EV charging, recognising committee members, Pacific partnerships, and project updates... No images? Click here In your June update on all things standards:
Tēnā koutou, What a busy couple of months it has been since our last issue. Big projects, impactful outcomesWe have some major projects underway and some that have come to fruition. NZS 3910 Conditions of contract for building and civil engineering construction sector has been open for public consultation and is a huge hot topic for many, handled expertly by Senior Project Manager Inge Mautz-Cooreman. This standard can be used to underpin multimillion-dollar contracts and so is a big deal. Read more on NZS 3910 Conditions of contract for the construction sector The publicly available specifications (or PAS) for electric vehicles have just been revised. When technology changes so rapidly, and yet the market needs assurance and good practice guidance, PAS are a great way to fill the gap until a full standard can be put in place. Read more on publicly available specifications (or PAS) for electric vehicles One of our most interesting projects for which we’ve hit a major milestone is the hydrogen project. Senior Standards Project Manager Chris Forsman has steered a comprehensive review of the framework to determine which standards will need to be in place for the safe scaling of hydrogen use as an alternative to fossil fuel. Read more on Hydrogen report guiding the way for hydrogen integration across New Zealand Thank you committee volunteersOf course, none of these achievements would be possible without the time and commitment of the individuals on the committees. And this brings me to Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu National Volunteer Week. Committee participation relies on those giving up their time and expertise to help shape the standards that impact their work, and these unsung heroes literally shape the good practice that keeps us safe and sets benchmarks for quality and efficiency. So to you, I say thank you! New arrivals at Standards New ZealandI am pleased to welcome Kara Kaur, Senior Advisor Quality Management Systems, who will help lead and support our all-important quality assurance and continuous improvement activities and Logesh Kumar, Senior Business Systems Advisor who will be helping us run some of our IT systems and e-commerce infrastructure. Connecting on common issuesStandards do not exist in isolation, rather they bring people together and are the result of agreement. Coming together has very much been a theme for me this past couple of months. I’ve connected with those in the building sector at the BOINZ conference in Auckland (where I presented on climate change and standards – more on that further in this issue). I was privileged to join a tour of Auckland’s impressive engineering feat seeing twin 3.45-kilometre-long rail tunnel built up to 42 metres below the Auckland city centre. I’ve also been closely involved with international partners in the Pacific at the PASC and PISC international forums – again more on that further in the issue. What is abundantly clear from all of these connections is that just as standards are the result of coming together to share solutions, the need for standards, a solutions mindset, and people sharing have never been needed as much as today. Some of our Pacific Island neighbours, some of whom are still evolving their standards and conformance systems and institutional arrangements have some of the greatest needs as they experience some of the worst of our changing climate impacts. Climate change is one thing that brings us all together and one thing we’ll be talking about a lot more in the years ahead. For now though, I wish you all a Mānawatia a Matariki – Happy Māori New Year. If we can help with developing standardisation solutions, access to standards, or getting involved in development, you know who to call. Freephone: 0800 782 632 Enjoy the articles below. Noho ora mai, National Manager Standards New Zealand Hydrogen report guiding the way for hydrogen integration across New ZealandHydrogen may be New Zealand’s fuel of the future. However, this relies on an appraisal and implementation of standards to ensure safety, interoperability and efficiency. Standards New Zealand, on behalf of WorkSafe New Zealand - Energy Safety, has conducted a thorough review of technical standards governing the production, distribution, and utilisation of hydrogen. The outcome of this review and three years' work is the release of the hydrogen standards review report in May 2023. Read the hydrogen report for a full understanding of the framework or watch the YouTube video to hear project manager Chris Forsman explain the project. Hydrogen report guiding the way for hydrogen integration across New Zealand Connecting with Pacific neighbours at PASC and PISC in New CaledoniaWe’ve been working closely with standards bodies from across the Pacific at two recent international forums – PASC and PISC – to help share, grow and collaborate. Malcolm MacMillan, Standards New Zealand National Manager, and Sanjai Raj, General Manager Market Integrity, MBIE attended on behalf of New Zealand and participated in key workshops, discussions, and meetings. Presentations were given by the Secretary Generals of ISO and IEC along with workshops on strategic priorities. What was abundantly clear is the shared focus on climate change with presentations on the subject by us, plus Singapore, ISO, IEC and South Korea. Discover more about the priorities for those across the Pacific region. A big shout out to the people behind standards this Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu National Volunteer WeekStandards are one of the unsung heroes behind so much of the interoperability, efficiency, safety and quality assurance we take for granted on a daily basis. And behind standards are volunteers on standards development committees. Standards don’t happen by magic. Behind every calculation and measurement, every advice on good practice, every process, detail, specification, list, and consideration is a group of people coming to an agreement on it. Behind this group of people sits decades of tried and tested experience applied in different scenarios and applications where the standard applies. That's why we want to celebrate these people and the role they play. EV charging PAS revisions offer updated guidance for residential and commercial EV usersHow you charge your EV at home and work can impact the energy bills of all New Zealanders. Gain insight to the latest advice on energy-efficient charging, good practice and new technologies in our revised guidelines, to ultimately reduce costs and emissions. In 2021 we published SNZ PAS 6011:2021 Electric vehicle (EV) charging for residential use and the complementary SNZ PAS 6010:2021 Electric vehicle (EV) charging for commercial use. Both documents have also been renamed to SNZ PAS 6011:2023 Residential electric vehicle (EV) charging and SNZ PAS 6010:2023 Commercial electric vehicle (EV) charging. The two PAS introduce the concepts of ‘energy efficiency’ through ‘demand response’ (DR), by encouraging the use of ‘smart’ charging. Discover what's been revised in the latest version of the EV charging PAS. Standard of the month: ISO 8124:2023 Safety of toys – Part 2: FlammabilityThis month’s standard of the month is one all parents or guardians can relate to and appreciate the importance of, in addressing the flammability of toys. Newly published International standard ISO 8124:2023 Safety of toys — Part 2: Flammability sets safety requirements for those toys that could pose a significant risk of injury to a child from the hazards presented by their potential to catch fire. The 8124 series of ISO standards cover many types of toys and requirements. Adherence to the standards shows that models of that toy have undergone specific tests, in the case of Part 2 for flammability and ignition. With the majority of toys manufactured internationally (80% through China), having harmonised standards that work for consumers, suppliers, and manufacturers across a global market makes sense and reflects universal concerns over child safety. New public consultation system brings efficiency to public consultationPublic consultation is a crucial phase of our work when we reach out with a first draft of a document for feedback and comments. This is an exciting period as it helps to finely tune the outcome and bring even more diverse perspectives to the project. It can also be very time-consuming when we may have over 1,000 comments to collate, analyse and determine themes for the committee to discuss, approve, amend or dismiss. We've now started using a new tool built using Citizen Space to help us manage this busy process. Called 'Consultation Hub' we're rolling this out gradually with NZS 3910 Conditions of contract being our first standard available for consultation on this platform. Citizen Space is a platform used across government agencies globally and so we know it to be tried and tested technology. We encourage you to sign up to Keep Me Up To Date so that whenever you get a notification on standards relevant to your work that might be going through revision, you can provide your feedback and help shape standards to work for all. Standards supporting solutions for climate change at BOINZStandards play a key role in supporting solutions for climate change. This was the theme of a presentation given to those in the building sector recently, including a look at how they support addressing the United Nations Sustainable Development goals. Update for NZS 8100 Dairy herd testingThe P8100 committee is working hard to get the draft ready for public consultation. The eight- week public consultation is scheduled to open in the second half of August. NZS3910:2023 Conditions of contract finishes public consultation periodThe public consultation on DZ 3910 is closing on Friday 30 June. The P3910 committee will get straight onto the review of comments after the public consultation has closed, with meetings scheduled during the first, second and third week of July. The publication of the revised NZS 3910 is scheduled for October 2023. More information on the progress of the project is provided in the latest chair update. PAS 5210:2021 High temperature heat pumpsWork is now underway to revise the publicly available specification for High temperature heat pumps with the committee kicking off development from the 22 June 2023. With a rapidly changing sector, it is essential to ensure the PAS is fit for purpose with the most current and up to date information and guidance being made available. This work is being commissioned by the Energy Efficiency Conservation Authority, with a Target publication date of December 2023. This forms part of the suite of PAS developed and now being revised for EECA to improve energy efficiency across New Zealand. Commissioner Brian Fitzgerald from EECA explains more... Current committee vacanciesHere are current opportunities for participation on joint Australian/New Zealand standards committees: Join a joint standard committee New Zealanders are actively participating and giving our distinct industry perspectives on over 80 ISO and IEC committees with further 'observer' status meaning we can keep an eye on developments. We have vacancies for committee members on international ISO and IEC standards development committees in a range of diverse sectors including health equipment, paper and pulp, electronics and appliances and wheelchairs. See if there's something for your industry here: Collections coming soonWhile we already have a set of collections available on our webshop, we're expanding this with whole new sets for:
These curated collections are designed to help those in the relevant industries – or any industry for environmental management, cybersecurity, and quality management – to access the best in good practice straight off the shelf. We're just fine-tuning some details behind the scenes and will have these available soon. Keep me up to dateThere are many ways to keep up to date with activities from Standards New Zealand. Keep Me Up To Date notifications (or KMUTD) are a convenient weekly digest of specific standard or sector-related updates. Log in and manage your preferences: What’s on the go?Did you know the team at Standards New Zealand can be working on dozens of individual New Zealand, Joint Australian/New Zealand and international standards at any given time? Over the coming weeks, we'll be working on making our work programme easier to read and more accessible. While Keep Me Up To Date notifications (manageable through your preferences) are the best way to get notified about individual standards, you can also view our work programme here: Discover what standards are currently being worked on through our work schedule www.standards.govt.nz | enquiries@standards.govt.nz | 0800 782 632 |