August 2017 – NZUAG News issue 6

From the Chair

There has been lots of activity since my last report. The board has led the Code promotion seminars that were held around the country in June and July. My thanks to Ross Malcolm, our partner the NZ Institute of Highway Technology (NZIHT), board members and participants for making the seminars such a success. We are currently analysing the key issues raised at the seminars to help us with planning for future events.

We are also pleased that the Minister has signed of an amended Code that corrects minor errors in the current Code. The amended Code is now on our website, effective from 16 September.

We are currently preparing for the AGM on 23 November in Auckland. I hope you can make it.

Regards,

Paul Swain

Chair, NZUAG

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Working Groups

The Board Working Groups reported on their activities

at the recent August 24 Board meeting, with steady progress being made in their respective areas. While The Code Education and Awareness Seminar series remains the major focus, important work is continuing on updating the website and improving insights into Code Compliance and Enforcement issues.

• Code Promotion and Awareness Seminars: A major focus of the Board meeting was on reviewing the recent seminar series. A total of 352 people attended the 9 seminars held around the country through June and early July. The following table provides an attendance summary

plus the sense of value attendees placed on being there.

Attendees at the Hamilton Seminar

• Code Compliance and Enforcement: Two Survey Monkey surveys have been sent out seeking feedback on code compliance and enforcement issues. A total of 13 responses were received from the 20 RCA who agreed to take part in the surveys. The results will be fed into the wider feedback from the Code Education Seminar Series. Further surveys are likely as analysis identifies areas for more in-depth investigation. Anybody wishing to join the survey group should contact Brett North at
  • brett.north@wcc.govt.nz.
  • Website Update: Work is continuing on the website updating, with the intention being to keep the site more responsive to what is happening within the industry and ensure it is as easy to navigate and find key documents and information as quickly as possible.
  AGM PlanningWith the AGM to take place on November 23^rd atVector’s Auckland Newmarket Office starting 9:30am, planning is beginning to take place for this important event. One of the major actions at each AGM is the appointment of Board members, as Board membership is on a two year rotational basis. This year the positions up for renewal are:Sector Representation IncumbentOrganisationManager, National Rail KiwiRailCorridorLGNZ – major TA Auckland TransportElectricity sector Vector Water sector Hastings District CouncilKey dates in the lead-up to the AGM are:Activity Due dateCall for Board nominations 19 OctBoard nominations close 2 Nov 5pmNotices of Motion (Remits) due 26 Oct AGM papers to be distributed 9 NovExpect a range of emails over coming weeks providing reminders of key actions required in the AGM lead-up. These will be sent to the primary and secondary contacts for each member organisation in our membership database.Revised National Code of Practice ApprovalNZUAG is pleased to announce the release of the latest edition of the National Code of Practice for Utility Operators’ Access to Transport Corridors. It contains minor amendments that fix a number of typographical and editorial errors that were identified after the substantive revised version of the Code was released earlier in the year. This edition will be gazetted on 16 September 2016 and efective from that date. This updated version of the Code can be downloaded from the NZUAG website.RIMS Forum March 2017Planning is well under way for the 2017 RIMS conference, to be held over Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 March at the Waipuna Conference Centre in Auckland. With NZUAG having taken responsibility for organising day two of this event it has become a core part of our activities, and so all members are encouraged to consider attending.This 2^nd day will consist of two concurrent streams that will focus on:
  • Roading Optimised Decision Making and
  • Corridor Access Management
  Along with detailed technical talks there will be workshops for sharing difficulties and learning’s, debating and digging further in to some key issues in these parts of the industry. An important goal of the day is to provide a forum for professionals in the sectors of the industry that do not often get the opportunity to meet as a community to come together and make contacts/network.The call for abstracts has gone out for anybody wishing to be a Forum presenter, with 13 speaking slots available across a mix of 12 or 20 minute presentation options. These need to be returned to the main Forum organisers, by Friday 23 September. Further details are available from the forum website www.rims.org.nz, or by contacting Brett North (email brett.north@wcc.govt.nz), our NZUAG rep on the Forum planning committee.Access to Subordinate Instruments ProjectAs a result of a new government initiative designed to bring all primary and secondary legislative instruments together under a single platform, it isexpected the NZUAG National Code of Practice will be published on the government’s main legislation website following its next review. Such a move will have no impact on the review process itself, but will simply change where the final version of the Code is formally published.KPI’s ReminderOne of the drivers surrounding the development of the National Code of Practice, was a desire to respond to the high incidence rates of third party strikes on Utility infrastructure across the country. In order to track the impact of the Code on improving this, §8.2.2 of the Code requires all Corridor Managers and Utility Operators to provide a range of performance data to NZUAG on an annual basis. Specifically we require the following:Letters will be going out to all Corridor Managers and Utility Operators over the next few weeks reminding them of their obligations and providing a template to allow easy reporting back to NZUAG. A summary document will be published on the NZUAG website following the close of date, along with a copy being forwarded to Infrastructure Ministers for their information.