Electrical safety work recognised
Pat Cunniffe is a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit and a consumer advocate on many standards boards and committees, here and overseas. Widely published, Pat’s input has a huge impact on accepted and legal standards across a variety of industries.
As a member of such standards committees, her work has gone a long way to saving lives, particularly in the fields of electrical and gas safety.
Last week, in a ceremony in Rotorua, Pat was presented with the prestigious Tom Leong Award for her contribution to electrical safety in New Zealand.
“The story I tell goes back a long way,” says Pat. “Testing consumer products for use by people with disabilities — vacuum cleaners [for example]. The vacuum cleaners obviously varied in size and weight and ease of putting together, but the really consistent thing was the number of people who couldn’t actually plug it in or pull the plug out of the socket.”
She told of one fellow who inserted a knife between plug and socket to use as a lever, and another who wrapped the cord around an arm for leverage.
“It’s what I have been preaching — you have to start with the person. Electrical safety doesn’t stop at the switch or the socket, it stops at the person using it, and this is what this award is for.”
The award was presented by Mike Chopping, one of the top electrical inspectors in New Zealand, on behalf of Electrical Safety NZ Inc at their AGM.
“It’s a professional group of people who do electrical installations and inspections and provide training. They’re very involved in standardisation,” says Pat. “The [award] came as a complete and utter surprise, because I’m not electrically qualified in any way whatsoever.”
Pat is the first such nonelectrical recipient of the award, which consists of a framed citation and a large cup. She was also the first woman to be so honoured. “It shows a shift in their thinking, which is admirable, and recognition of a different perspective.”
To achieve this recognition, she attended a lot of standards meetings over 20 years and pushed hard to have the consumer voice heard and taken into account.
The Tom Leong Award has been presented annually since 2005. Tom Leong also approves the nominee.
Pat is starting to ease back a little, handing some responsibility to Sharon Duff who is taking over some of the more difficult work on the international scene.
Sharon is also now the New Zealand delegate for Active Assisted Living (AAL) — technology to assist older people in their home — and is in Japan this week for a five-day meeting at which 12 nations will attend.
She hopes to attend a meeting in Korea later in the year.
“I’ve gone to two meetings with Pat and this is the first one on my own. New Zealand sits at the table to promote the needs of the consumer. We check all the documentation as much as possible to ensure the consumer is in the centre.
“The problem for us in New Zealand is that AAL, technology for older people, doesn’t just sit with Standards NZ or the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, it sits with Health, the Ministry of the Older Person, Ministry of Social Development, right across multiple government departments, and that’s the problem,” says Sharon.
“We will not make progress until someone sees this as an area that needs proper planning and support,” says Pat. “It needs leadership and management to make it work.”