Regulation 14 – Ensuring necessary technical resources
Last updated: 10 October 2017
Building consent authorities must have a system to ensure the availability and continuing appropriateness of the technical resources needed to perform building control functions.
The objective of the regulation
Regulation 14 of the Building (Accreditation of Building Consent Authorities) Regulations 2006 (the Regulations) requires that a building consent authority (BCA) has a system for ensuring the availability and continuing appropriateness of the technical resources – the information, facilities and equipment – needed to perform building control functions.
Regulation 14 was put in place to address the issues associated with building control officials (BCOs) not having the technical resources they needed to perform their jobs. The regulation remains in place because of the continuing importance of technical resources to BCAs and BCOs performing effectively.
Regulation 14 is available on the Legislation website.
Regulation 14 must be read in conjunction with regulations 5 and 6.
The policies and procedures required by regulation 14 must be written and/or electronic, and appropriate for purpose.
A BCA must ensure that the policies, procedures and system required by regulation 14 are consistently and effectively implemented. BCAs must ensure they record the decisions they make under regulation 15, including the reasons for the decisions, as well as the outcomes.
MBIE’s guidance on meeting the accreditation requirement
Checklist for regulation 14 outlines the minimum criteria for compliance.
What is a technical resource?
A technical resource is a resource that supports a BCA to perform its building control functions. It includes information, facilities and equipment.
Technical information may include but is not limited to:
- building legislation, including the Building Code
- other legislation and regulations relevant to building and construction
- published standards
- technical literature such as Codewords articles and BRANZ guidelines
- manufacturers’ product specification information.
Appropriate facilities for performing building control functions may include:
- work stations at an office
- vehicles for those needing to undertake on-site work.
Equipment may include but is not limited to:
- stationery, such as pens, notebooks, clip board, scissors and paperclips
- computer facilities and software; such as email and word processing
- filing systems
- measuring equipment, such as tape measures and moisture meters
- access equipment, such as ladders and mirrors
- tools, such as tape measures, spirit levels, spades, prodders and screwdrivers.
A BCA should have a system for determining what technical resources its employees and contractors may need to perform their building control functions. This will support it to provide the necessary information, facilities and equipment its employees and contractors need – the provision of these things is an accreditation requirement.
A BCA’s system may rely on such things as:
- job analyses
- staff surveys
- technical or specialist advice
- advice from MBIE.
Ensuring technical resources are available
A BCA’s system for ensuring technical resources are available must enable it to:
- identify the information, facilities and equipment that will be available and accessible to employees and contractors performing particular building control functions
- record the information, facilities and equipment available to employees and contractors
- determine the information, facilities and equipment that a contractor is required to provide.
Keeping technical resources appropriate
A BCA’s system for keeping technical resources appropriate must cover how it:
- identifies superseded information and archives that material
- ensures superseded information is updated with the relevant new information
- maintains required facilities and equipment
- calibrates measuring equipment used in the performance of a building control function
- replaces facilities and equipment where required.
One mechanism for meeting the requirement to keep technical resources appropriate would be for a BCA or its parent organisation to have a maintenance plan. Where the BCA relies on its parent organisation’s maintenance plan it will need to be available for the purposes of an accreditation assessment.
Calibration policies
A BCA’s calibration policy should ensure that:
- each piece of equipment that may need to be calibrated is given an unique identifier
- the date or frequency of any required calibration is recorded
- the reference value or instrument used for calibration is noted or identified
- the maximum acceptable error is noted
- the actual reading on the working instrument is recorded
- the error (the difference between the reference value and the working instrument) is recorded
- a pass/fail decision is recorded
- any equipment that fails is taken out of use until recalibrated, repaired or replaced.
The level of calibration required for any equipment is a matter for the BCA to decide and record. There is no accreditation requirement for a BCA to calibrate equipment to an international standard, however it may choose to do so if it wishes.
There are links between this accreditation requirement and the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. Any technical resources provided by a BCA should support all employees and contractors to perform building control functions in a way that supports their health and safety.
Although not a requirement under these regulations, office facilities should be compliant with the New Zealand Building Code and have any required Code Compliance Certificates and warrants of fitness. Vehicles should have a current Warrant of Fitness.
The Building Code is available on the Legislation website.
BRANZ product appraisals can be found on the BRANZ website.
Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 is available on the Legislation website.