October 20, 2000
A series of workshops leading up to the commencement of the hazardous substances part of the HSNO Act are planned for the new year.
The one-day workshops will be held in Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin and will spearhead a series of public awareness initiatives aimed at assisting industry and advisors on HSNO to understand and meet the requirements of the new legislation.
The programme for the pre commencement workshops begin with a brief outline of the what is contained in the HSNO as it affected hazardous substances and what importers and users can expect come commencement day. The remainder of the programme is divided into three sections. The first will deal with determining whether a user or importer is affected by the HSNO Act and will cover Part V decision making, the Transfer of Substances and the Transitional decision making and enforcement.
The next session will cover obtaining an approval and will discuss the process, dealing with controls and classifications the identification and assessment of risks costs and benefits. To assist in this process, two concurrent sessions will be run - the first based on the sample applications and decisions and the other on applying controls. The day will conclude with comments by an industry representatives and a brief session on where to obtain further information.
While ERMA New Zealand staff will give most of the presentations at the workshops, a representative of industry has also been invited to give a perspective on how business will deal with HSNO. The pre commencement workshops are a must for all those who import, manufacture or use hazardous substances, are involved in enforcing or monitoring the HSNO Act, advisors or consultants who have clients who are involved in meeting HSNO requirements or anyone making a submission on HSNO.
The workshops will cost $60 per person to cover the cost of venue hire, meals. The venues for the seminars are as follows:
- Auckland - Waipuna Conference Centre
- Wellington - BP Theatre
- Christchurch -Avon River Centra
- Dunedin - Otago Employers Conference room
- Hamilton - Tainui Novotel
A range of publications including an Advisory Guide to Commencement will be available at the workshops. The other initiatives that will follow these pre commencement workshops will include a series of special modules for advisors on HSNO - including consultants and a special awareness programme for small and medium sized enterprises (SME"s).
The latter two programmes are funded by the Sustainable Management Fund which is administered by the Ministry for the Environment. The dates for these programmes are still being finalised and once they are confirmed they will be widely publicised.
If you would like to put on our special electronic data base or for further information contact:
Communications, ERMA New Zealand
Phone: 04 496 4826 OR
Email: karen.cronin@ermanz.govt.nz