Appendix 2: Precis of Submissions (continued)
(Continued)
Land Transport Safety Authority
(Peter Waring, senior policy engineer, Safer Vehicles Policy Group)
Type of Interest: Regulatory agency with special interest in use in vehicles of CNG and LPG and the present and future use of electrical propulsion systems.
Comments on Current Regime
The present regulatory system for gaseous fuels has served the motoring and general public well in terms of safety, and has provided safety at reasonable cost. Unlike the supply and use of gas in buildings and elsewhere, there is no confusion or overlap in the specific regulations. Nor in the qualification requirements of the people who work on the vehicle systems. If a system or process has not broken down, it should not be unnecessarily altered.
Whatever regulatory system is put inplace, it should retain the present regulatory process for the use of gaseous fuels in vehicles in a form as close to that in force at present. People trained and licensed in the installation of gaseous fuel systems in vehicles should continue to be the only persons allowed to work on such systems. An approach where unlicensed people do the work with inspection by qualified and licensed people subsequently would not be satisfactory. Our reason for stating this is that critical tasks affecting public safety may not be exposed for inspection once an installation is complete.
Other Points Raised
Views on the use of gaseous fuels for cooking or heating in vehicles have been expressed to the Chief Gas Inspector as part of an earlier review ofgas regulations. The control regime the LTSA preferred, along with other affected organisations, was seen as impractical at present on cost grounds and the impossibility of law changes in the short term.
Vehicles propelled by current at the voltages of interest to the electrical and gas safety review are limited almost entirely to trolleybuses. The electrical safety of trolleybus installations is covered specifically by the Passenger Service Vehicle Construction Regulations 1978. This will soon be replaced largely unchanged by the Passenger Service Vehicle Construction Rule.
Vehicles using hybrid propulsion systems are not yet inproduction, and there is little knowledge yet of their electrical characteristics and requirements. Once the systems come into service overseas, expect to draw on that experience as a basis for considering whether new regulations are required. New regulations are unlikely to be considered during the next two to three years, although hybrid propulsion technology is developing very swiftly.
Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Board
(W. J. Weavers, Registrar)
Type of Interest: Licensing board responsible for ensuring practitioner competence through licensing and reviews.
Comments on Current Regime
Self-certification is in place and is achieving gas safety. No rationale for present review. Discussion paper has not focused on positive outcomes that have been achieved for gas. OSH has necessary powers to ensure workplace safety through HSE Act and Commerce has powers to ensure gas safety is achieved.
Areas for Improvement
Amendment to the Gas Regulations to make it an offence not to certify is needed and was suggested about two years ago.
Need to change definition of gasfitting to include all installations in caravans and boats so that work is installed and certified by a competent licensed gasfitter.
Comments on Principles
Board has no problem with these.
Prescriptiveness
Gas installation codes are performance-based and licensing has flexibility through setting broad parameters for what qualifications the Board may accept. There is, however, a need for minimum standards of compliance to be achieved by installers to ensure safe outcomes.
Input vs. Output Regulation
Both options currently available through self-certification or through licensed certifiers. Self-certification has been overwhelmingly preferred to date.
Comments on Approach One
Supported. Board disputes that in the case of gas not all work is certified. Over 23,000 gas certificates returned to the Board in last 12 months.
Comments on Approach Two
Strong disagreement with private sector licensing. A single independent licensing authority is needed. (See comments in Section 10.)
Comments on Approach Three
Territorial local authorities are under-resourced for plumbing and drainlaying inspection and do not have skills or resources to cover gasfitting inspections. Compliance costs would exceed those of self-certification regime. Evidence for this is cost of local authority building consents compared to cost of gas certification certificate. Local authorities reluctant to accept producer statements from plumbers and drainlayers, let alone gasfitters because tradespeople have no mandatory liability insurance so liability remains with local authorities. Board has proposed that persons licensed to certify work should have appropriate liability insurance.
Comments on Approach Four
There is competition between self-certification and employer licensing already. Producer statements currently available but not utilised to date for gas. Building consent option is available but has not been utilised since it came into force in 1991. Owners prefer to use a qualified gas certifier and obtain a gas certification certificate as proof of compliance with the gas installation code.
It is already possible for unlicensed workers to be employed through employer licensing and this provides competition.
Comments on Preferred Approach
Board is a body corporate and independent statutory Board, not Government registration Board as suggested. Operation of Board is at no cost to Government and Board's independence is necessary to ensure impartiality and fairness in determining qualifications for registration and ongoing competencies. Any move to private licensing or no licensing will mean qualifications will not be recognised in Australia under Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Legislation. Qualifications conferred by training organisations tend to benefit the agency rather than practitioner and industry as a whole. No cost justification for alternative licensing for 1600 gasfitters. Consumer would be confused by not knowing who has the best licence or how different licences from different authorities compare.
Other Points Raised
Gas Regulations require that owner receive a copy of self-certification certificate within five working days and Board audits this.
Territorial local authorities should sight energy work certificates before issuing code compliance certificates for building work.
Dispute Para 4. 14 in discussion document. Self-certification certificates do show information on work done, how done, and how verified. (Sample provided with submission.)
Natural Gas Corporation
(Richard Bentley, CEO)
Type of Interest: Major energy supplier. Involved in gas treatment, transmission, distribution and retailing. Involved in development of safety standards. Supports GANZ submission.
Comments on Current Regime
Prescriptive nature of Gas Act and Regs does not match well with performance-based approach and inhibits development within the industry.
Double coverage and associated compliance costs cause for concern.
Confusion exists with overlap with other legislation such as Building Act, Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act and Plumbers, Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act.
Areas for Improvement
Major review of structure and shape of gas legislation needed. Act and Regs need to be performance-based and flexible enough for change in industry. Double cover should be eliminated and responsibilities for safety clearly identified in workplace and for public. Should group responsibilities under HSE Act.
Former requirements of Petroleum Act and Pipeline Regs are being replaced by Regs under HSE Act. Coverage of both worker safety and public safety removes confusion and clarifies reporting requirements. This will resolve most of the concerns in that sector and model could apply for gas distribution activities currently covered by both the Gas Act and HSE Act.
Other Points Raised
Review assumes if installations are controlled then appliances and pipework will continue to function correctly throughout their life. Does not discuss ongoing safety. Fatality statistics quoted are not failures by users or certifiers but lie in use of the equipment.
Review doesn't give enough emphasis to Labour Select Committee recommendations to provide only single coverage under HSE Act. Review doesn't offer solutions to double cover. No solutions offered for distribution sector.
Gas Appliance Suppliers Association (Inc)
(Garth Wyllie, Executive Officer)
Type of Interest: Association of 20 companies representing range of appliances from portable ones to commercial installations. Provides education and reporting system for non compliance (with Gas Inspectorate), participates in advising Ministry of needs when looking at Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Treaty requirements.
Comments on Current Regime
- Problems with poor quality of installation.
- No gas fitters trained last year.
- Accountability not effective.
- Problems with Skills Framework; does not cover ongoing maintenance.
- Supplier warranty costs were escalating.
- Quality of audit process poor.
- Problems with ongoing maintenance.
- Low levels of skills of service in gas and electrical work.
- No defined trade for gas servicing.
Areas for Improvement
- Much higher level of training and retraining needed.
- Electrical service technicians need training on gas servicing and safety. Formal training to be compulsory at Tech with ongoing refresher courses. Consider amalgamating Plumbers, Gas fitters and Drainlayers Board with EWRB.
- Make effective use of gas industry non-compliance report.
Comments on Approach One
Favours existing regime including maintaining self-certification process with greater emphasis on compulsory training and retraining and changes to licensing board.
Other Points Raised
- Need industry policing on poor installations.
- All government energy divisions should be one, i.e. gas and electrical together as gas appliances now include electrical components.
J I Daniell
Type of Interest: Public interest.
Comments on Current Regime
Safety
The existing EWRB is not a satisfactory means of continuing a safe worker regime. Safe workers are the responsibility of the employers and/or the workers themselves.
Self-certification is the best means of ensuring installation safety.
Comments on Approach Two
Registration classes restrict industries need for multi-skilling.
Education, training, audit and discipline of electrical workers is best monitored by a single industry group.
Rationalisation of the overlaps between the Electricity Act and the Health and Safety in Employment Act is best managed by a body (board) representative of industry groups.
Comments on Preferred Approach
Endorses the Preferred Approach.
Colin Wood Electrical Consultancy
Type of Interest: Electrical inspector.
Approach One
Supports:
- Approach One: enhanced status quo (incremental improvement).
- The recommendations of the EWRB in its review of the Electricity Act 1992.
Other Comments
The aim of reducing compliance costs is likely to result in reduced safety in relation to electrical and gas work.
NZ Society of Master Plumbers & Gasfitters
Type of Interest: Industry representative organisation.
Comments on Current Regime
Have no problems with the current regime for the safety of gas work, apart from those matters to which legislative action has been agreed but not yet implemented. See no need for a change until it is clearly demonstrated that the current system is deficient.
The Gas Act 1992 and Plumbers, Gasfitters, and Drainlayers Act 1976 and their regulations have provided a regime over the past five years under which the quality of gasfitting has improved. This has occurred because the responsibility for safety of the installation has shifted from the gas supplier who provided third party inspection to the craftsman gasfitter who supervises and certifies the work.
Proposals have been made to the Ministry of Commerce to address the few matters in the Gas Act, PG&D Act and regulations which need amendment. Because the Ministry has not been able to gain the agreement of some parties to changes related mainly to LPG in mobile or portable installations, the whole of the desired amendments have been deferred. This delay is no justification for extensive revision of the whole regime.
Other Comments
Have considerable difficulty with the paper because:
- The problems that it attempts to address are not clearly defined.
- The differences between the current regimes for gas work and electrical work are inadequately identified. There may be problems related to registration and licensing of workers, and testing and certification of electrical work under the current system, but it should not be assumed that the same or similar problems exist with respect to gas work. The two regimes are sufficiently different that close parallels should not be drawn. There is no reason that legislation for the electrical industry should be replicated for the gas industry.
The Society has made submissions to the Ministry of Health in its review of occupational licensing in the health sector in relation to the licensing regime for plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers.
Two Key Points
- Strong support for the continued licensing of plumbers, gasfitters and drainlayers.
- A proposal for a self-certification scheme for plumbing work.
Stuart Glen
Type of Interest: Not stated.
Comments on Current Regime
Safety
Does not believe the current safety outcomes are effective enough. Allowing homeowners to do their own work will cause major problems in the long term as they are not having work inspected and a lot of hazardous wiring is being found.
At present fully trained electrical workers have one of the lowest rates of accidents compared to other trade groups. If workers are only partially trained to suit the employers' requirements, there is a greater risk of electrical accidents occurring due to a lack of electrical knowledge. Compliance needs to be examined as the majority of work is currently never audited or inspected.
Regulations have become open statements that are not easily understood.
Comments on Approach One
Agrees in principle with Approach One with some modifications.
The existing regime is very informative and could be retained provided the regulations become more explicit. The question of home owners doing their own work should be revisited.
Comments on Approach Two
Disagrees with removing mandatory licensing. Regulation of the trade should not be controlled by industrial companies or contractors associations as they are too biased. It should be controlled by an independent organisation, represented by different parts of industry, e.g. the EWRB. Full training of all aspects of both trades is a basic requirement to be able to deliver safety.
Comments on Approach Three
HSE Act
The HSE Act goes too far to achieve its outcomes. In construction and industrial sites and plants, the safety regime called for is detrimental, and workers fear the outcomes of the Act. The Act should not regulate electricity or gas in any way as they are specialised trades where special safety training and full knowledge is essential to achieve public and private safety.
Building Act
The alignment with the Building Act makes sense and would achieve a "One Stop Shop". As the Building Act is administered by District Councils they could possibly employ an Electrical Inspector (depending on the outcome of any changes to the regulations).
Consumer Legislation
Does not believe the Sale of Goods Act and the Consumers Guarantees Act provide adequate protection for consumers. In a lot of cases it is almost impossible to prove who did work and when it was done.
Comments on Approach Four
Also agrees with Approach Four, but does not agree with having only partially trained workers.
Other Comments
Regulation of the trade should not be in the hands of industrial companies or contractors' associations. They should be in the hands of an independent organisation representing different parts of industry.
NZ Motor Caravan Association
Type of Interest: Industry representative organisation.
Comments on Current Regime
Supports the status quo. However, realise there are problems with self-certification in that a registered person may not have current competency for many reasons. One being that the person's initial registration took effect 20 years ago and has not kept up with the regulations or has not been actively employed in the industry. The registration boards do not test for current competency and do not see anything in your proposals that will right the system.
Comments on Other Approaches
Suggest that you look at the "Motor Safe" system used for Warrants of Fitness on motor vehicles, where Motor Safe owns the quality assurance system and to self-certify you must belong to that organisation. Low Volume Vehicle Technical Association are also taking this approach for the Land Transport Safety Authority.
If the Plumbing, Gas, Drainlaying and Electrical Registration Boards set up a quality assurance system for all self certifiers this would be one answer to enhance the standing of the Registration Boards and achieve OSH goals.
R T Irvine
Type of Interest: Electrical contractor/inspector.
Comments on Current Regime
Hopes that the present regime under the EWRB will continue without the matter of cost being considered.
Safety
Homeowners who do electrical work on buildings and appliances often leave work in a hazardous condition. It has been a practice of other tradespeople to remove light fittings, power points and light switches with little care and no means of testing after replacement. Short training methods to allow these people or others to certify electrical work will compromise the high standard achieved by electrical tradespeople.
Other Comments
Does not agree that gas and electrical workers should be treated together as they have no working similarities.
T L & Associates
Type of Interest: Electricity supply and installation consultants, electrical inspectors.
Comments on Current Regime
Believes a review of the current procedures by the EWRB and the electrical and gas inspection sections of MOC plus their operating costs could result in considerable savings without affecting the overall efficiency.
Cost and procedures of attaining registration, issue of Practising Licence should be reviewed.
Comments on Principles
The highlighted principles in the paper will be ideal if they can be achieved.
Prescriptiveness vs. Performance
Supports the aim toward performance option, giving flexibility and freedom in application.
Comments on Preferred Approach
Little supporting data is supplied in this paper to arrive at the Preferred Approach.
Believes the general public and the non-electrical and gas workers expect that electrical and gas work will be carried out competently by electrical and gas workers, resulting in a safe installation. It would seem the Preferred Approach could increase the unknown safety risks. It would also be difficult for customers and electrical and gas workers to understand.
The principle of registering with a private sector organisation (approved by MOC) is good, but the procedures must be clearly documented for ease of understanding and application. Clarification is required as to how they will operate.
The Preferred Approach could result in a large number of competency standards and could result in conflict with the ETITO programme.
The Preferred Approach will increase the costs to the small businesses and this will contravene the guiding principles. The overall increase in costs will be high.
Many factors have not been considered in the Preferred Approach. For example, what is to become of the MOC Inspection Group? What is the intention on limiting the portability for workers with competencies in areas covering transmission, distribution and customer installations?
National Federation of Rail Societies Inc
Type of Interest: Industry representative group.
Comments on Current Regime
Members of National Federation of Rail Societies Inc have a range of electrically-operated vehicles, including diesel electric (locomotives and railcars), electric (trams, locomotives and passenger carriages ("Units"), and trolley buses. Have no problem with the present provision for such vehicles under the Electricity Act.
Some members are also involved in electrical reticulation and production (conversion) of electrical energy (600v and 1500v dc), including the erection and maintenance of overhead electric lines. Have no difficulty with present legislation and regulations relating to these matters.
Other Comments
The prime safety legislation affecting members is the Transport Services Licensing Act 1989, and all members involved in railway or tramway operations have safety systems approved by the Land Transport Safety Authority. These safety systems deal with electrical safety either by reference to relevant legislation and regulations, or in some cases by the inclusion of a detailed electrical safety regime.
Members, particularly the smaller groups, have concerns about the high compliance costs that they have had to face since the 1992 Amendment to the TSL Act. Any additional compliance costs involving further fees, auditing etc brought about by any changes in the electrical safety regime could be crippling to some of the Federation's members.
NZ Council of Elders
Type of Interest: Public interest.
Comments on Principles
Particularly concerned about the issue of competitiveness as it relates to registration of workers, and the possibility that this value will drive the establishment of several organisations able to register workers.
Comments on Approach Two
Licensing
The negative impacts of several organisations able to register workers are:
- Inevitable duplication of costs. Each organisation would need a management structure, a database of members, compliance regime etc.
- Different organisations would set different standards.
- There would be a watering down of the available expertise.
- The Ministry would need to consult with all qualifying organisations over each change in regulations.
- Disciplinary proceedings may be affected by the need to maintain membership numbers.
- A defaulting worker could resign from one organisation and join another, thus evading disciplinary proceedings.
- Customers will not know what registration with a particular organisation means in terms of the skills of the worker.
- "Public good" work (e.g. safety advertising) could not be easily sustained with multiple organisations.
Believe that from the point of view of the domestic consumer, this proposal will lead to loss of simplicity, certainty and transparency. The domestic consumer must be the focus of concern when it comes to deciding which of various competing principles should be applied.
Understand that the Ministry sees the main advantage being the introduction of competition. Workers could choose which organisation to register with, and this competition should drive down costs of registration. However, there is no evidence in the document that costs are higher than in other comparable industries. For instance, there has been no benchmarking of registration costs and benefits with other groups of workers who must register, such as allied health professionals. Until this is done, there is no way of knowing whether costs are indeed greater than they need be, and whether internal efficiencies rather than competition will improve the situation.
HSE Act
The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 is an inappropriate mechanism for improving the electrical and gas safety regime.
General Comments
One issue raised in the discussion paper, but not addressed in any of the approaches, is information. The paper identified the need for information on at least the following:
- What the regulations are.
- How the consumer can judge competence of worker and quality of work.
- The impact of new technologies.
- How the worker learns about formalised safety procedures.
- How the house/building purchaser can know what electrical/gas work has been done.
- What the risks are from gas and electricity.
These are very large issues, each of which needs to be addressed. Safe outcomes are the result of good practice based on good information, and the whole community has some level of responsibility for safe outcomes.
For example, how can the house/building purchaser know what electrical/gas work has been done? Suggest introducing a scheme of "log books" for each building, showing original gas/electric fixtures and fittings, and any changes over time. This log book (which could be electronic) should be kept by the owner, and the worker should insist on the need to update the log book as work is completed. Future purchasers of the building should require production of the log book prior to purchase. Believe it is unlikely that territorial authorities would maintain these records. The onus should be on the building's owner to do so. It is possible for the maintenance of these records to be done commercially, if the consumer so wishes.
R R Timmins
Type of Interest: Industry.
Comments on Current Regime
Safety
Does not believe adequate safety outcomes are being achieved under the current regime. For an illustration see recent articles in Metro and in Business Review. Thinks the Ministry's replies in these publications were inaccurate and inadequate.
Cost
Opinions of lower overall cost exist but thinks the industry as a whole does not believe that a lesser standard and fragmented approach will result in equal safety. Nor will it reduce total cost. It may shift some cost from some organisations and place increases on the other participants.
Areas for Improvement
There is some duplication of functions due mainly to the Building Act requiring additional certification on certain electrical work, and charging high fees to applicants for building certification, for work, for example, on passenger lifts and boiler controls.
The reporting system for electrical incidents was previously well organised with good investigation and reporting. The present operation in this area is inadequate but could rapidly be restored.
There are many areas where safety outcomes could be improved. For example, better and quicker investigation of all accidents, more user-friendly accident or incident reporting, compulsory refresher courses when additional material is added (updated regularly) or to draw attention to recent accidents to both workers and the public.
The present certificate of compliance although an improvement is still a most unsatisfactory document. To be of use to the industry such a certificate should:
- show in clear detail each circuit and or appliance installed
- show in detail the inspection of and the tests carried out on that circuit or appliance
- show in detail the relationship of that circuit its switchboard and the type of circuit protection
- provide a guide to the person certifying as to what inspection and tests are necessary.
Does not agree with the Ministry's opinion that significant costs would be imposed on workers if the level of detail required in self-certification certificates was increased.
Comments on Principles
Agrees with the following principles: appropriateness of incentives, flexibility, simplicity, transparency and competitiveness.
However, in relation to certainty, how can a regime, i.e. a method or a system, be certain? In relation to the level of intervention, it is difficult to establish the level of intervention necessary until there is an accident or incident to use as an example. Dependent on history in an industry of rapid technological change.
Prescriptiveness
Where possible and desirable, permissive rules should be used but these can also lead to very verbose regulations and may not be desirable for that reason alone. Although it may be possible to write a fully prescriptive set of regulations, it is not possible to write fully permissive regulation requirements. The issue of prescriptive vs. permissive does not have a definitive answer and is best left to the knowledge and experience of those preparing the regulation.
Input vs. Output
If completed work is to be established as safe, and much of it is concealed within the structure, how can this be done except by the person responsible for the work?
Comments on Approach One
This approach has the most merit. However, there needs to be substantial improvements such as:
- remove the influence of Treasury from the finances of registration
- re-establish the level, skill, and speed of accident reporting to the level of that which existed in 1986 and restore the reporting of supposed electrical fires and their investigation to pre-1986
- realise that the industry skills of the electrical staff of MOC are not wide ranging and use much more and frequent consultation with the industry
- use much better and simple language in all publications.
Comments on Approach Two
This approach is less desirable than Approach One.
Licensing
In relation to the system of licensing, Option B (Approval and auditing by the Secretary of Commerce of private sector organisations that would licence electrical and gas workers) is the only possible one of the three choices. If these organizations were industry organisations this option could well form part of Approach One.
Qualifications
In relation to the qualification or competency standards, Option I (Retention of qualification standards set in regulations and administered by statutory boards or some other government agency) is the only acceptable choice and then only by deleting "other government agency".
Comments on Approach Three
There are no advantages to making major changes to the current requirements and as the electrical industry, which is an industry dealing with dangerous goods, has a good safety record both for the public and its workers, why make major changes?
At the time of the development of the Building Act considerable time and effort was spent in an effort to encompass the electrical requirements. These efforts were most unsatisfactory and were dropped. No value in repeating this effort.
Comments on Approach Four
This type of approach is unsatisfactory and unsafe. The disadvantages include: too complex, no clear public understanding, infighting as to who or what legislation has priority.
Comments on Preferred Approach
This approach would be the worst outcome possible and should not be considered.
R E Wills
Type of Interest: Electrical inspector.
Comments on Approach Two
Licensing and Qualifications
The registration regime should remain. This should not prevent an employer, particularly of a medium or large group of electrical workers, holding an employer licence.
The present emphasis on obtaining "units" towards levels of qualification on a national scale, only some of which may be required by the current employer, is a step in the right direction. However, both in the interests of public safety and in the interests of the worker, registration should always be a requirement (at a certain level of academic qualification combined with experience).
The present climate of the employer requirements taking precedence, whilst laudable if you are an employer, are unsatisfactory for the employee should he/she wish to change employment, or should the employer go out of business.
I see no conflict between the administration of the HSE legislation and administration of electrical registration legislation, which will deal only at the registered level.
Cylinder Testing Laboratory Association of NZ (Inc)
Type of Interest: Industry representative association.
Comments on Current Regime
Safety
There are installations which do not comply with current legislation, such as the lack of ventilation in an enclosure for a gas burner, quick connect adaptors on LPG cylinders and sealing of valves in LPG cylinders.
Areas for Improvement
Believes safety outcomes could be improved in the area of LPG installations in caravans, boats and heaters.
Comments on Approach One
Advantages: The same Acts and Regulations would be retained and there would therefore be no change for employers to implement.
Disadvantages: Too many Acts and therefore too many departments involved in the administration. Government intervention is therefore too high. No major improvement in safety outcomes.
Comments on Approach Two
Assuming that B and III are the options adopted.
Advantages
- Industry would be responsible for setting its own qualification requirements.
- Industry would have its own registration organisations for electrical and gas workers.
- If Australia/NZ standards were written into the Act and regulations, standards would become mandatory and save the "wheel being reinvented" as is often the case when changes are made to Acts/regulations and systems. If this was adopted then NZS should benefit financially by the different organizations contributing to the upkeep of the relevant standards.
Disadvantages
- The auditing for the private sector organisations should not be undertaken by the Secretary of Commerce, but by an organisation such as IANZ or TELARC as the Ministry is not in the audit business, nor would they have the staff available to audit on a regular basis.
- The detail of qualifications should be established by industry, not the training organisations. The training organisations should be there to provide what the industry wants, not what it is given.
Comments on Approach Three
Believe electricity and gas safety outcomes would be compromised in the workplace and during construction or modification of buildings if they were regulated through the HSE and Building Acts.
Believe that to regulate electricity and gas work through alternative regulatory regimes would not be appropriate due to the costs and the time to amend the alternative Acts and regulations.
A J Graham
Type of Interest
Public Interest.
Comments on Approach Three
HSE Act
Thinks it would be a most unwise move to hand over matters of electrical safety to OSH.
The February/March issue of Standards notes that despite the HSE Act and OSH, deaths by industrial accident in this country are increasing. For many years, deaths by industrial accident averaged an appalling one per week. Yet 1997 saw this increase to 62 for the year.
This indicates that the approach taken by OSH under the HSE Act is wrong. It seeks to punish after the event, whereas the EWRB has always sought to gain compliance of the regulations by positive means. Expressed in other terms, the EWRB takes a pro-active approach, while OSH takes a negative, reactive one. The increasing number of fatal accidents in New Zealand industry shows that OSH's approach is ineffectual.
The HSE Act has placed more stress on workers. Rather than making the working environment safer, it has only made the likelihood of accidents greater.
Electra
Type of Interest Not Stated.
General Comments
Electra believes the safety of the public and electrical workers is best achieved by the following means:
- Only competent people perform electrical work i.e. regulate the input rather than output where safety is already compromised.
- The competency to be determined by the industry (based on qualifications and skills measured by ESITO/NQF etc).
- Compliance of electrical work to relevant codes standards/guides developed by industry rather than the government.
BHP NZ Steel
Type of Interest: Industry.
Comments on Preferred Approach
Electrical Work
Think that the Preferred Approach is probably best, but have concerns about the detail, such as the standards of training given by training providers varying.
Gas Work
Gas work on the New Zealand Steel site is limited to routine maintenance and minor alterations. This work is conducted under the exemption provisions of the Plumbers Gasfitters and Drainlayers Act through the appointment of MOC approved exempt persons. It is Company policy that the design, supply, installation and commissioning of new gas-fired capital plant is only undertaken by specialist suppliers and must conform with all applicable regulations and standards, be installed by registered gasfitters and be certified prior to acceptance. The training and issuing of qualifications for such persons could no doubt be properly carried out to defined criteria and competencies by non-government organisations. Would not wish to see the current exemption provisions for large industrial gas users removed.
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