Part 1 - NZMRM Participation in and involvement with Standards.

Our last article on this topic was actually in 2017 following the absorption of Standards NZ into MBIE as a “business unit”, so no longer a separate entity as it had been under several guises since 1936 or so.  In 2017, several important NZ Standards were made free to access.  Since then some

which we have an interest in have been reviewed with NZMRM participation and as we now have a review of AS 4200.1 and 2 – pliable building membranes (i.e. including underlays which are currently of great interest in NZ), it will be useful, hopefully, to revisit and update the whole topic, from the inside.

“Standards are voluntary documents that set out specifications, procedures and guidelines that aim to ensure products, services, and systems are safe, consistent, and reliable”.

Previously we have discussed the role Standards play in providing a framework for regulation of all sorts of products, systems, safety in many industries, and specifically how it does this for the building industry. 

In this article we will discuss Standards globally as an overview and how they are involved in NZMRM’s activities. 

Introduction

Since for many people in New Zealand, Standards have little apparent relevance, although in fact some sort of standard, even if not an NZ Standard, governs much of what they buy, what they eat, what they drive, down to the electricity they use, and how they use it, these articles will attempt to show the relevance  of Standards to our industry, and how we participate in production and use of them.. 

In a narrower sense, Standards as such are actually very relevant to our industry and its products – metal roof and wall cladding and rainwater goods – by controlling the materials we use and the performance of these products in real life.

In fact NZMRM and its products and systems are governed by Standards at three levels –

– International (ISO – International Standards Organisation) which creates and controls Standards used world wide for quite high level purposes.  For some examples, ISO 9001 the global Standard for Quality Management Systems which from 2015 has ensured product and service quality, MRM ISO 14001 Environmental Management systems, and ISO 9223 Corrosion of Metals and Alloys, which we have used for years in our programme to assess corrosion resistance of cladding and fasteners.  While we use International Standards we have had little (although not zero) input into these, but have been involved in implementation in NZ.

- Australasian Standards.  In our area of interest Standards Australia and Standards NZ create and manage Standards relevant to our climatic conditions and building products which are common to both countries.  NZMRM does contribute to writing and implementing such Standards, many of which are generated in Australia.

- New Zealand only Standards.  Standards NZ creates Standards which only affect New Zealand, either because of particular products or end uses. NZMRM does contribute to writing and implementing such Standards.

In practice, and after a number of iterations and changes Standards Australia and Standards NZ operate differently.  Standards Australia is now a limited company and Standards NZ is an operating unit of MBIE (Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment) itself a relatively new construct.  

Standards Australia is a much bigger organisation with more resources (and of course is funded from a much larger population base).  IN NZMRM’s areas of operation SA tends to create and manage most of the Standards (either as joint or Australian only) that affect Australia and NZ, or which we have adopted. SNZ has tended to create and manage Standards whose operation only affects NZ products or conditions.   Because of the commonality of products and markets the majority of Standards affecting NZMRM are either joint AS/NZS (which means they do have some authority in NZ) or AS only (which means we can adopt as much or little as suits us). There are still some important NZ only Standards of which we need to take notice and comply with.

Input by interested parties into the composition of Standards actually has some similarity to input into Acts of Law, although most Standards work consists of updating or revising existing material to allow for changes in circumstances.   There are several levels at which you can provide input into the production.  You can sit on the committee and suggest and be part of the creation or revision of the Standard; you can be on the committee and only comment on material prepared by others; you can comment from outside the committee when material is released for Public Comment before publication; or you can critique the published product ready for the next round of revision.

NZMRM has sat on and sits on a number of AS, SNZ and AS/SNZ Standards committees since at least 1999 (and possibly before) and we have used the opportunity to influence control of our products and importantly raw materials and processes of use to assist our industry and connected parties, to produce systems that operate effectively in our somewhat extreme climatic conditions.  Hopefully our input has helped produce more useful documents.

Further to this last comment, we should note – and remember – that Australasian (and to some extent South African) conditions are in regions which are in effect mainly coastal (in spite of Australia’s huge inland) and so with high corrosion rates, and also subject to very high levels of ultra-violet light partly from relatively clean atmosphere but also ozone layer depletions.  These factors and relatively high temperatures mean that Standards of performance for outdoor exposed products and systems for us need to be significantly higher than for most of Asia, Europe and North America.

In both countries and in fact globally, Standards creation etc is primarily input into by committees composed of unpaid (by Standards) members from interested parties, and project managed and finally produced by Standards management staff.  These “parties” at least currently in AS and NZ are not allowed to be businesses commercially involved in the product or system but they can be representatives of organisations (e.g. the Plumbers and Drainlayers Association of Auckland).  This is why, if you look at the composition of Standards Committees all the members are from sometimes unlikely bodies, and unless you know the actual people, the company they represent is not obvious.  NZMRM, as an industry organisation can represent itself.   (Having said this and looking at the members list for a just started Australian committee we are on currently, there are at least two NZ companies named as such ).  In the UK in the 1960s at least, companies just represented themselves so you could see who they really were.  Members are  supposed to disinterestedly contribute for the common good.

In terms of NZMRM (or indeed any) participation in Standards generation, revision and implementation, it is worth noting an important difference between New Zealand and Australia’s systems. 

Standards Australia has a number of standing committees e.g. BD-058 Thermal Insulation, with more or less permanent members or member organisations.  Any perceived or requested update, or indeed creation, is referred to this existing group, and typically interested members will then reform the committee and proceed to work on the Standard.  When this exercise is announced to industry generally, new members can offer to join in.

Standards NZ while using committees of industry knowledgeable (or interested) parties, form a new committee for each Standard revision or creation, by announcing its happening and hoping suitable parties will put their hands up.  Previous committees are not necessarily invited, and all members are treated as new.

Both methods have good and bad points, but the standing committee method has the benefit that useful interested parties (organisations) are involved immediately and don’t need to go through the recruitment process required by SNZ.  Additionally members often know each and are used to working together.

Having spelled out how Standards which affect us are produced, we will next cover the Standards which cover the performance of our products and related materials.