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Presiding Member's Report
The Electrical Workers Registration Board has pleasure in
presenting its seventh Annual Report.
This year has seen significant progress through which many of
the Board’s initiatives and long-term strategies have moved much
closer to fruition. It has always been the objective of the
Board to become more independent of the Ministry of Commerce
while at the same time ensuring greater input from industry into
the policies of the Board. The past year has been one of steady
migration toward that goal. As the year came to a close, a
number of reviews and other management activities within the
Ministry saw an increasing convergence by all parties toward
that objective.
Review of the OSH, Gas and Electricity Acts
Although the Board’s review of the Electricity Act was
completed and forwarded to Hon Max Bradford, the then Minister
of Energy, in October 1976, the Minister subsequently
commissioned a broader review of the workplace safety regime.
The final report from this review has been strongly endorsed by
the Board.
The proposed approach contained in the report is based on
regulating according to risk and recommends that changes are
made to:
- Clarify that the HSE Act is the primary legislation
governing safety when electrical and gas work is being
carried out, and align other legislation and allocate
resources in line with that principle.
- Clarify and make explicit, accountabilities for electrical
and gas safety in legislation.
- Remove much of the prescriptiveness of worker licensing so
that those organisations with alternative means of delivering
safety are not required to use only licensed workers.
- Ensure that aspects of safety not able to be dealt with
effectively under the HSE Act are handled in a way that is
consistent with the HSE Act.
- Improve the complaints and audit processes, and the
accountability of the licensing Boards.
- Increase maximum penalties and broaden the scope and range
of penalties and remedies available in the legislation.
- Make the Board (which currently operates as a unit of the
Ministry of Commerce) an independent self-funding statutory body
accountable to the relevant Minister for its performance.
Enhanced Communications Strategy
The Board will begin a new communications and publicity
programme with key features being the introduction of a web site
(ewrb.govt.nz), the development of a more distinctive brand
image and a high profile billboard and magazine advertising
campaign commencing in July 1999. This campaign will target
women, who are often the key decision makers in the purchase of
electrical or electronic repair services for the home. All
classes of licence will be distinctively coloured in blue and
yellow as an aid to consumer identification and recognition. The
Board’s logo was re-designed to emphasise safety and competency.
The logo has been introduced on Board stationery and products,
including practising licences.
Electrical Worker Competency
The Board’s risk management audit programme has now been
implemented with pilot operations completed in Auckland and
Christchurch in late 1998 and early 1999. The results of these
pilot operations were subsequently publicised in ElectroLink
magazine and the Board has noted an increasing trend toward
voluntary compliance among those anticipating that they may be
next in line for an audit. The results of the pilot operation
fully validated the risk management based approach to audit as
adopted by the Board and the programme will be progressively
implemented throughout the country.
Audit attention is strongly focused on electrical workers who
do not hold a current practising licence or are not using
certificates of compliance or electrical safety certificates.
When this phase has been completed the net will be cast wider to
bring under audit scrutiny, worker groups not readily
identifiable by routine measures. This will inevitably involve a
greater level of personal contact between auditors and
registered workers.
Safety Refresher Courses
The refresher courses for practising licence renewal have
been subject to criticism for quite some time due to lack of
relevance in some instances and lack of consistency in others.
To address these and other related problems the Board
commissioned the preparation of a comprehensive set of
guidelines for refresher courses. These are now being condensed
into a compact document offering clear guidelines for the
conduct of safety refresher courses. This document will consist
of a primary section containing generic safety matters
applicable to all classes of electrical worker. The remainder
will be broken down into sections addressing the specific needs
of individual classes such as electrical service technicians.
Using these guidelines, service providers will be able to
deliver refresher training more relevant to the working
environment of the individuals attending the course.
Complaints and Discipline
The Board continues to come under criticism from industry
over the time taken for the disciplinary process to reach a
conclusion. The majority of the time taken is in the Complaints
Assessment (CAC) stages. These are investigative by nature and
it is difficult to shorten the time scale by any significant
amount due to the constraints imposed by the legal process. The
Ministry has applied further resources to this aspect of the
process and significant improvements have been achieved.
The Board cannot hold a hearing until the CAC process has
produced a recommendation, however once this report is received
the Board moves swiftly to hear the case. A number of special
disciplinary-only meetings have been held throughout the country
over the past year and as a result the Board has been able to
hear 81 cases which is 57 more than the previous year.
Further enhancement of the Board’s disciplinary procedures
manual in conjunction with Standing Orders has meant most
hearings can be completed within a shortened timeframe without
compromising the rights of the respondent or denying them
adequate time to speak in their own defence. The Board has
worked hard to ensure that the process is as user friendly as
possible.
Imposition of Higher Fines and Costs
The Board is acutely aware that many of its activities and
services contain a substantial "Public Good" element and that it
is inappropriate for the industry to fund aspects of the regime
for which the public is the major beneficiary. While it is the
Board’s view that public good activities should be funded by the
public purse, this is not currently the case and to that end
there have been substantial increases in the levels of fines
being imposed when workers are found guilty of disciplinary
offences. In particular, the Board is imposing significantly
higher levels of costs as it considers that the industry should
not be obliged to bear the full costs of the disciplinary
process. Electrical workers who fail to meet their obligations
under the Act are expected to make a substantial financial
contribution to the costs of the disciplinary process set up to
address their non-compliance.
Board Membership
The year has seen a further change in the membership of the
Board with Dame Elizabeth Hanan retiring in December 1998 after
six years of service. Dame Elizabeth was a lay member of the
Board and made an outstanding contribution in the early years of
its existence when it sailed essentially uncharted waters.
During her five years in the chair she ensured that the Board’s
profile within the Ministry was always maintained. Following her
retirement, the Board invited Dame Elizabeth to attend their
March 1999 meeting in Dunedin at which a presentation was made
of a silver salver to commemorate her service to the Board and
the electrical industry.
The new member of the Board is Belinda Greer. Belinda is a
lawyer and, amongst other demanding responsibilities, works with
the law firm Bell Gully in Wellington. Belinda has extensive
legal knowledge and experience which is proving to be of great
assistance to the Board in many areas of its activities;
especially those relating to privacy legislation and the ever
increasing technicalities of the disciplinary hearing process.
Finally, the Board wishes to record its appreciation to the
staff members of the Energy Inspection Group of the Ministry of
Commerce for the services provided to the Board through our
Service Level Agreement. The Board also expresses its sincere
appreciation for the dedicated and professional service it
receives from the Registrar, Mr John Sickels and from the
Board’s secretary, Mrs Janine Anderson.
John Churchill
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