Hello once again, and welcome to another Crane Association of New Zealand newsletter.
This month’s column is short and sweet, which is why I’ll start with the most exciting – and arguably, most important – bit of news first. Following last year’s CANZ roadshow, it was made abundantly clear that the industry wanted more certainty around training, qualifications, and Verification of Competency (VOC). So, as you know, we’ve been running a CANZ Accreditation Licence Programme pilot (stage 3 only) on the CICA CrewSafe online assessment app, through the month of February 2020. We received a little feedback from Fletchers and McLeod Cranes participants at our recent February 11 Council meeting. CLICK HERE to read the full article. Following comprehensive multi-industry consultation to modernise legislation critical to the crane industry, the process to develop new regulations to replace the current Health and Safety in Employment (Pressure Equipment, Cranes, and Passenger Ropeways) Regulations 1999 is progressing.
WorkSafe’s Principal Engineer of Health and Technical Services, Stuart Wright, says all the submissions have been received and are being analysed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE). Mr Wright is WorkSafe’s foremost expert on Pressure Equipment, Cranes, and Passenger Ropeways (PECPR) regulations. MBIE has signalled to all industry stakeholders that, subject to cabinet approvals, implementation is intended for in 2021. CLICK HERE to read the full article. New Zealand’s largest industry training organisation – with over 25 years of go-to skills – has once again signed up to support the Crane Association of New Zealand, this time as a premier business year-long sponsor.
Skills confirmed its support as a significant financial supporter of CANZ late last year to underpin training and help raise the standard of the country’s crane industry. This level of support and commitment to the crane industry also extends to Skills taking a representative role on the CANZ Council – which falls to Carl Rankin, Skills’ Industry Manager - Specialist Trades. “Our involvement is slightly different from that of a regular CANZ member. We’re a member because we’re involved with the industry as a standard setting body for the crane industry. “So, we support the industry however we can, and part of that is sitting on the CANZ Council as a representative of Skills – and we also want to give back in other ways where we can.” CLICK HERE to read the full article. Following an incident early in his career, the Crane Association of New Zealand’s Past President, Scott McLeod, has never been more diligent of the residential sector’s hidden dangers in this month’s The Technical Corner.
Working for his dad in the 90s, Scott McLeod was tasked with lifting a single garage shed over a Katikati house and into the homeowner’s backyard using a Kato MR100. Parked between two houses, he couldn’t quite manoeuvre it on to its concrete pad. So, he lowered the shed short of the pad and released the rigging. “I then retracted the boom, leaving it short over the rear of the crane before raising my outrigger legs leaving the outriggers out.” Concerned he was causing the customer further delays, the Managing Director of McLeod Cranes then backed the crane up and promptly fell into a septic tank. CLICK HERE to read the full article. The Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Dimensions and Mass 2016 (the Rule) resulted in a change to the swept path performance criteria. This change restricted a large portion of mobile cranes from obtaining travel time exemptions when compared to the revoked 2002 Rule.
Transport Specifications Limited (TSL) has discussed these performance criteria with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and the repercussions for mobile cranes attempting to obtain travel time exemptions. The NZTA has agreed on a new performance criterion that TSL has devised for providing travel time exemptions/reductions for mobile cranes, while a rule amendment is being discussed. TSL performance criteria is designed specifically for mobile cranes, resulting in a large portion of mobile cranes to be exempt from all travel time restrictions. These criteria consider the dimensions (including all equipment) of a mobile crane, which is then split into one of two divisions. The first division provides an exemption from all travel time restrictions. The second division reduces large mobile cranes travel time requirements to a category 1 over dimension vehicle. CLICK HERE to read the full article. In addition to the swept path travel time exemption criteria changes that came in to force with the introduction of the Rule, there was also the introduction of a new tyre classification being “single mega tyre”.
With the introduction of the new tyre classification, TSL identified a benefit for cranes running on 1600 R25 or large single tyres (including metric equivalents). The introduction of the single mega tyre classification results in an increased VDAM weight and subsequently an increase in weight covered by a vehicle’s RUC distance licence. With an increase in a vehicle’s distance licence, there is a follow-on effect where the additional RUC licence can be reduced proportionate to the increase of the vehicle’s RUC distance licence, which varies depending how many axles the crane has (provided the additional RUC licence was purchased correctly). Negotiation with NZTA took some time for them to agree. However, eventually they acknowledged that cranes with single mega tyres were eligible for the additional weight covered by their RUC distance licence due to the single mega tyre introduction. CLICK HERE to read the full article. We’ve recently made some changes to the crane qualification to make sure it’s up to date and the best it can be. With the construction boom in full force, these changes have improved the qualification at a time where New Zealand needs more crane operators.
We have been working closely with the crane industry through CANZ, and subject matter experts to develop the level 3 and 4 Units Standards and related programmes and strands. We can confirm that the NZ Certificate in Cranes (Level 3) with strands and the New Zealand Certificate in Cranes (Level 4) qualification is now available. CLICK HERE to read the full article. In a legal sense, institutes of technology and polytechnics (ITPs) will become subsidiaries of the New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST) (working name) and Boards of Directors will replace Commissioners. Industry training organisations (ITOs) will become Transitional ITOs.
All existing employment agreements, Memorandums of Understanding, and contracts for goods and services will be transferred seamlessly. All current Academic Boards become sub-committees of the NZIST’s Academic Board, and the new NZQA Rules will come into effect to reflect the changes in legal status of ITPs and ITOs. For the NZIST, it’s likely that the location and name decisions will have been announced, and we were pleased to confirm Stephen Town as the new Chief Executive who will start in July. To read the full article, please go to the TEC website using the below link. https://www.tec.govt.nz/rove/rove-news/meeting-the-milestone/ |
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