Updates

TRAINING AND STANDARDS UPDATES, PLUS A NEW CERTIFICATION SCHEME FOR OFFSITE BUILDING MANUFACTURERS.

Revised tapware standard is welcomed

Plenty of plumbers in Aotearoa will have come across substandard tapware products that clients have bought and want fitted in their bathrooms.

The revised Australian tapware performance standard AS 3718: 2021 is a welcome update, bringing new requirements for surface mounting strength, a new specification on the hydraulic strength of spouts and more rigorous endurance testing requirements for rotating spout designs. These should make tapware available for sale in New Zealand less prone to failure.

Key additional requirements in AS 3718: 2021:

Requires a torque to be applied to the body of the tap rather than an axial force

Loading requirements are now applied 360° around the tap Waterways after shut-off device (eg, spout) must be subjected to pressure test, as well as tap body and shut-off device

Spouts of rotating taps must be stress-tested under prolonged endurance test.

For plumbers installing tapware, these additional requirements will ensure tapware is tested to a more rigorous set of conditions and, more importantly, a more realistic set of scenarios that better reflect real-word usage conditions of in-service tapware.

Whilst the standard is no longer a joint standard with Australia and New Zealand, it is recognised and applied in New Zealand.

This news item is based on a longer article in Plumbing Connection magazine by Paul Oliveri, a Test Engineer at PROVE Standards and Engineering in Victoria, Australia.

NEW WEBSITE DIAGNOSTIC TOOL FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Digital Boost is a government initiative to help small businesses develop their digital skills and capability. Launched in 2020, programme funding has now been extended through to June 2023. Digital Boost initiatives to date include video case studies of business owners, who share their experiences of adopting digital tools, and a free digital skills training platform, Digital Boost Educate.

Digital Boost Checkable is the newest tool to be added. Checkable helps business owners to check the performance of their website, social media, marketing, cyber security and e-commerce, and to develop a customised digital action plan.

Try it out at digitalboost.business.govt.nz/s/checkable

ARE ASBESTOS REMOVAL UNIT STANDARDS UP TO SCRATCH?

Before the risks of asbestos were well understood, many plumbers and other construction workers unwittingly breathed in dangerous airborne particles. The fibres stay in the body, causing scarring and damage, which can eventually lead to mesothelioma cancer or other related diseases.

Rule changes in 2016 saw our asbestos regulations brought into line with other countries, requiring anyone removing more than 10m2 of non-friable asbestos to hold a Class B licence. Those removing any amount of friable asbestos must have a Class A licence.

In the same year, it also became illegal to import products containing asbestos into New Zealand. At the time, around 170 people in New Zealand were dying each year from asbestos-related diseases, according to WorkSafe—many of them in their 50s and 60s.

The 2016 regulations prompted the introduction of unit standards to cover the knowledge and skills needed by asbestos removal workers, supervisors and assessors.

Six asbestos removal unit standards are now undergoing a review to make sure they are still relevant to the industry’s needs. Public feedback received is being considered and the reviewed unit standards are due to be submitted to NZQA in early December.

UPDATE FOR SITESAFE FOUNDATION PASSPORT

SiteSafe launched its new and improved Foundation Passport training courses in September, following a nationwide trial. Aimed at the building, construction and civil sectors, the courses cover on-site health and safety topics, such as understanding and controlling risk, basic hazards and legal requirements.

Changes in the updated training include an understanding of the top critical hazardous activities; newly introduced mental health information; and twice the number of Review of Understanding questions to be answered. The look and feel have also been altered to address the needs of those with learning difficulties.

The courses are available online or in a classroom setting.

Visit sitesafe.org.nz/training for details.

The BuiltReady voluntary certification scheme for offsite building manufacturers will open for applications in 2023.

PHOTOGRAPH: KĀINGA ORA

BUILTREADY SCHEME FOR PREFAB HOUSING

Offsite building manufacturers that meet certain criteria will be able to become certified and registered to produce modular components through the government’s new BuiltReady voluntary certification scheme.

Under the scheme, the entire prefabricated construction process from design, manufacture, assembly, transportation and installation on-site will be assessed and certified—with the aim of reducing consent inspections.

An accredited and registered modular component manufacturer certification body will be responsible for third party inspections, audits and post-certification surveillance to make sure certified manufacturers are producing components that comply with the Building Code.

The BuiltReady voluntary certification scheme has been introduced by changes to the Building Act that came into effect in early September. It will be open for applications from manufacturers in 2023.

Proving that children really are our future...

Sky Wallace recently raised $326 for World Vision by not saying a word for 40 hours! Eight-year-old Sky, who is the granddaughter of former RMC General Manager Kevin Healy, says her school in Auckland was helping raise money for people without water in third world countries and she was excited to be part of it. The fundraiser was a 40-Hour Famine, but Sky’s parents weren’t too keen on that idea. “So, I decided to do something even harder—no talking for 40 hours!” she says. The money she raised is enough to give three children long-term clean water from a pump close to their home—making her granddad and whole family very proud. “Now it’s your turn to get involved!” says Sky. www.worldvision.org.nz/connect/40-hour-famine Four Otago Boys’ High School pupils have developed a plumbing device to prevent water wastage. Dan Hayman, the student leading the project, said he got the idea from when his family’s holiday home was flooded by a burst pipe. Hydretta, as the device is called, uses a timer and valve to stop the pump to a water tank if it runs longer than the time set—minimising property damage in the event of burst pipes or accidentally leaving a tap running. The students worked with the Otago University Computer Science Department to develop the prototype and have undertaken the project as part of the Lion Foundation’s Young Enterprise Scheme, a nationwide business startup competition. The boys have attracted an investor and a local electronics manufacturer has agreed to build the device. The next step is to secure a sales deal and they’d love to hear from anyone who is interested. Learn more at https://hydretta.mystorbie.com

Dominic Holden, an 11-year-old student at Newlands Intermediate in Wellington, took out top prize at the 2022 NIWA Wellington Science and Technology Fair for his innovative building blocks that use waste materials, such as glass, polystyrene and rubber. With construction and demolition waste representing up to half of all waste, according to recent BRANZ research, Dominic wanted to look at ways of reducing construction industry carbon emissions. That boy will go far!

Benjamen Tucker, Abdul Obaidullah, Dan Hayman and Connor Feist with the Hydretta prototype.