Issue 131 March - April 2019

When the fire alarm went off in Kawakawa Bay on January 29, volunteer fire fighter Tony Keals didn’t hesitate to respond. The 30-year veteran swung into action only to discover that the house he and his fellow volunteers were speeding to save was his own home.

A neighbour had seen smoke arising in a narrow column above the kitchen and called 111. By the time the fire crew got to the house, the fire had taken hold of the ceiling space and was too advanced to put out before it destroyed the house and everything in it.

Keals’ wife and three young children were fortunately not at home at the time, but adding to the loss of the family home was the fact that the fire had occurred while the house and contents were uninsured.

Keals says he is a diesel mechanic and works as an earth moving and agricultural contractor from his home in Kawakawa Bay near Auckland, and the house was insured as part of his farm insurance policy. However, his insurance company wanted Keals to rewire the 1920s house before renewing the cover.

“When I was going over the policy with the insurance company prior to renewal, they advised me that if they found old wiring in the place then it might not be covered, says Keals.

“The wiring and the switches and sockets were all original and the insurers wanted a guarantee that there was no old wiring. This meant I had to have the house rewired in order to continue with the insurance cover. Getting this done was not going to be a problem because I have a lot of sparky mates, but the fire occurred before I could get the work underway.”

As a fireman, Keals says he is well aware of electrical risks and always switches everything off.

n February 13 the Government released wide-ranging proposals that will radically change the way trade training is delivered. ITOs will become marginalised and lose their roles in arranging training. Master Electricians believes the proposed reforms are a backward step. Chairman Ross Beal comments.

The Government through Minister Chris Hipkins has recently announced a substantial reform of vocational education training in New Zealand. The rationale for such a major reform that impacts industry training organisations (ITOs) and polytechnics (ITPs) appears to be light on detail, and it is a struggle to fully understand the mischief that the Government is trying to repair.

From an employer perspective I cannot help but agree with the statements from the reform document that states that employers need to have confidence that employees have the skills to successfully contribute to the economy, and part of this is enabling better connections between business, employers, industries, local communities and the education sector.

The irony for me is that disestablishing the current roles of ITOs does not appear to be the way to achieve this. The electrical Industry has been blessed with an ITO (The Skills Organisation) that, for a couple of decades, has delivered qualification and training outcomes for our industry sector that have been absolutely aligned to the needs of the industry.