25 July 2003
The Environmental Risk Management Authority held a mihi mihi to bless the opening of its Auckland office on Friday 25 July 2003. The need for the Auckland office has arisen in response to the extensive amount of work in the transfer of existing hazardous substances into the HSNO regime. The office will solely focus on the work of the Transfer of Substances group and should be operational by mid August.
The Transfer of Substances is a major project currently being undertaken by ERMA New Zealand to transfer existing hazardous substances from coverage under old legislation to the HSNO Act. Existing hazardous substances are ones that have been notified and/or controlled under previous legislation (Dangerous Goods Act 1974, Explosives Act 1957, Pesticides Act 1979, or Toxic Substances Act 1979) and were present in New Zealand at commencement date (2 July 2001).
These existing hazardous substances will account for over 99% of substances in use in New Zealand over the next 10 years. Late last year the options for dealing with the transfer of these substances were reviewed, primarily with a view to dealing with the large number (215,000) of notified toxic substances. The outcome of this review was a revised strategy for the transfer programme, based on commitment by the Government to implement key changes to the HSNO Act and to provide additional funding.
The transfer programme has two main elements - the continuation of the technical process, and a liaison and screening process aimed at working with industry to screen and sort notified toxic substances to enable resources to be targeted at those (high risk) substances that warrant the most attention.
The decision to expand the Transfer team and to set up an office in Auckland was based on two main factors - the majority of the major notifiers are based in Auckland, and a wider pool of technical resources available.
The ERMA New Zealand Auckland office will effectively deal with the Transfer of Substances, particularly Notified Toxic Substances and will provide a point of contact for local industry.
For further information please contact:
Julie Watson,
Communications.
Mob: +64 4 021 674 954.
Telephone +64 4 918 4826.
Facsimile +64 4 914 0433.
Email: info@ermanz.govt.nz