Issue 127 July - August 2018

The publishing of the 2018 edition of AS/NZS 3000 in late June has brought the years of delay in updating the standard to an end, and now a decision on its implementation or otherwise can be addressed.

Despite the efforts of the EL-001 standards committee responsible for the new version, the revised document confirms a failure in the Standards Australia approach which was designed to provide a full rewrite of the standard, but lapsed into little more than 200 editorial improvements and the addition of support information to the 2007 edition.

New Zealand’s expectations of having the safety risks posed by new technologies and changing risks in the electrical infrastructure were not carried through into the new edition as expected by the electrical regulator, and very few changes were made that advanced public safety.

Energy Safety signalled its reluctance to recognise the new standard earlier in the year, opting instead to wait for Standards Australia to publish an amendment to AS/NZS 3000 that would address the safety issues required by New Zealand. (See ElectroLink, January issue, page 8, ‘New Wiring Rules create citing issues’).

But with Standards Australia yet to schedule the promised amendment as a project, and double the detail changes having already been indicated for the amendment before the new technology risks are even considered, it could be an unacceptably long time for the necessary improvements to arise. This could add years to delays in upskilling the electrical installation sector and frustrate the training of new apprentices.

Challenges to the future of electrical contracting are emerging at both ends of the construction sector with Australian electrical contractors gaining large construction projects in New Zealand, and the Government’s KiwiBuild programme turning to the offsite manufacturing of prefabricated houses to cut homebuilding costs at the bottom end of the market.

In Auckland, a recent win for the Australian electrical industry was the awarding of the electrical subcontract to a Melbourne electrical contractor for the $300 million Pacifica project.

Now under construction in the downtown CBD, the Pacifica will be New Zealand’s tallest apartment tower. While there are many Auckland electrical contractors well able to deliver the electrical project, concerns have been raised over the unlevel playing field that appears to have emerged with lower Australian prices for electrical fittings providing an unfair advantage for Australian contractors.

Auckland Ecanz President, Victor Wisniewski, says in projects like this the Australian contractors are likely to bring two or three key project managers to New Zealand to run the project and employ local electrical labour for the rest.

“With labour costs virtually the same, the winning advantage comes in the cost of materials and indications are that the Pacifica electrical contractor will be sourcing most of the gear from Australia where the same or similar products sold on both sides of the Tasman appear to be priced cheaper there than they are here.”