The New Zealand Police were required to meet their regulatory requirements for managing asbestos within the workplace, in accordance with the Health and Safety at Work Asbestos Regulations 2016. The police have a workplace property portfolio of over 270 stations, of which 50 had been surveyed by another company.
ENGEO was initially engaged to undertake asbestos management surveys and issue management plans through BMIS (https://bmis.nz/), an online software for asbestos management, for 220 police stations throughout New Zealand between November 2018 and June 2019.
During the project ENGEO was then requested to undertake surveys and management plans for an additional 250 residential properties, along with lead-based paint sampling for a percentage of these properties. These additional buildings needed to be delivered within the same timeframe. ENGEO’s scope was further increased to include the mould assessment within a number of properties and refurbishment surveys for around 50 buildings.
ENGEO’s role now included the review of asbestos removal control plans from contractors, the refurbishment work, and complete clearances for removal work across New Zealand.
The NZ Police had set the bar high to complete the surveys of 200 stations and 250 residential properties from the far north in Kaitaia down to southern Stewart Island, within seven months. This included delivering a management survey for each property along with a management plan and label items at all properties.
With the additional requests of additional refurbishment surveys, lead-based paint surveys and mould assessments, the volume of work had the potential to impact the team’s ability to deliver within the timeframe. During the process of sending through surveys and management plans, NZ police also requested ENGEO completed ARCP reviews and clearances of buildings.
ENGEO worked closely with the NZ Police representative, and this relationship helped identify potential roadblocks early on and plan the survey routes efficiently, giving the survey team the best chance of access. The increasing workload was a concern to NZ Police and whilst ENGEO agreed to deliver, monthly milestone meetings were implemented to communicate and ensure we were meeting the goals we had set to deliver the project.
ENGEO has a large asbestos survey team, which has great coverage around New Zealand. This allowed us to effectively undertake surveys of regions simultaneously. Our survey work was reviewed by one of two reviewers to ensure consistency, along with having our initial process to ensure that regardless of the surveyor, our output is consistent. We comfortably delivered the extended scope of work on time and within budget, and this had no impact on any other deliverables.
ENGEO was able to deliver the Building Materials Information System (BMIS) to NZ Police as a software solution. BMIS is a multi-award winning software program designed and developed by ENGEO’s software team to assist workplaces in meeting their regulatory requirements for managing asbestos and lead paint within the workplace. Using BMIS enabled NZ Police to create asbestos management plans, manage workers onsite, and identify locations and conditions of asbestos material as well as many other regulatory requirements.
Jeremy Fourie, Systematic Consultant for NZ Police, stated in June 2020 that “Navigating the asbestos health and safety regulations would have been challenging, if not for ENGEO and BMIS. ENGEO has allowed us to identify asbestos items quickly and BMIS effectively manages the risk to a considerable portfolio with comparative ease”.
Thanks to the project team involved; Tom Davies, Dave Robotham, Heinz May, Andy Ireland, Sean Freeman, Simon Charles, Kurt Walters, Oliver Needs, Jimmy Whitmore, Natalie Flatman, Jonathan Hupman, Holly Eeg, and Reuben Williams
