The Orewa Explosion – Lessons To Be Learned

The Orewa Explosion – Lessons To Be Learned

“The judgment today against the board of trustees at Orewa College has brought to focus some key issues,” says NZSTA President Lorraine Kerr.

“It’s a tragic event and the impact has been significant for all. We need to learn from that going forward to avoid this being repeated.” For school boards of trustees, and those that have to do the day to day management, the degree of compliance and wide number of requirements placed on them not only makes the task daunting, but is confusing, as they attempt to ensure they provide a safe environment for students and the people working in our schools.

NZSTA outlined a number of these concerns in their recent submission to the Department of Labour review of the Boiler Codes of Practice and we have also asked the Ministry of Education for clearer support and guidance to be provided. Not simply more “manuals” but real assistance to boards. This needs to be done urgently.

“We are pleased that both the Department of Labour and the Ministry of Education have committed to work with NZSTA to ensure the support and key messages are out there.”

The need for training and support to be available to all, and particularly to new boards of trustees, is key, and we will be working to support boards to understand and meet their responsibilities in this area.

So what are the key messages?

Boards need to ensure that they institute a review of their health and safety procedures annually across the whole of the school and that their health and safety committee is operating effectively.

Boards have already been advised to ensure that prior to firing up their boilers for winter there is:

- An annual independent inspection,

- A regular maintenance contract, and

- Their boiler operators are trained

“Department of Labour, NZSTA, and the Ministry of Education are to work together to assist boards in ensuring they both understand and are compliant with whatever rules are imposed upon them. A clear guidance on the requirements of the codes of practice is essential so that we have an integrated approach to how the codes are formulated and consistency of language that is relevant to the sector.”

ENDS

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