Annual fora and Meritorious Service Award winners 2008

27 February 2009

We were delighted to host the Annual Fora breakfasts at Wellington, Auckland, and Christchurch in February 2009 to honour the contributions of our development-committee members and celebrate the winners of the 2008 Meritorious Awards.

Standards Council Chair, Richard Westlake, and Standards New Zealand Chief Executive, Debbie Chin applauded the efforts of committees over the past 12 months.  Speeches and presentations were made by Minister of Commerce, Hon. Simon Power in Wellington; Minister for Building and Construction, Hon. Maurice Williamson in Auckland; and Mayor of Christchurch City, Bob Parker in Christchurch.

Standards New Zealand recognises outstanding committee members annually, seeking nominations from peers, for Meritorious Service Awards. Congratulations to the 2008 winners – Richard Bean, Brian Davey, G Charles Clifton, Peter Gilbert, Vern Goodwin, and Ian Moreland.  These individuals have shown true dedication, and their exceptional, and voluntary, hard work, has enabled us to continue our role of producing high quality Standards that assist New Zealanders in their lives.

Richard Bean

Richard has over 30 years experience in traffic engineering, research, and road safety policy development, with the New Zealand Transport Agency, and its predecessors. His work since 1994 has focused on policy and technical development for the implementation of land transport rules.

Richard has served on several Standards development committees over the past 15 years, helping to develop Standards for dangerous goods, management of agrichemicals, and model general bylaws for traffic.

His peers describe him as a true professional, with extremely relevant and valuable knowledge. Richard clearly communicates the need and purpose of the Standard being developed, ensuring the regulator's views and desired outcomes are understood by all participants.

G Charles Clifton

Charles is an associate professor of civil engineering at the University of Auckland. He is known as the 'go to' man for structural steel Standards. He has demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to steel structure, loadings, and related Standards, for over 20 years.

As Chair of the committee for the New Zealand steel structures Standard since 1986, Charles wrote the first draft of that Standard. He has also served on other Standards development committees, and is a member of the design and construction industry advisory group, which sets priorities for Standards development.

Charles’ knowledge of the civil engineering sector and steel structures is near legendary, and he provides invaluable knowledge to the committees he sits on. His peers describe him as having a high level of technical competence, and as always being enthusiastic. Charles is a great advocate of Standards, the development process, and the sector as a whole.

Brian Davey

Brian joined the New Zealand Fire Service 35 years ago as an operational firefighter. Now National Manager, Operational Standards, his role focuses on standard operating procedures and safe firefighting techniques, which have a clear link to the Standards he has helped to develop.

Brian has served on six Standards development committees, and chaired two of those committees. He brings invaluable, in-depth industry knowledge to his work with Standards, and is committed to the development of national Standards, as a consensus-based solution for the fire sector.

His peers describe him as adept at understanding the crux of an issue. Brian always works collaboratively, and aims to find consensus-based solutions that work for all parties.

Brian chairs the fire protection industry advisory group, leading the group to determine priorities for Standards development. He is also the New Zealand branch Chair of the Institution of Fire Engineers, and sits on a number of industry committees.

Peter Gilbert

Peter is Executive Director of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Association, and he started his career many years ago at British Gas. He has a vast knowledge of the legislative and regulatory considerations for natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), with 40 years experience. He is a committed and respected member of the gas industry, especially for his focus on the safe and efficient use of LPG.

Peter is a staunch advocate of Standards. He has been a member of six development committees, and chaired two of these, and has helped develop several gas Standards. He is known for his practical approach to Standards development.

Peter chairs the New Zealand Gas Sector Board, which has high-level strategic input into Standards development prioritisation and issues. His role requires impartiality and excellent facilitation, to achieve consensus.

Vern Goodwin

Vern joined the Ministry of Health’s noise advisory service in 1991. He advises the Ministry and public health services, and represents the Ministry in policy development for environmental noise. He has 35 years experience in environmental acoustics, and has brought significant expertise in noise analysis, and management advice, to Standards development work.

He has helped develop several Standards covering environmental noise and sound since 1985. He has extensive experience in the application of noise Standards in land-use planning, and in the implementation of the Resource Management Act 1991. He works actively with the New Zealand Acoustical Society.

Vern is a strong advocate of Standards and the development process, and always ensures the committees he chairs thoroughly discuss clauses, and their implications. He is respected by his peers for providing valuable feedback to ensure Standards documents are useful, and practical.

Ian Moreland

Ian joined IBM in the 1960s as a customer engineer, servicing punch card equipment and then mainframe computers. His involvement with Standards development started at IBM in 1985, and that work ensured New Zealand’s requirements for safety, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), and telecommunications connection were understood and implemented by IBM.

He has very effectively applied a broad knowledge of these topics to the development of international information technology (IT) and audio-visual Standards. He has also contributed to regulatory considerations on telecommunications and EMC.

Ian represented New Zealand on the International Organization for Standardization (ISO)/International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) committee responsible for standardisation of IT. He was the New Zealand referee on IEC Standards committees for safety of information technology and audio-visual equipment for 20 years. He was also a member of the New Zealand national committee of IEC, from 2001 to 2008.

Ian represented New Zealand’s views with clarity, and achieved an effective consensus view on international work, over many years. He has recently retired from both IBM and Standards development. His involvement in committees, and his promotion of Standards within the IT industry, will be missed.