Video to open up annual conference to the world

NZEI Inc. Annual Conference and AGM

Planning for the Institute’s 78th annual conference & AGM is well underway, Friday 29 March will be a technical forum day, to be held in Block D at the Manukau Institute of Technology (MIT). There will be some great trade exhibits and some special Guest Speakers.

The following guest speakers have accepted their invitation to speak:

Peter Morfee, chief technical advisor, of Energy Safety, WorkSafe NZ. Peter will speak to a brief background to the mining related regulations. John Kelly, senior manager – electrical; Gerry Ryan, DOL; and John Sickels, registrar EWRB.

The Institute will be videoing the guest’s speeches and will upload to the NZEI website, so those who cannot attend the conference can watch the speeches at any time.

NZEI Education Trust Study awards

The New Zealand Electrical Institute Inc. Education Trust has a duty to promote study and excellence in the electrical industry, and one of the ways it does this is to reimburse all or part of the fees for members studying for advanced trade qualifications.

This may take the form of study for the EWRB Electrical Inspectors exam, NZQA unit standards for papers (above trade level) toward the Advanced Trade Certificate Level 5, or study toward a diploma or degree course.

If you wish to apply for the study grant can you please send an outline of the course that you are studying, when you anticipate achieving the papers, where you are studying, the fees, and your history of study. Send the details to the National Secretary, nzei@xtra.co.nz by 20 March for consideration.

The Electricity (Safety) Amendment Regulations 2013

The Electricity (Safety) Amendment Regulations 2013 are now active, as of 1 February.

The majority of amendments cover new regulations governing the electrical safety of mining, quarrying, and tunnelling. The majority of these new regulations are contained in a new Part 5A and a new Schedule 8.

A number of mining related standards have been added to Schedules 2 and 4, and other standards in these schedules have been updated to the latest editions.

Other changes reflect the establishment of WorkSafe New Zealand and recognition of the harmonised Australian/New Zealand Electrical Equipment Safety System (EESS).

The 2013 Amendment Regulations were published as a separate document, but there was a compilation of all the amendments (2011, 2012 & 2013) published as a complete set of regulations – in one document – on 1 February 2014.

It is readily available for free from the legislation website. It is much easier to use, rather than try to read the 2010 regulations plus the separate amendments. The downloadable file is Electricity Safety Regulations 2010 – February 2014 reprint.