Behind the Tools - Business Summits
- The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has been working to establish a faster, easier process to update references to standards and resolve the existing problem of out-of-date references to standards in the Electricity Safety Regulations.
- The process is part of the Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill introduced to Parliament on 23 May 2024 and currently at first reading stage.
- The proposed new process allows for the Minister for Energy to approve Electricity Safety Instruments (ESIs), which will be developed by WorkSafe and consulted on with industry.
- These ESIs will not need to go through the full process for amending regulations to be approved by Cabinet and drafted by the Parliamentary Counsel Office. MBIE expects the ESIs will result in a far more efficient and effective vehicle for the future updating of references to standards, keeping better pace with changing industry practices and new technologies.
- Importantly, the ESIs are not limited to standards citations but are capable of much more, with no limitations – greatly broadening the scope for steady improvements and updates to our electrical sector as technologies are introduced and existing tech and processes upgraded.
- The change as proposed would be the most significant regulatory change in a decade for our industry. It would replace the current section 169C of the Electricity Act and place ESIs on the same ‘level’ as the Electricity (Safety) Regulations 2010. It would create a new mechanism to bring new electrical safety instruments into law, allowing them to be introduced without having to add them to regulations, which up until now has been virtually the only method for bringing new instruments into law and has effectively created stagnation for the past decade.
- The proposed process is based on an existing ability under health and safety law for the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety to approve Safe Work Instruments.
- The next stage is the referral of the Bill to a select committee and people will be able to make submissions and have their say on the Bill’s proposals, including supporting the introduction of ESIs.
- The page for the Bill on the Parliament website which keeps you up to date on its progress: Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill
- The part of the Bill that introduces ESIs: https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2024/0049/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS963927
- The Bill can be read in full here: https://legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2024/0049/latest/LMS963918.html
- Concurrently, MBIE continues to work closely with WorkSafe NZ on updating the existing references to standards in the regulations as soon as possible, with a focus on those standards with the widest application and in most urgent need of updating.
- Master Electricians has long been advocating on the need for improvements to Electrical Safety Regulations and has had several key meetings with relevant Ministers and MBIE this year. Alongside other industry advocates, we’re pleased to see this promising progress from our current Government and support these changes.
- Meanwhile, we are consulting with all members in a series of branch meetings around the country. The first meeting, with the Wellington branch, generated some great feedback, and members indicated they would like more time to absorb and process the information.
- Master Electricians will take the next couple of weeks to send further information and are tailoring subsequent meetings to spend more time exploring the current regulatory environment and explaining WorkSafe’s role.
- We will encourage members to – in their own time – share their feedback with Master Electricians on the Bill’s proposed changes, where we will collate and include this in our ongoing communication with MBIE on this and related issues.
- Master Electricians will provide further updates to members and stakeholders as they become available.
- We would note that the work being done here by MBIE and WorkSafe NZ Is unrelated to the Serene bathroom heater issue, which is a result of non-compliance with existing rules by the manufacturer.
Updates to Electrical Standards References
We invite you to share your thoughts and feedback outlined above.
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