fractured ribs, a fractured sternum, fractured vertebrae, and multiple pelvic bone fractures. He spent 10 days in hospital and did not fully recover for more than a year.

WorkSafe’s investigation found TPL Access Limited should have ensured the roof edge protection was installed in line with the manufacturer’s guidelines and industry standards, by ensuring it was safe and fit for use.

In her decision, North Shore District Court Judge Anna Fitzgibbon said “the way in which the roof edge protection was installed exposed the victim to a risk of death or serious injury from a fall from height”. Judge Fitzgibbon described TPL Access Limited as having “a moderate to high level of culpability” for its actions.

WorkSafe says the victim was lucky to survive the incident.

“This case is a clear example that everyone has responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act, including businesses upstream from the work itself. If you contribute to unsafe work you will be held to account,” says WorkSafe’s area investigation manager, Danielle Henry.

“There is a duty to consider the health and

safety of the people who will ultimately be reliant on your product when installing, building, or commissioning structures for use at work. Upstream duties sit with the business which has the most influence over the matter at hand, to make sure all workers at all steps throughout the chain are kept healthy and safe.”

• TPL Access Limited was sentenced in a reserved decision of the North Shore District Court

• A fine of $100,000 was imposed, to be paid over five years

• Reparations of $43,000 were ordered to be paid to the victim immediately

• TPL was charged under sections 43(2) (b), 48(1) and (2)(c) of the Health and Safety

at Work Act 2015

• Being a PCBU having a duty to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the way in which plant or structure, namely edge protection, is installed, constructed or commissioned ensures that the plant or structure is without risks to the health and safety of persons who use the plant or structure for a purpose for which it is installed, constructed or commissioned, did fail to comply with that duty, and that failure exposed persons to a risk of death or serious injury from a fall from height.

• The maximum penalty is a fine not exceeding $1.5 million.

Chemical safety relies on meaningful cooperation

Expanding government-industry partnerships to help business operators should be a no brainer. Inviting enquirers to read the regulations falls well short of educational expectations

Increasing community concerns about vulnerability to unwanted chemical exposure and damage to our fragile environment places additional pressure on both suppliers and users of the chemicals.

places, by responding to workers’ suggestions about improvements.

Barry Dyer Chief Executive Responsible

Care NZ

Today, chemical suppliers and their customers continue to adjust to the Covid operational environment.

They struggle with supply chain delays, the loss of experienced staff, frustration with unanswered queries to risk-averse authorities, inflexible and prescriptive regulations, rising compliance costs, diminishing resources and increasing public chemical safety expectations.

While 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.

We all need to sustain and improve our quality of life and these products must be safely managed throughout their life cycle.

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.

Chemical industry leaders are moving away from relying on lagging indicators of safety performance in favour of identifying safer work practices and work-

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.

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 adding value to businesses.

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 chemical safety aspirations through product stewardship initiatives.

To help solve the in-house chemical compliance dilemma in New Zealand, Responsible Care NZ delivers specialist and cost-effective Certified Handler standard training, complete with a certificate.

Responsible Care NZ site compliance assessments are non-threatening, effectively capturing and assessing chemical safety performance in a variety of workplaces. +64 4 499 4311

Avoidable workplace death results in enforceable undertaking

Worksafe

60-year-old truck driver Gratten Layne was standing at the rear of his truck, when he was struck and killed by a loader driven by another worker at the Hampton Downs landfill in March 2020.

WorkSafe considers the following could reduce the risk of harm in similar circumstances:

• having a site-specific traffic management plan that separates

vehicles and pedestrians

• providing radar or sensor equipment to alert pedestrians and drivers when they are within danger of each other

• increased engagement with workers to identify and manage risks at dynamic work sites.

As an alternative to prosecution, WorkSafe has accepted an enforceable

undertaking put forward by Mr Layne’s employer, EnviroWaste Services Limited (EnviroWaste). This is a legally binding commitment which includes:

• reparations to Gratten Layne’s family

• an artificial intelligence technology initiative in health and safety

• the development and implementation of a methodology to better

understand dynamic risk

• the development and implementation of a worker engagement tool for work variability and adaption

• the development and implementation of a methodology for worker critical analysis and thinking skills

• funding for a youth alcohol and drug programme in the Waikato region.

New Zealand has accepted an enforceable undertaking in hopes that it will improve site safety

The overall agreement comes at a minimum cost of nearly $1 million to EnviroWaste.

“The investment EnviroWaste is prepared to make exceeds what even the courts may have ordered in penalties. This demonstrates a substantial commitment to health and safety and will see benefits being directed back to workers, the industry, and the community.

It underlines what I often say – enforceable undertakings are not a soft option for businesses,” says WorkSafe’s Head of Specialist Interventions, Dr Catherine Gardner.

WorkSafe will regularly monitor progress on the conditions which have been agreed.

“We are particularly keen to see the outcome of EnviroWaste’s study into how visual artificial intelligence can aid traffic risk management on

worksites, and how the findings can be shared with other organisations,” says Dr Gardner.

Read more about the EnviroWaste enforceable undertaking Find out about enforceable undertakings

flow and I have to stop and take a breath when remembering that day.

Gratten’s accident shouldn’t have happened. Things went terribly wrong and the right things weren’t put in place.

I was in total disbelief, numb, shaken to the very core when Gratten was killed at work. He was my hubby, my soulmate, and both me and my son’s best friend. His death has left a hole in our life. He was our rock.

Gratten loved being in the water, swimming, fishing, kayaking and our long walks on the beach. Now I walk alone.

He is in our daily thoughts and frequently in our conversation. Tears

I’m pleased WorkSafe ensures workplaces like EnviroWaste are held to account. I agree with accepting an enforceable undertaking and I hope it means deaths will be prevented in future.

Statement from EnviroWaste chief executive, Chris Aughton:

We are devastated our colleague Gratten Layne was harmed at work. His loss has been deeply felt by us all at EnviroWaste.

The enforceable undertaking means something constructive can come out of this tragic event. It represents

a major investment and commitment from EnviroWaste to improve worker safety and prevent incidents like this happening again. We believe the application of AI technology holds real potential for organisations to respond to risks and hazards in real-time, and to improve the safety of workers through deeper engagement.

It is important to us and the family that the benefits of the EU are shared across all industries operating in dynamic risk settings, so everyone can go home to their loved ones when they finish their working day. Boosting worker safety is a meaningful way we can honour Gratten’s life and legacy.

Statement from the widow of Gratten Layne:

The perfect combination of quality assurance, high stock levels and expertise

Bastion’s comprehensive range of barrier protection solutions are trusted widely by industry professionals throughout Australasia.

It’s a level of trust that has been achieved through consistent delivery of quality assurance over almost two decades in the industry.

When it comes to choosing suppliers, Bastion has a strict selection policy. They only work with internationally certified suppliers who

have strict quality control measures in place. For extra assurance Bastion regularly monitor their manufacturers’ production facilities and test quality control procedures through a third-party auditor.

Choosing the right suppliers is top of mind for Bastion, as it means

consistently delivering on their promise to protect New Zealanders with excellent quality product that is fit for purpose.

High stock levels & Specialist Team Bastion is committed to maintaining high stock levels. With an extensive and well-resourced logistics

channel and strong supplier relationships, they are well positioned to keep customers stocked throughout the current global supply chain disruptions.

With just under twenty years of experience, Bastion are barrier protection specialists. Their experienced team provide expert support to help customers select products that are fit for purpose, fit correctly and are suited to specific industry applications.

Bastion Pacific NZ is a kiwi owned family business. Providing disposable barrier protection solutions, janitorial products and safety gloves to businesses throughout New Zealand and Australia.

If you’re not sure about a product, why not order a free sample?

Reach out to the Bastion team at enquiries@ bastionpacific.co.nz.

KEEPING HOT HANDS COOL, DRY & PRODUCTIVE

Safer, faster, multipurpose telehandlers

The days of needing on site a mobile crane, a boom lift or other types of elevated work platforms, a forklift and an excavator are numbered - one machine can do it all.

Rotating telehandlers may look a lot like their conventional cousins, but they are very different.

Their arrival on New Zealand work sites has completely changed the way project management is planned and the way on-

site work is completed in a safer and faster manner.

They load material, pick it up, drive to where it’s needed and then unload. The rotating telehandler can then pick the load, rotate and place the materials where needed.

The concept originated in Europe, where the majority of urban construction sites are very compact and do not allow room for traditional telehandlers.

“Rotating telehandlers have taken North Ameri-

ca by storm and over the past 18 months have been attracting a lot of attention in New Zealand,” says APS general manager Darren Boon, agents for Magni, one of the most technologically advanced brands of rotating telehandlers in the world.

“As technology has improved so has the reach and lifting capacity of these

type of machines. On a multi-level construction site, a machine with a five-tonne lift and 26-metre reach would usually have been the standard,” says Boon.

“Now machines are available for bigger projects with heavy lift capability up to 13 tonnes and machines with a reach of 51 metres.”

The introduction of game changing 360-degree rotating telehandlers looks set to disrupt the infrastructure, civil and construction industries

The world’s highest rotating telehandler – RTH6.51 (six-ton lift) has an impressive 51-metre reach (not pictured)

Magni recognised early that the biggest trend in the industry is to lift safer, higher and heavier

- EFFICIENCY

Proven efficiency

Replacing a tower crane with a rotating telehandler.

An Auckland private building company has purchased a Magni rotating telehandler in favour of hiring a tower crane for the construction of a four storey apartment block in West Auckland.

The rotating telehandler meets most of their lifting requirements for the crane work, with a larger mobile crane only being bought in to lift the heavy pre-cast panels. Having the ability

to easily swap attachments between winch and a set of forks the machine can pick and carry around the building site for more efficient lifting or the unloading of trucks.

All deliveries from the building supplier can be ordered on flat-deck trucks which means quicker delivers and savings of up to $150 per delivery by not waiting for Hiab/crane truck to become available.

The Load Movement Indicator (LMI) system is a load limit device. It is fitted as standard on all Magni telescopic handlers (RTH, TH and HTH ranges). It is made up of a rotation sensor, stabiliser cable reel, lifting cylinder pressure sensors and the LMI safety control board. Together, these components provide the operator with the best real-time load chart. This system continuously analyses the spatial positioning of the load and stores specific load charts for each attachment, displaying the correct load chart based on the machine’s working configuration.

The LMI system constantly monitors the movements of the machine to avoid any type of overload. If the system detects operating inconsistencies, it interrupts all aggravating movements, allowing only safe maneuvers (boom retraction and load release). This prevents operator error causing serious injury to themselves and nearby staff.

Every telehandler is equipped with the R.F.ID automatic attachment recognition system on the boom head. Whenever a new attachment is fitted to the machine it is recognised automatically and the display shows the corresponding load chart.

The safety of the operator and people nearby is paramount

MAGNI ROTATING TELEHANDLERS - SAFETY

MAGNI ROTATING TELEHANDLERS

Review proposes significant changes to local councils

Local

The Review’s draft report, He mata whāriki, he matawhānui, poses key questions and 29 draft recommendations to provoke discussion about how New Zealand’s local government system can be transformed to maximise community wellbeing. This is the second of three reports produced by an independent Panel exploring how local government

when the current system was last overhauled,” says Chair of the Review, Jim Palmer.

“We’ve spent a lot of time engaging with central and local government, iwi, businesses, community organisations, young people and the wider public to shape the draft report and recommendations. There is significant potential within the local government system,

to local problems.

“Feedback on the key questions and recommendations in the report will play an important role in the final report. We invite everyone to contribute to the future of local government in New Zealand through the submissions process.”

The questions and recommendations within the draft report come under five categories where shifts are required:

• Strengthened local democracy

• Authentic relationships with hapū, iwi and Māori

• A focus on wellbeing

• Genuine partnership between central and local government

• More equitable funding

tions aim to achieve.”

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta says the Government will focus on keeping a lid on rates rises.“We continue to support the sector in its efforts to engage with local communities in order to get the buy-in needed for any changes. The independent panel will now embark on a round of consultation with the wider local government sector to seek submissions, before producing its final report by June 2023.

“The sector has been clear about the changes needed to better provide for local communities. The Review was established at the sector’s request to examine these. It is now up to the sector to seize on the opportunities provided by the Review and help build a better future.

“Just as central government is preparing for what the world throws at us by keeping debt low and continuing to invest in a high-wage, low-emissions economy; local government also needs to respond to the challenges ahead, whether it is keeping a lid on rate rises, upgrading critical water infrastructure, climate change, or ensuring diverse voices are at the council table.

can enable communities to thrive, both now and into the future.

Submissions and feedback on the draft report are welcomed from now until 28 February 2023 to shape the final Report, which will be delivered in June 2023.

“Local government plays a vital role in contributing to community wellbeing, and the world we live in is vastly different to 30 years ago

and by revitalising it, we can support and enable it to better address 21st century challenges and deliver on community needs.

“The Report looks at how democracy can be strengthened; the roles, functions and structures of local government; the creation of stronger partnerships between central and local government and iwi Māori; and enabling local solutions

“The Review is an important step in a critical process to revitalise local government in Aotearoa New Zealand,” says Local Government New Zealand President, Stuart Crosby.

“Our country needs a local governance system that is community focused, and citizen centred, based on strong relationships and partnerships. That’s what the report recommenda-

“Local democracy is critical for our society, and it is my expectation that the Panel will engage with and consider the views of as many New Zealanders as possible. I encourage everyone to have their say,” says Mahuta.

Submissions and feedback on the draft report are welcomed and encouraged from today until 28 February 2023. They can be made via https://submissions. futureforlocalgovernment. govt.nz

Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta

Mayors propose simpler Three Waters alternative

The simplicity of the proposal is a refreshing change – it is simple, practical, clear, accessible, and still addresses issues around good management of water assets.

As an organisation, CCNZ has deliberately not taken a position around the politics surrounding the creation of water entities or cogovernance. But we have supported the need for change, the need for good water asset management, and the importance of a continuity of work through any transition.

It was disappointing to see the immediate response from the Prime Minister, who largely dismissed the proposal, despite it offering an opportunity to exit what is increasingly becoming an intractable political situation. And from the Finance and Infrastructure Minister who noted that on his first review it doesn’t go far enough to consolidate asset owners.

In the past, the Government has said this reform is not about cogovernance but about the quality of our water and the effectiveness with which it is supplied and managed. It

New Zealand Chief Executive Alan Pollard says

will be interesting to see if they hold the line now that practical alternatives that don’t rely on co-governance are starting to come to the table.

There will be an opportunity to submit on a suite of upcoming three waters legislation around how water is managed in the near future, and we will be formulating our position on these to ensure the industry’s voice is heard when this is open for submissions.

We are already working to inform a prospective Three Waters Code of Practice (contact CCNZ Technical Manager Stacy Goldsworthy for details), and our team is engaging with the National Transition Unit established within DIA to ensure coming change is well understood and takes into account the needs of contractors.

standards. We want to ensure that services are delivered efficiently and effectively in a sustainable, affordable, and accountable way.

As civic leaders in New Zealand, we believe all parties should support these common principles to improve water treatment in New Zealand. The ambition is to provide high quality, well governed and maintained water infrastructure for New Zealanders.

Our principles:

1. We support and endorse the new water regulator, Taumata Arowai.

2. We support the local ownership and control of water treatment and reticulation to ensure local accountability.

3. Ownership and management of stormwater assets should be retained by local councils to ensure clear management alongside transport and drainage assets.

We believe we can unite as a country and find a consensus plan that we all support to deliver New Zealanders safe and reliable drinking water and wastewater services.

Water services rely on long term investment, and we believe it is in all our interests to have an agreed policy – that is beyond political debate and not subject to significant change, from General Election to General Election. This will meet the ambitions of all New Zealanders for their water to be delivered to the best health and environmental

4. We encourage local government entities to consolidate, where sensible, into Regional Water Organisations (RWOs) which would be unable to be sold outside local authority ownership.

5. Affordable finance should be provided to qualifying Three Waters asset owners to ensure high quality investment in these assets to provide a higher standard of water treatment.

Because of New Zealand’s unique topography and population distribution, we believe there are limited network benefits from integrating the diverse water systems that provide water and wastewater services across New Zealand. However, where it does make sense and

The Proposal –Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon, Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown and Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown

Waimakariri Mayor Dan Gordon

Christchurch Mayor Phil Mauger

efficiencies can be gained, this should be facilitated.

By forming or being recognised as a Regional Water Organisation – these entities would have access to the investment capacity of the Water Infrastructure Fund.

Ensuring Better Investment:

Our plan to improve water treatment for all New Zealanders.

–Access to affordable and well-structured finance will facilitate better investment in future water and wastewater assets.

– a new Water infrastructure Fund (WIF) to be established by Crown Infrastructure Partners.

– Will provide high quality access to equity and investment in new water treatment assets for large councils or RWOs. The WIF will be the primary provider of long term investment / funding in water and wastewater assets for councils and RWOs. It will have access to debt

markets.

– The WIF will operate on commercial lines but only able to be subscribed for equity by the NZ Government, ACC, NZ Superfund or Iwi, who will be attracted by the intergenerational nature of the investments.

– The WIF could enter financing structures with Councils and RWOs for schemes in excess of an agreed threshold.

– Would act like the LGFA and manage debt and financial arrangements. Could hold debt off the council balance sheets.

– Would ensure compliance with green investment principles. They can access international bond markets but will ensure NZ ownership of assets.

Mana Whenua:

Three Waters asset owners would be required to engage with mana whenua on what role

in investment decisionmaking best reflects and promotes the roles and responsibilities of mana whenua mana moana, including kaitiakitanga. It encourages local arrangements between Three Waters asset owners and mana whenua to be co-designed locally so that they are more direct and meaningful.

Support Vulnerable Water Schemes:

The most vulnerable schemes are those run by smaller entities, often in remote locations. It is difficult for these schemes to benefit from the economies of scale. These schemes would not be a focus for large multiregional entities.

We recommend that future additional capital investment is targeted at the most at-risk systems. We realize that these are largely smaller systems in dispersed geographic locations. Significant investment is not easily organised given the small numbers of users.

For these smaller schemes under the agreed threshold, they would be able to access a “Vulnerable Water Schemes” programme, which is modelled on Labour’s earlier “Drinking Water Assistance Programme” later supported by National in government. This acts like the Waka Kotahi Financial Assistance Rate for roading.

Highest risk schemes in smaller areas would be able to apply for a subsidy to support their replacement or enhanced schemes. Management of this scheme would involve the Water Infrastructure Fund, MfE and Te Whatu Ora. The water regulator could provide input into this process.

Capital projects will be ranked and funded with the most vulnerable funded first. Over time it would work to ensure the most vulnerable communities are given the same access to quality water.

Clean drinking water and effective sewage disposal (sanitation) is fundamental to public health, so much so that we take them for granted. That is why the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak in August 2016 was such a shock.

It was caused by surface water contaminated with sheep faeces entering the untreated drinking water system, resulting in an estimated 8320 infections, 58 hospitalisations, and at least four deaths, making it the largest campylobacter outbreak ever reported.

The subsequent Havelock North Drinking Water Inquiry recommended a major overhaul of drinking water supply in New Zealand, which was subsequently broadened into the Three Waters Reform Programme.

Debate around the proposed Three Waters reforms has mostly focused on anti-cogovernance arguments, and concerns around the loss of local control of water infrastructure. This has overshadowed the original reason for the reforms, one of which is to ensure safe,

Three Waters debate drowning out the real issue

Whatever new system we adopt, public health and environmental needs have to be kept as a central focus to reduce the risk of another crisis like the Havelock North campylobacter outbreak, University of Otago Professor Michael Baker says

good quality drinking water is available for all.

There are multiple public health and environmental problems and threats that these reforms need to address, in addition to reducing the risk of a repeat Havelock North outbreak:

• Regular microbial contamination of drinking water systems, particularly following floods which are becoming more common with climate disruption, resulting in frequent breaches of the drinking water standards and boil water notices.

• Concerns about intensified farming and increasing microbial contamination of source water, including with protozoa (cryptosporidia and giardia) which are harder to remove from drinking water with conventional methods.

• Increasing levels of nitrate contamination of drinking water, particularly in intensively farmed areas, from application

of nitrate fertiliser and urine from cattle.

• Problems with monitoring of fluoride levels, as seen in Wellington, and potentially an issue in other supply systems.

• Concerns over lead contamination of drinking water, as seen in Dunedin, and potentially in other water distribution zones.

• Inequalities in access to clean drinking water with smaller rural and more deprived communities having poorer access.

• Wider environmental issues, including sedimentation, and nutrient, bacterial, and heavy metal contamination of freshwater and coastal areas which causes direct ecosystem damage, and potential human health effects.

Whatever new regulatory and deliver system we adopt, it will be important that these public health and environmental needs are kept as a central focus.

The Havelock North Drinking Water Inquiry

emphasises the need for a highly systematic approach to improving the quality and safety of drinking water. A similar need applies to wastewater and stormwater management.

The first part of the water reforms has already been operating for a year. Taumata Arowai became New Zealand’s dedicated regulator of drinking water when the Water Services Act came into effect on 15 November 2021.

It published a Statement of Intent for 2022 – 2026. Key outputs we can expect from this agency are a comprehensive monitoring system of drinking water quality, and drinking water standards that incorporate the best scientific evidence we have about the health effects of contaminants such as nitrates.

There will need to be a strong focus on addressing major upstream risks to the safety of drinking water supplies, such as increased intensification of pastoral farming and climate disruption.

Skills shortage to worsen by 38% in just six years

The critical skills shortage in the manufacturing and engineering sectors is set to grow to 40,000 workers by 2028 unless immediate action is taken, a Government report finds

The research commissioned by Hanga-Aro-Rau, the Manufacturing, Engineering and Logistics Workforce Development Council, found widespread disruption caused by COVID-19, immigration policy settings as well as constraints on supply chains and the international labour market will see the industry skills gap continue to widen – if left unchecked.

The report’s authors found that while rates of employment among other ethnic groups now exceeds pre-COVID levels, the pandemic has exacerbated inequities for Maori and Pacific peoples and their participation within the national manufacturing and engineering workforce is up to 25% lower than prior to COVID-19.

The regional impact of the pandemic is even greater with an industry-wide employment decline recorded for up to 32% of Maori and 18% of Pacific peoples – in the Waikato manufacturing sector.

Researchers found that Maori and Pacific workers are at least 10% less likely than other ethnicities to complete training or find work following the completion of their training. Maori

are also 5% more likely to receive a Jobseeker benefit five years after graduating than other ethnic groups.

Phil Alexander-Crawford, chief executive of HangaAro-Rau, one of six Government Workforce Development Councils (WDCs) tasked with aligning the vocational educational systems with industry needs and providing support for Maori businesses and iwi development, says more needs to be done to better support Maori and Pacific people into a higher level of vocational training.

He says the research shows Maori and Pacific people favour tuakana-teina (intergenerational learning) and the disruption caused by COVID-19 will have a legacy impact on the pipeline of new workers for years to come.

“We know that Maori and Pacific workers will pass knowledge down through to the younger generations within the workplace.

“They are also an essential referrer to the industry, and it is common to see extended whanau working within the same firm for decades.

“When this link is broken and an individual leaves the industry, the impact on the sector can be far more widespread reducing the

pool of potential workers from future generations,” he says.

The study showed that Maori and Pacific peoples will not reach skills parity with other ethnic groups by 2028 without immediate intervention, including new targeted culturally relevant training programmes.

In addition, without net migration returning to pre-COVID levels, the domestic workforce will be insufficient to address the widening skills gap and that increasing the participation rate of groups who are also significantly underrepresented at all levels of the manufacturing and engineering sectors including women and disabled workers, will be essential for reducing the skills shortfall.

Alexander-Crawford says the pandemic has demonstrated industry needs to reduce its long-term reliance on migrant labour to remain sustainable.

He says the skills shortage could be partially offset through investment in technology and improvements in labour productivity.

“Historically around a quarter of skilled labour needs in manufacturing and engineering are met by migrants.

“By 2028 we will need

463,000 workers in key regions around the country, however based on current trends, a skills shortfall of over 40,000 is set to constrain future manufacturing output.

“We need to begin work immediately to reduce barriers preventing the development of an equitable domestic workforce.

“The research has found this is a complex issue to address and will require a coordinated approach from industry stakeholders, the vocational education system and government support agencies,” he says.

Dieter Adam, NZ Manufacturers and Exporters Association CEO, says the shortage of workers at all skill levels is impacting export relationships built up over decades.

“It is not uncommon for manufacturers to be facing a 15% shortfall in their current workforce. Up until around 12 months ago this was mainly at the higher skill levels however this has now grown to include semiskilled labour as well.

“A large part of New Zealand’s manufacturing and

engineering sector does not operate in the high volume, low value production of consumer goods. They’re typically SMEs who are dominant in a small niche of the capital goods business and have longstanding relationships with relatively few customers.

“When you’ve had good relations with customers for 20 years and you have to tell them you can’t fill any orders until the end of next year and you are losing customers as a result, this is a serious blow to a business of this size.

“These customers have a policy of never relying on one supplier and as a result, New Zealand is losing contracts to our international competition,” he says.

Adam says the new Hanga-Aro-Rau report will provide valuable data and context for those involved in long term resource planning and investments within the industry.

“Until now the industry has little in the way of verifiable numbers to support their anecdotal assessment of the current situation.

“As a result of the re -

search, we now have greater insights into the numbers, including key demographics that are disproportionately underrepresented within the sector.

“We are already seeing increasing interest in the upskilling of existing staff, but we will also see increased emphasis on breaking down the training barriers that prevent those from diverse cultural backgrounds from putting their hand up for training.

“The sector is also going to need to look at how it can incorporate more flexibility into what are usually rigidly defined operating times for shifts – in order to attract more female and younger workers,” he says.

Alexander-Crawford says there are three key pathways open to the manufacturing industry including attracting more workers through training or from other industries, upskilling the current workforce and increasing productivity.

“We know that the manufacturing and engineering sectors are competing with other industries, both domestic and international,

for skilled labour.

“New initiatives which reinforce the attractiveness of the sector and increase workforce participation in training are needed to reduce the skilled labour shortage – particularly within key demographics such as Maori, Pacific, disabled people and females, who are underrepresented in these industries.

“With Maori and Pacific peoples expected to see the highest population growth of any ethnicity over the next six years within the regions where Aotearoa’s largest manufacturing facilities are concentrated, they represent a critical segment of the future workforce for these sectors,” he says.

John Tan, partner at Deloitte, which worked in collaboration with HangaAro-Rau and the Tertiary Education Commission to produce the research, says COVID-19 has had a disruptive impact on the manufacturing and engineering workforce and these impacts may endure in a volatile post-pandemic period of significant economic uncertainty.

He says while there is a risk that workforce capacity constrains economic output, there is also an opportunity to adopt different strategies for post-pandemic workforce development.

“Since COVID 19, there has been a reversal of the trend of positive net migration to New Zealand, highlighting New Zealand’s traditional reliance on skilled workers from overseas. The shortages in skilled and unskilled labour are particularly acute in the manufacturing and engineering sectors, for which there is intense global competition.

“Our estimates show that there is a significant workforce capability and capacity gap of up to 17,000 manufacturing roles and 12,000 engineering roles, and the size of this gap is likely to increase if current trends persist. This capacity and capability gap is putting upwards pressure on the cost of labour and risks constraining output,” he says.

How the cloud can help fill job shortages

Over the past three years we’ve learned you can work from anywhere for many roles. Andy Cunningham, Senior Regional Director Australia and New Zealand at Autodesk, explores how this can be applied to the infrastructure sector

Digitalisation is part and parcel of the future of work and the cloud has generated ample opportunities for global collaboration that many companies in construction and infrastructure are only beginning to explore.

In context of incremental workshare, it’s certainly possible to hire talent based abroad to help with delivering construction and infrastructure projects. Many firms have been doing it for years, whether it’s to provide aroundthe-clock support for ongoing projects, roll-over during peaks, or general outsourcing.

The cloud makes tech and data very easy to share securely across borders. But it ultimately comes down to the roles. Processbased scale work, including documentation and error checking, can be done anywhere, whether it’s through an international hire or this growing era of digital nomads travelling abroad while retaining local

jobs.

When you get up to a creative designer and design lead, it’s far less likely. There’s a cross-over point where construction and infrastructure projects need a local flavour.

Meanwhile, we can’t neglect the distinctions between theoretical possibilities, and how those ideas are applied in everyday projects across New Zealand.

While hiring someone in Europe, the US or elsewhere to ease the impacts of the ongoing skills shortage, there are many challenges with ensuring effective collaboration with on-site personnel.

A major factor is education. For example, road design standards are different everywhere,

so onboarding requires training to ensure local regulations are inherent to the design source. But what you can end up lacking is on-the-job, in-context training, including specific compliance and regulatory requirements, which can only be done to certain degree before that crossover I mentioned earlier kicks in.

Bringing this type of skills development to the job site – remotely if needed using technology in learning and digital transformation in practice – has a significant impact in bridging resource and skills gaps across shores and borders. It will be instrumental in fostering technical skills tied directly to the evolution of construction and infrastructure work in New Zealand (and elsewhere).

Back in 2019, an Autodesk Foundation report quoted an industry expert who said, “Rather than taking away skilled work, technology has the potential to bring back craft to the industry that has lost craft”. That’s exactly what we are seeing starting to happen now. Beyond finding international talent, we must also be mindful of the rich trove of skilled engineers and designers here in New Zealand that can – and should – be exposed to international projects. It’s a way to keep local talent here, while providing a route for continued skills development and understanding of ‘best practice’ and ideas from other talented people across the globe.

What is ‘quiet quitting’ and how do employers navigate it?

Quiet quitting is where an employee does the role they’re required to do, but nothing more (that means no overtime or other extras).

Motivation is a bit of a rollercoaster ride for all of us at times — so here are a few ideas to help your employees feel more connected and improve team culture.

Spruce Up Those Job Descriptions:

Clearly communicated job descriptions will help your potential employees understand your expecta-

tions. Being realistic from the get-go will only improve your employee relationships and ensure you’re all on the same page.

Support staff to take preventative self-care:

If your employees are healthier and happier, they’ll bring that positivity into their jobs. It’s a winwin. Need some inspiration? Try:

• Setting up voluntary counselling during work hours

• Starting a social office soccer team

• Taking the time to get feedback on how everyone is coping with stress

• Adding helpful mental health resources to your staff room

• Bringing self-care up at staff meetings and allowing a suggestion box/email chain for ideas where things could be improved

• Taco Tuesdays or Casual Fridays are tried and true ways to improve staff morale

• Ask for feedback on company culture. Setting up an anonymous

Google form to ask people for their ideas is easy, and your team will feel more heard.

Be flexible:

Ensure your team members feel valued by giving them a little more freedom. Even allowing a few personal appointments to be made each month will display trust and allow them to focus on their work at work.

SJS

Recruiting and retaining the skills we need

When the borders closed in 2020, it was always going to be a long road back. And it was also inevitable the Government would take the opportunity to revamp the immigration system.

The situation we are in now is one where the government is looking to migration as a tool to increase wages and prevent ‘low skilled’ migrants from gaining residence, which fits with the government’s political ideaology but is just not practical.

When finances, projects and construction contracts are depending on labour availability, a ‘try it and see’ approach is never good

enough. Several things seem to have been forgotten.

First, labour is subject to market forces of supply and demand. When everybody in the country that wants to be employed has a job, it is a simple fact we have to look elsewhere or the work we need to do will not get done.

Second, migration cuts both ways. With a tight global labour market, if it is easier to work overseas than it is in New Zealand, that is where people will go. There is a real imbalance when people can exit the country for opportunities abroad, without the ability for others to enter.

Third, the government doesn’t always get its settings right. In the recent Immigration Rebalance consultation, we submitted a list of more than 20 roles to be added to a critical exceptions list allowing recruitment. The list was based on roles advised to us by members through a consultation process. Only one was added – albeit an important one; ‘Drainage, Sewerage and Stormwater Labourer’.

So, while we are participating in the current consultation on the future of the Skilled Migrant visa category, calling for removal of barriers to entry, removal of caps to application

processing and greater recognition of skilled civil tradespeople to enable them to enter the country alongside the engineering roles currently on the green list, we are also taking the issue up with Minister for Immigration Michael Wood (and his opposition counterparts) directly.

With these efforts, we hope to shift the mindset from creating bureaucracy and barriers to creating a streamlined system that enables us to recruit the skills we need from offshore, when they aren’t available within New Zealand.

The Government’s ‘ Immigration Rebalance‘ fits within its political ideology, but is madness in the context of the current labour market, Civil Contractors New Zealand Chief Executive Alan Pollard says

Immigration policy changes welcomed by infrastructure sector

and maintain the country’s essential infrastructure networks.

The country’s shortage of skilled civil construction workers has been welldocumented and has impacted projects requiring specialist capability and experience. The lack of skilled workers has been the industry’s number one challenge for several years.

While businesses had put a lot of energy into identifying talent and developing people within New Zealand, they had at the same time been severely restricted by closed borders, a small pool of prospective workers and few infrastructure construction training opportunities.

We recently met with the Minister of Immigration and his officials to explain the need for skilled civil tradespeople, who play a vital role in constructing our transport and water networks, alongside our other essential infrastructure like ports and public spaces.

The changes will see Green List pathways for residence for skilled civil construction machine operators, drainlayers, site supervisors and truck drivers – people who often had vital skills and practical knowledge that often went unrecognised.

These skills result in good transport, water, internet, energy and other infrastructure networks –

all major contributors to a country’s standard of living and quality of life. These are rewarding, well-paying jobs with great benefit for our communities. With these changes, skilled civil construction workers now have long term prospects and can build a life for themselves here. I’m really looking forward to seeing the results their contribution brings. Skilled civil tradespeople

are in hot demand globally and will be sorely needed to take the pressure off the country’s existing workers and site supervisors, who are often responsible for onboarding and training new workers and ensuring project quality.

The inability to recruit workers from overseas has hamstrung the civil construction industry at the very time they were most needed to construct

I’m pleased to see this need for civil tradespeople and site supervisors acknowledged by the minister, and opportunities created for these skilled workers to enter the country and contribute their skills and experience toward constructing our essential infrastructure.

While there are still significant improvements that could be made, the next step needs to be a co-ordinated international campaign to recruit top international talent, leveraging New Zealand’s global status and international networks.

See the full list of changes here

Chief Executive Alan Pollard

Compromises with little benefit at COP27

The Conference of the Parties failed to make progress in Egypt around key goals of reducing emissions to hold the world’s temperatures at 1.5 degrees or closing the funding gap to support the world’s poorest nations to adapt to extreme weather and reduce emissions, though University of Canterbury Professor Bronwyn Hayward says the establishment of a Loss and Damage fund is a significant win.

“It will contribute

to disaster relief and recognises the harm already caused to poorer countries by richer ones who have used significant amounts of fossil fuels historically.”

However, New Zealand Climate Change Research Institute’s Adrian Macey says it will provide little immediate benefit.

“At least another year will be needed to make the new ‘funding arrangements’ (note a fully stand-alone fund was a bridge too far) operational. Expect much

more of the same fraught discussions.

“See references to the ‘many institutions and stakeholders’ and ‘previous work under the UNFCCC’ – they’re already doing relevant work.

“The new arrangements are to ‘complement and include other sources, funds, processes and initiatives’. It also, sadly, creates yet another bureaucratic mechanism to service.”

“So first, there is little or nothing fundamentally new

here. Second, this decision and all the days and nights of negotiations which preceded it do absolutely nothing to advance the core task of limiting global warming.

“Third, it demonstrates the steeply declining marginal utility of COPs.

“Yet again a COP has been ridiculously over-hyped by everyone from the UN Secretary-General down… and has failed to meet the unrealistic expectations raised. This is a very bad signal which further erodes

The decision to fund poor and vulnerable nations that are experiencing some of the worst effects of a changing climate, while welcome, is being criticised as a distraction from the lack of outcomes at the annual UN Climate Change Conference

public confidence.

“It is now a complete misnomer to see COPs as either the yardstick for or the determinant of global progress towards limiting global temperatures and adapting to the effects of climate change.

“In fact, COPs are becoming a distraction, more counterproductive than productive.

“The Paris Agreement gave climate change adaptation and finance the same prominence as mitigation in its core objectives and is now fully operational bar some details. Rather than requiring ever more input from COPs, it is enabling and providing guidance for autonomous action, by both government and non-state actors.

“‘Loss and damage’ was a distraction from the core goals. Of course no-one can oppose financial assistance to developing countries for the consequences of climate change they have suffered. But a bit like Amartya Sen’s point that famine does not mean there is not enough food, there is actually not a massive shortage of money to assist developing countries –certainly or at least the most vulnerable among them.

“There are multiple windows already for assistance. A lot more money will be needed in the future. But much of what’s being talked about under ‘loss and damage’ can already be financed through bilateral or multilateral programmes. Creating a new basket with a new label does not and will not increase the total funds available.

“In a negotiating sense, this topic served to force negotiations back

into an outdated and counterproductive binary North-South, rich-poor, developed-developing, zero sum framing – all duly bought into by the NGO community.

“This framing, which produces interminable conflicts and stalemates, is the single biggest obstacle to negotiations progress.

“The trope that ‘we did well out of the industrial revolution now it’s our turn to give something back’ is less and less valid.

was supposed to cover. There is no chance of broad acceptance of any commitments based on ‘liability’ or ‘compensation’. What is certain, assuming a new fund or window is agreed, is that yet another inefficient bureaucratic mechanism will be created in the UNFCCC to service it.

“In terms of the global goals, the most useful feature at this COP may be one that has nothing to do with the COP – the

autonomous action.

“This paralysis of COPs is abetted by poor negotiating tactics by Europe and some others, especially those most concerned about ‘international reputation’. It now looks as if some face-saving language on mitigation from developing countries will secure an outcome on loss and damage. But what does that really amount to in terms of global progress?

“What matters most now is not grand declarations

Historical contribution to warming is not static. China is already at #2 and other emerging economies are catching up.

“Loss and damage has fulfilled a similar function some other topics that have arisen in the negotiations, all of which have served to extract concessions from the industrialised (another outdated label) countries as the price for cooperation on the main goal.

“When it was first raised, no-one knew what it

US Energy Transition Accelerator, a public and private sector scheme to help countries mobilise investment in their clean energy transitions.

“It has several innovative ideas – including that recipient countries will be able to sell any carbon credits generated. (This is unlike New Zealand’s forthcoming international carbon markets foray to meet our 50/2030 target where we will be getting the credits.) It’s one example of

on unattainable targets but the speed of the energy transition, most of all in the 20 or so countries that make up 80% of global emissions. And that means trillions of dollars of investment by 2030 –another scale altogether from the amount or money realistically in play under loss and damage.

“The COP has contributed nothing to this.”

Sustainability rating tool gains

tractionThe Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) Rating Scheme measures a project or asset's sustainability performance and its use is already mandated by Waka Kotahi, features in Auckland’s City Rail Link, Watercare’s Central Interceptor project and Te Aha a Turanga (Manawatu Gorge replacement road project) among others

Best of both worlds

The Infrastructure Sustainability (IS) Rating Scheme leaves “space for the place” and the people of that space -- most importantly in light of Te Tiriti, the Tangata Whenua of Aotearoa New Zealand.

The scheme recognises and rewards, under a range of credits throughout the scheme, the genuine engagement with, and inclusion of, indigenous groups as well as differing world views and needs. It does not prescribe how that is done. The ethos is that that is best determined by the people from the place where the

project is being delivered. Their knowledge and perspectives inform and flesh out the scheme requirements in a way that preserves the rigour of the scheme but allows for respectful inclusion of a range of views. This occurs across the entire scheme.

In Auckland the CRL team worked with that concept in a highly successful way.

The rating tool is owned and administered by the Infrastructure Sustainability Council (the ISC) to help drive sustainable outcomes in infrastructure.

For the $2.5 billion City Rail Link (CRL) Project, Mana Whenua worked alongside the project team to identify opportunities to respond to New Zealand's cultural context, which was right for Auckland and which added to the value proposition of the scheme.

This included a customised CRL Technical Manual, titled Mahi Rauora Aratohu. (Mahi rauora translates directly to 'work on the health of all things' and aratohu translates as 'pathway marker' but can be interpreted as guidance, meaning the manual is 'the guidance for work on the health of all things.')

CRL used version 1.2 of the IS Rating Scheme, but a new enhanced 2.1 version of the Design and As Built Rating Scheme was introduced late last year which contains greater emphasis on inclusion of indigenous perspectives amongst other things.

The technical guidance in Mahi Rauora Aratohu, like a korowai, wrapped around the IS scheme, and is being used for the remaining contracts within CRL. It also informed the approach taken on Watercare’s Central Interceptor Project which is undergoing rating.

In both cases use of the scheme enabled benchmarking with other projects on a comprehensive range of quadruple bottom-line outcomes and a respectful and considered local approach, that yielded measurable third-party verified impacts.

The Te Aha a Turanga project in the Manawatu, also undergoing rating, has attracted attention for its progressive approach particularly with respect to project co-governance. The

project won an award at the highly acclaimed Diversity Awards in 2021 in relation to this inclusive approach.

Waka Kotahi is currently looking to map those credits across the scheme that will be of particular interest to iwi.

The feedback to date has been that the holistic, long term, inter-generational view of infrastructure (including planning, design, delivery, use and decommissioning or adaptation) and the way a range of credits reference and incorporate local and indigenous perspectives is consistent with the values of Te Ao Māori even if not specifically referenced.

Embedding Te Ao Māori in everything we do

That concept of the importance of Māori perspectives (Te toitutanga) is a concept City Rail Link has included in every aspect of that project.

CRL’s latest health, safety, environment and sustainability report has for the first time been translated in its entirety into te reo Māori.

But then the CRL project has already chalked a few firsts in its storied history. It has achieved a world-first in embedding

cultural values within a sustainability framework using the Infrastructure Sustainability Council’s

(The ISC) independent and internationally recognised rating scheme.

“Te Ao Māori (the

Māori world view) has sustainability at its very core. We have a great responsibility to future generations for the way we conduct our businesses and the impacts that has on the environment and the people, the wellbeing of the whenua (land) and the tangata (people). Mana Whenua Forum member Edith Tuhimata says.

“So in our work with the CRL, we were concerned that cultural values, Te Ao Māori, were not represented in the diagnostic tools in the ISC rating system,” Tuhimata says.

CRL members and the

The new route between Ashhurst and Woodville Source: nzta.govt.nz

Mana Whenua Forum together developed and implemented Mahi Rauora Aratohu, a world-first custom-made Infrastructure Sustainability Council (The ISC) Infrastructure technical manual specifically referencing and incorporating Mana Whenua values, the first time cultural values have been piloted as part of a market-based sustainability rating tool.

Created through a series of monthly meetings between CRL and the Mana Whenua Forum, it takes the cultural context of New Zealand into account and uses criteria that is compatible with Te Ao Māori.

Mahi Rauora Aratahu was adopted by the Link Alliance for the project’s main Contract 3 works (tunnels and stations) and helped guide the contractor as it gave effect to the cultural criteria embedded within the technical manual.

The Infrastructure Sustainability Council (the ISC) has enhanced references to indigenous world views and perspectives in a new iteration of its rating system (version 2.1) - an approach that tipped its hat to the method pioneered on the CRL project.

CRL chief executive Dr Sean Sweeney says he takes great pride and satisfaction in the success of the Mahi Rauora Aratahu approach taken on this project.

“It has been an honour to be involved in this world-first and a privilege to partner with the Mana Whenua Forum in ensuring Te Ao Māori values drive our work in building New Zealand’s biggest transport infrastructure project,” Sweeney says.

* Data for January to December 2021

Tunnel work in Mercury Lane Source: City Rail Link Ltd (cityraillink.co.nz)

“The complete translation of our report, Te Pūronga hauora, haumaru, taiao, me te toitutanga, is a continuation of our commitment to our Mana Whenua partners and Te Ao Māori,” he adds. “This is

meaningful work and has had real-world application as we endeavour to make the CRL a sustainable and best-practice project that adds value to our society and environment.”

CRL also acts as a leader on more sustainable practices

The City Rail Link’s environmental credentials have been further burnished with its Waitematā Station

A Waka Kotahi perspective

“Since we adopted the IS rating tool in late 2020 we’ve seen a real shift in awareness and the desire to embrace sustainability across Waka Kotahi and our transport sector industry partners,” says Principal Specialist (Environment & Sustainability) Rebekah Pokura-Ward.

“Sustainability is no longer a nice to have but a ‘must have’ on our projects and Māori are really important part of that sustainability journey because Māori are inherently the protectors and guardians of Aotearoa and have a history and value system that respects, nurtures and protects the environment

The Māori Strategy Te Ara Kotahi guides Waka Kotahi’s relationship with Māori across all aspects of its business.

“It affirms our commitment to uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi based on the

principles of Partnership, Protection and Participation and identifies how we can bring these principles to life with over 60 key actions, by way of example,” she says

“On the multi-billion-dollar New Zealand Upgrade Programme we are incentivising our suppliers to come up with innovations to reduce carbon emissions in construction, to restore and enhance our biodiversity and support our local and Māori businesses. “

“We want to show leadership in this area and the IS Rating tool helps drive and reward proper consideration and inclusion of local insights and knowledge. We have started to map these examples so we can continue to improve practices taken on our projects,” according to Pokura-Ward.

Waka Kotahi has a number of proj-

(Britomart) works awarded a ‘Leading As Built’ rating, an independent verification of the project’s outstanding sustainability outcomes, from the Infrastructure Sustainability Council (the ISC).

ects where Māori values and Māori decision-making has been core to the success of these projects. One example is the Ara Tupua walking and cycling project in Wellington where Waka Kotahi recently won an international award under the indigenous category for its leading work with Māori.

“On that project a stronger approach to partnership was undertaken with the establishment of an Iwi Steering Group to ensure that the Māori voice was heard, and cultural values were incorporated into the design and environmental outcomes for the project.

“Māori perspectives have been key for us to build a sustainable future for New Zealand and it’s exciting to see Māori increasingly leading these conversations and initiatives,” says Pokura-Ward.

Photo: Hiwa-i-te-Rangi is unveiled to Auckland school children Source:Watercare.co.nz

Waitematā enabling works awarded a leading rating

The City Rail Link (CRL) project aims to achieve sustainability excellence by carefully determining which resources are used, optimising the carbon footprint, avoiding waste and leaving a positive social and cultural legacy for Auckland

For the Waitematā Station (Britomart), this included creation of a new public square, Te Komititanga, designed by Mana Whenua artists and weavers, in consultation with CRL’s Mana Whenua Forum representing eight different iwi across the isthmus.

Waitematā Station is the busiest on the Auckland rail network, situated at the heart of the CBD and housed in the historic and protected Chief Post Office. This presented significant construction obstacles, including the proximity to offices and residential building, some of which also have heritage status, and required strict limits around noise and vibration.

Resource efficiency was essential to the design (which also received a leading design rating), planning and implementation of the works, leading to 97 percent of construction and demolition waste and 100 percent of spoil diverted from landfill and significant efficiency gains over CRL’s 100-year lifespan.

These include a 17.8 percent reduction in peak operational energy use, 23 percent reduction in operational carbon emissions and 58 percent reduction in water use.

Leaving a legacy for future generations was a cornerstone objective for the project, with a strong focus on knowledge

sharing designed to extend beyond the life of the works and to inform the design and implementation of future projects.

This objective was achieved through a well-defined and integrated sustainability management system with regular reviews and reporting to project sponsors, leadership teams, the Mana Whenua Forum and community liaison group. This provided for sharing sustainability knowledge by both CRL Ltd and the contractor, both within the team and wider (Auckland Transport, external stakeholders and the general public).

Waste management highlights included keeping 8,303 tonnes of construction and demolition waste and 24 tonnes of office waste out of landfill. Assisting this achievement was procurement and design optimisation, onsite separation of concrete, steel, clean fill, office waste and compost and the reusing of waste material on and offsite.

A change in construction methodology from using contiguous piles in pre-treated columns to diaphragm walls and mini piles underneath the Chief Post Office greatly assisted in achieving energy efficiencies. The replacement of diesel generators with grid electricity for site offices and on-site equipment also helped.

Other highlights included water conservation, reducing construction water consumption by 21 percent and generating a forecast 58 percent reduction in water use of the lifecycle of the station.

A 13 percent saving is projected for the urban realm during the 100-year design life of CRL.

The achievement follows the ‘Excellent As Built’ and ‘Leading Design’ ratings awarded earlier for CRL works at the lower end of Albert St (Contract 2)), as well as a wide range of honours for innovation, sustainability, engineering and circular economy practices bestowed upon the project.

The Waitematā works involved the construction of twin 136m-long tunnels under the Chief Post Office, a protected historic building, and lower Queen St and the reinstatement of the surrounding urban realm.

The works were conducted by the Downer/ Soletanche Bachy (DSB) joint venture, while design of the works was by Aurecon, Mott MacDonald, Grimshaw, Jasmax and Arup.

Sweeney says he wants to acknowledge the work of the contractors on the Waitematā works and the Link Alliance, which has adopted the ISC sustainability guidelines in the design and construction of the project’s two new underground stations, an above-ground station, bored, mined and cutand-cover tunnels and connections to the Western Line and all rail systems.

“CRL is what I believe is New Zealand Aotearoa’s highest value employment project, bringing big changes to the construction industry,” Sweeney says. “During the year we continued to use the scale and complexity of the project to demonstrate our ability to have a positive impact on the wider industry.”

Downer environment sustainability manager Sarah Sutherland says achieving the highest

Plan for the interior of the redeveloped Britomart train station Source: City Rail Link Ltd (cityraillink.co.nz)

IS-rated project in New Zealand is a great accomplishment: “This success was built on the collaborative relationship between CRL and the DSB joint venture and underpinned by the strong sustainability culture set by our senior leaders.

“It is our earnest hope that by setting the bar high, we provide the inspiration for construction projects that follow to achieve even better, more sustainable outcomes,” Sutherland says.

The project has five key environmental and social objectives: reducing resource consumption; zero waste to landfill; creating positive social outcomes; ensuring positive outcomes for Mana Whenua and that the project appropriately reflects Māori culture; and best practice governance and reporting.

The Waitematā works will result in a 17.8 percent reduction in peak operational energy use and 23 percent reduction in operational carbon emissions over the project’s 100-year lifespan. In terms of the project’s aspirational goal of zero waste to landfill, 100 percent of spoil, 97 percent of construction and demolition waste and 74 percent of office waste was diverted from landfill.

“These are meaningful and tangible results that reflect our commitment to sustainable infrastructure construction and, given

Glossary for readers less familiar with Te Ao Māori

Tangata Whenua:

The indigenous Māori people of a particular area of New Zealand or of the country as a whole.

Te Aha a Turanga: Manawatu Gorge bypass project Mana Whenua:

The right of a Māori tribe to manage a particular area of land

Korowai:

A traditional woven Māori cloak worn as mantle of prestige and honour. The name Korowai is symbolic of leadership, and includes the obligation to care for the people and environment.

Te Toitutanga: Integrity

CRL’s 100-year lifespan, will benefit Aucklanders for generations to come,” Sweeney says.

The Link Alliance’s construction of the tunnels and stations is already delivering significant benefits through initiatives (see box above) such as reducing the embodied carbon of the concrete used by substituting fly-ash for cement as well as energy efficient station designs that, including minimising lighting and ventilation energy use.

These initiatives are expected to result in a 16 percent reduction in embodied carbon,

Te Ara Kotahi:

The pathway that Māori and the Crown walk together on as envisaged by Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Te Tiriti:

The Treaty (of Waitangi) is widely accepted to be a constitutional document that establishes and guides the relationship between the Crown in New Zealand (embodied by our government) and Māori. The Treaty promised to protect Māori culture and to enable Māori to continue to live in New Zealand as Māori. Increasingly this phrase is used in shorthand to refer not only to the document, but manifestations of co-governance and other partnership type behaviours that breathe life into those obligations.

a 19 percent reduction in construction energy emissions and a 22 percent reduction in operational energy emissions, for total savings of 60,515tCO₂e over the 100-year designlife.

Sweeney says these facts represent an important achievement for New Zealand and the construction industry, in particular: “Construction and demolition accounts for about half of New Zealand’s total waste to landfill, so as the country’s largest infrastructure project, we have an important leadership role to play in reducing waste to landfill.

“Our peers in the industry can see what we’re doing and how we’re doing it and this is going to lead to a signficant culture shift and help lead the construction industry to a more sustainable approach to its work,” he says.

Among the re-use purposes the waste has been put to include basalt rock from Maungawhau Station (Mt Eden) being used to build sea walls on the Coromandel Peninsula and create bike obstacles at the Totara Park Mountain Bike Club in South Auckland and timber offcuts being used for works of art.

The publishers of AsiaPacific Infrastructure, Property&Build and Industrial Safety News welcomed Infrastructure Sustainability Council  (The ISC) as a Content Partner in July 2022.

General Manager, New Zealand Adrienne Miller, is a lawyer who, as well as her role at the ISC, has served on the Building Advisory Panel at MBIE, Infrastructure New Zealand’s WIN Advisory Board and is a trustee on the Board of Diversity Works New Zealand. She is involved in mentoring programmes and writes and speaks on issues facing the construction and infrastructure sector. Adrienne.Miller@iscouncil.org  +64 27 693 9753 LinkedIn.

Future of inter-regional train travel in New Zealand

Submissions closed recently for an inquiry opened by Parliament’s Transport and Infrastructure Select Committee.

Committee Chair Greg O’Connor says he had hoped interested New Zealanders would take the time to have their say and help them better understand inter-regional passenger rail and its future in New Zealand.

The Inquiry terms of reference were quite wide ranging as the Select Committee sought stakeholder and the public views on aspects such as:

• Passenger rail viability in underserved communities, especially where prior rail links have been disestablished, and those communities currently advocating

for improved rail links;

• Viability of passenger rail sitting alongside KiwiRail’s freight network;

• E xisting inter-regional passenger rail, such as the Capital Connection, and how these services work between local and regional councils and central government;

• Integration of regional rail into existing local

public transport networks;

• Investigating the climate and emissions reductions possibilities of passenger rail, and how this links to VKT (vehicle kilometres travelled) reduction targets in the Emissions Reduction Plan.

A s we have seen with

A focus on the sustainable funding of any new passenger rail infrastructure, including its operation and ongoing maintenance, was discussed in Infrastructure New Zealand’s submission to an inquiry into the future of interregional passenger rail

recent protest action around Wellington with a group wanting to restore rail, there are many people passionate about rail.

In its submission, Infrastructure New Zealand is supportive of passenger rail as a mode which can contribute to our zero carbon emission goal.

However, the development of new inter-regional passenger rail services and supporting infrastructure needs to be considered as part of the wider planning for rail and the land transport system, in terms of the existing priorities, funding availability, and resource capacity.

It is important that these existing national and regional planning and prioritisation processes continue to be adhered to.

Infrastructure New Zealand believes that government should stick to its current priorities for rail, particularly focussing on ensuring that the mass transit systems in Auckland and Wellington can operate reliably and provide a zeroemission alternative for the

huge numbers of current and future passengers.

It considers that there are clear urgent priorities now for New Zealand rail infrastructure and services focussing on the two metro operations in Auckland and Wellington which will take some time to fully address and bring the track infrastructure back up to an acceptable standard again.

A significant proportion of the value of rail is generated from urban areas where over 100 million passenger trips are taken annually on Auckland and Wellington Metro services.

Both the Auckland and Wellington Metro systems have significant upgrades underway after decades of neglect.

The recent announcements of the significant Auckland metro network closures in 2023 to undertake urgent essential work are a result of under investing in maintenance of the track and its foundations. This historical poor asset management is now resulting in significant work to modernise the rail

network.

The other immediate focus should be ensuring the rest of New Zealand’s rail network is resilient and able to be used reliably to increase the amount of freight carried by train. Shifting increasing volumes of freight from road transport to rail will also significantly reduce our emissions.

Infrastructure New Zealand welcomes the investigation of key interregional rapid rail between Auckland and Hamilton and a possible extension to Tauranga already tasked to Te Manatū Waka / the Ministry of Transport and other partner agencies.

Inter-regional rail services are extremely expensive, not only in terms of initial capital, but ongoing services and maintenance costs. Infrastructure New Zealand considers it vital that other zero emission technologies and service alternatives are properly considered which could achieve the same, or better outcomes for the environment and for the

communities being served. However, inter-regional rail has the potential to play a larger role in our transport system where it is costeffective. Infrastructure New Zealand recognises that existing inter-regional rail services, Te Huia and the Capital Connection, are not meeting customers’ travel needs, particularly outside the normal daily commutes.

Post-covid passenger travel patterns are different with much more remote working and less travel for face-to-face meetings in many sectors.

Traditional travel patterns are changing with more passenger demand for travel outside the commuting peaks and the need to provide travel solutions for a wider section of the population who are not travelling interregionally for a 9-5 job. These changing customer dynamics need to be assessed as part of any future services also.

Fuel tax cut a wasted opportunity

A25-cent tax cut on every litre of fuel may seem like a welcome initiative given the spike in global oil prices, but it comes at the cost of over a billion dollars in lost tax revenue. That money has to be made up for from somewhere, as revenue collected from fuel taxes is essential for funding roads, public transport and walking and cycling initiatives.

Finance Minister Grant Robertson says he will ‘reprioritise’ other funding to make up the billion-dollar shortfall.

It took a cost of living crisis for the Government to find more money for transport, a sector that has been crying out for funding for years. Yet, a billion dollars later and New Zealand’s transport infrastructure will be no better off once the fuel tax

cut ends in January 2023. Worse still is that the consumer has hardly been better off either. Until recently, intended savings for the consumer have been mostly absorbed by fuel companies looking to make a profit. The price of crude oil hit its peak in early March, yet the cost at the pump continued to trend upwards in the months that followed.

This only changed in

July once Energy Minister Megan Woods learned that fuel company profit margins had more than doubled, rising from 22 cents a litre to 45 cents a litre. This left the consumer a mere two cents better off.

Woods says fuel companies are expected pass on the fuel tax cut to consumers rather than pocket it for themselves.

Even if this does happen, the fuel tax cut is still not

an equitable solution to the cost of living crisis. Businesses that use more fuel are clearly the biggest benefactors. A good portion of the fuel tax cut’s billion dollars is going towards those businesses, yet they will have nothing to show for it.

When New Zealand is trying to cut its transport emissions, that billion dollars could have gone towards helping businesses transition to cleaner energy, provide them with alternative transport options and reduce their dependency on oil, cutting their expenses in the process.

That same approach could have been taken with transport initiatives for the public, Green Party Transport Spokesperson, Julie Anne Genter says.

“Subsiding fossil fuels by making petrol and diesel a little cheaper for half a year doesn’t make sense in 2022, when we need to make the transition to cleaner transport.

“The Government could have used that money to save and transform the ailing passenger rail network and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels in the first place.”

The first three months of the fuel tax cut alone could have future-proofed rail in the lower North Island, she says.

With a bit more investment, the lower North Island could have hybridelectric trains and improved train infrastructure. The $762 million business case has been put together by Horizons Regional Council, Greater Wellington Regional Council and Waka Kotahi, who have already committed more than half of the money.

“Government investment

is not only needed to help this service continue running, but to cope with growing demand. By 2025, just three years from now, it’s predicted that the Wairarapa line will have exceeded its passenger capacity, and by 2030, the Manawatū line will be in the same boat,” Genter says.

“The Government can prevent this from happening by coming to the table with a mere $350 million, which will at least quadruple the services to Manawatū and double the services to Wairarapa.”

Making public transport free and investing in it, rather than just subsidising fares, is another more progressive initiative the Government could have taken to address the cost of living crisis instead of a fuel tax cut.

By and large, New Zealand’s public transport is expensive, unreliable and inefficient. This was an opportunity to turn things around, create a worldclass public transport system and offer people a better alternative once driving their car became too unaffordable.

Instead the Government has kicked the can down the road and opted to keep New Zealand’s outdated transport model on life support. The fuel tax cut is just holding the country back.

Sooner or later, New Zealand will have to future-proof its transport system and leave fossil fuels behind. The cost of living crisis was the perfect opportunity to kickstart this process, but it is a good crisis that has sadly been wasted.

W i t h y o u r s u p p o r t w e c a n c o n t i n u e t o p r o v i d e p ra c t i c a l h e l p , c a r e a n d c o m f o r t .

A c c o m m o d a t i o n a n d h o m e v i s i t s a r e j u s t t w o o f t h e w a y s w e s u p p o r t N e w Z e a l a n d e r s a f f e c t e d b y c a n c e r.