Graham Burke: Scaffolding industry laid low by skills list cancellation

A construction worker fixes scaffolding at a construction site in Auckland. Photo / Greg Bowker

Scaffolding on construction sites across the country has been a familiar sight to New Zealanders for decades.

From Auckland's Sky Tower to Christchurch Cathedral, scaffolding has long been a critical part of the building industry.

However, a decision by the Department of Labour is causing significant challenges in the scaffolding industry and exacerbating a major shortage of skilled workers.

Scaffolding and Rigging New Zealand (SARNZ), which represents employers of New Zealand's 1500 registered scaffolders, has launched a campaign to overturn the department's decision to remove scaffolding from its Immediate Skills Shortage List.

The listing allows companies such as mine to source experienced scaffolders with high-end skills from overseas and eases the application process.

The Department of Labour claims scaffolding is a low-skilled occupation in which New Zealanders can be readily trained. It claims employers still have opportunities to recruit offshore in those contexts where a shortage can be established through a labour market test.

Officials insist they are engaging with the industry, but in reality they have completely ignored our strong submission to retain scaffolders on the shortage list.

Our organisation has serious concerns about the critical shortage of up to 200 skilled scaffolders in New Zealand and the department's move to effectively categorise scaffolding as low-skilled.

We desperately require skilled scaffolders with sufficient experience and advanced qualifications to run a crew or a project.

But why should readers care about a shortage of scaffolders? Well, the implications are clear. Greater supervision, lower productivity and increased costs in the face of a global recession will affect us all.

We also have legitimate concerns that the shortage of skilled scaffolders in New Zealand increases the risk of accidents and injuries on construction sites.

Scaffolders with practical experience of five to 10 years or more in a range of areas such as commercial scaffolding, industrial scaffolding and Petro-Chemical scaffolding are highly prized in the construction sector.

Our members are looking for people with equivalent (NZQA Level 4) or higher qualifications than those we have in New Zealand. These people are the ones that end up being the foreman, supervisor, trainer and manager.

With the flick of a pen, the department has inflicted serious damage on the skill base of the industry and compromised the ability of companies to take on jobs they don't have enough skilled staff to perform.

The Department of Labour will point to industry training as a vital tool to address the shortage.

All Scaffolding and Rigging members support industry training and a large number of scaffolders are recruited as unskilled labourers and trained over a number of years to the level of advanced scaffolder.

However, the retention of skilled scaffolders has been a longstanding issue. In many cases, once scaffolders gain a qualification, they have used this to gain work in Australia and other countries where the pay rates are higher.

This results in an immediate skill shortage in this area.

The Ministry of Economic Development runs training schemes, such as a current programme in New Plymouth, to address the shortage, but these are woefully inadequate in terms of filling the immediate shortage.

Fewer than half of the students are placed in full-time positions in the industry following the completion of these courses.

While there is no data available on how many of these employees stay in the industry long-term, it takes at least four years to achieve an Advanced National Certificate and longer to reach the required level of skill the industry needs.

We have worked closely with WINZ to address the shortage, but despite the best efforts of both parties, there is only a 30 per cent success rate.

The construction industry is the lifeblood of the New Zealand economy and will play a key role in any economic recovery. With almost all construction activity requiring scaffolding, it is critical that we build an adequate skills base to meet the demand and maintain the highest levels of safety.

With the current shortage of scaffolders, the New Zealand construction sector risks being held back when the economy begins to improve.

It's a career option not often considered by those leaving school, but one look at a scaffolder will tell you it's a rich and rewarding job.

Many people do not see scaffolding as a career option, but there are significant opportunities for bright young people. Scaffolding firms also often pay the costs of training right up to management level, where there are qualifications available up to diploma level.

Scaffolders must have great skill and be physically strong, resilient, agile, have a head for heights, problem-solving abilities and good management skills.

We must attract skilled scaffolders from places such as Britain whose construction sector has been hit much harder by the global credit crunch than ours.

This, along with our ongoing local recruitment and training programmes, will build a broader industry base with higher overall skill levels. The way to achieve this is to restore scaffolding to the Immediate Skills Shortage List now.

* Graham Burke is president of Scaffolding and Rigging New Zealand and director of Lower Hutt-based scaffolding firm Workzone.One look at a scaffolder will tell you it's a rich and rewarding job.