Issuu

2012-2013

The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council (MSC) is a national organisation and incorporated society with a mandate from our member organisations to encourage safe participation in land-based outdoor activities.

We facilitate the setting of standards, offer training and education opportunities, create and distribute resources, lead public awareness campaigns and foster positive support in the community so that more people can discover and enjoy New Zealand’s outdoors safely.

OUR MISSION IS TO:

▲ enable people to enjoy their recreation safely in the outdoors

▲ foster positive community support for outdoor safety

▲ promote the development and maintenance of national outdoor safety standards for land-based activities.

More information regarding the Mountain Safety Council’s objectives, responsibilities and current projects can be found at www.mountainsafety.org.nz

OUR GOALS:

▲ an increased number of leaders, teachers, instructors and guides are inspired, inspiring, competent and retained as leaders

▲ groups and clubs effectively promote and deliver increased safety in the outdoors

▲ commercial operators operate safely

▲ the community is more aware of outdoor safety

▲ the MSC is financially strong.

OUR OUTCOME: MORE PEOPLE PARTICIPATING SAFELY IN LAND-BASED OUTDOOR ACTIVITY

MSC MEMBER ORGANISATIONS

MEMBER AND ASSOCIATE MEMBER ORGANISATIONS

MSC STRUCTURE

Published by the New Zealand Mountain Safety Council, October 2013. All information correct at time of printing.

I will begin by sincerely thanking everyone who has contributed to the Council’s efforts over the last year, which has been a year of change, challenge and progress.

I find it humbling to reflect on MSC’s contribution toward helping New Zealanders and overseas visitors enjoy the outdoors with the correct skills, equipment and attitude. Day by day, week by week and month by month, MSC people are making a difference, and it’s significant.

To enable us to keep doing what we’re doing, we need to maintain a positive MSC culture where everyone feels part of one team working towards a common goal. The MSC is built on a strong foundation of shared trust and respect, belief in the cause and a fundamental love of the outdoors.

Our people are demonstrating leadership and making a difference in their communities. From the efforts of our most remote volunteers to the structure and support that our National Office staff members provide, it’s the sum of those endeavours that make the MSC integral to outdoor safety in New Zealand.

This annual report highlights our achievements across our many programmes, projects and initiatives. The power and influence of MSC’s actions can sometimes be hard to quantify, but when we look at the year’s most notable achievements, it’s clear that MSC’s work encourages safe participation, reduces incidents and saves lives.

CEO’S REPORT | DARRYL CARPENTER CHAIRPERSON’S

This has been another positive year for MSC. We have made significant progress in all five strategic goals. The value we bring to the outdoor sector on a local, regional and national basis continues to be recognised.

Our profile continues to grow, our input into collaborative projects increases and our delivery of outdoor safety education across all programmes was appreciated. All our accountability reports and audits have been approved and we finish the year in a good place.

This annual report showcases the depth and breadth of what we delivered and provides an opportunity to gain a broader understanding of the complexity of MSC’s business as well as insight into our successes.

We delivered community training and education through our national network of members, the majority of which are volunteers. We supported the development, capability and capacity of our own instructors and extended this to support our member agencies via their community leader development.

Our expertise was called upon and we provided guidance, advice and input to Government, education, qualifications and outdoor sectors regarding the setting of standards and the development of policy, regulation and legislation.

The board as a whole has worked effectively as a team during a time of significant change and workload. I thank each of them for their efforts and I’m particularly pleased to have had the continued support of Ross Meder whose vast knowledge continues to help guide the governance of the organisation.

I also want to make special mention of our funding partners who believe in MSC and generously provide us with financial support. They undoubtedly share our passion for outdoor safety and trust us to ‘do the business’. Funding partners are integral and valued members of the MSC community and the annual report provides me with a public opportunity to say thank you.

As we look ahead, we will continue to prioritise MSC’s work streams, deploy limited resources to best effect and continue to cultivate our strong sense of common purpose and camaraderie in order to meet our objectives.

Geoff Ensor Chairperson

June 2013

We continue to lead nationwide safety messaging campaigns and our communications and marketing initiatives are reaching bigger audiences. Our proactive and reactive media work continues and we are well positioned as an authoritative and passionate voice for outdoor safety.

We also continue to face significant challenges. Funding is static but costs are increasing. There is a focus on safety compliance requirements which we are required by law to meet, but which comes with associated implementation costs. Plus our desire to be exemplar in all our operational practices to ensure consistency within programmes and across our communities remains constant.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all staff, volunteers, member organisations, funders and our collaborative partners for their invaluable input and support this year. Together we have taken another positive step to achieving our overall outcome of ‘more people participating safely in land-based outdoor activity’.

Darryl Carpenter Chief Executive

June 2013

ABSEIL

▲ The focus for the last year has been one of consolidation and preparation for impending change to ensure that MSC meets future compliance requirements.

▲ As part of the review into the Adventure Activity Guidelines, MSC were actively involved in the working group responsible for creating the Abseil Activity Safety Guidelines.

▲ Participant numbers for public courses were up from 540 to 754 with the majority of participants enrolled at experience and intermediate levels.

▲ The MSC Instructor development and assessment workshop was held in the North Island in March. Participant numbers increased with 22 instructors from six branches gaining professional development skills.

▲ Manual 32, Abseiling: A Manual for Instructors underwent an extensive review and involved input and feedback from both MSC experts and external advisors and was published.

AVALANCHE

▲ The number of visits to MSC’s avalanche advisory website (www. avalanche.net.nz) increased by 29%. The website attracted acclaim from both domestic users and international avalanche organisations.

▲ A new online avalanche training and information package was launched on the website. More than a thousand users accessed it in the first week from all over the world.

▲ The bi-annual Southern Hemisphere Avalanche Conference was again a successful event and well attended by the sector including Police, DOC, Search and Rescue, ski areas, mountain guides, and the Milford Road.

▲ We worked with Skills Active and NZQA to ensure the professional avalanche qualifications (Avalanche Stage 1 & 2) are recognised as national qualifications on the NZQA framework.

▲ Ongoing reviews and updates were made to both recreational avalanche courses: Avalanche Awareness and Backcountry Avalanche. More than 30 courses were run across the country in the short three month winter period.

▲ MSC contributed to three full-scale avalanche search and rescue exercises held in Wanaka, Canterbury and Ruapehu.

ALPINE

▲ Ongoing development of the MSC Alpine programme occurred to ensure a progressive pathway from the introductory Alpine Awareness course through to the intermediate Alpine Skills and then Alpine instructor training and assessment, was established.

▲ A four-day avalanche course for alpine instructors was developed which includes assessment and NZQA recognition.

▲ An alpine instructor training was held at Mt Ruapehu and an Alpine 1 assessment was undertaken in Aoraki/ Mt Cook National Park under the watchful eye of MSC Assessor Charlie Hobbs.

BUSHCRAFT AND RISK MANAGEMENT

▲ MSC delivered 80 public courses to 872 participants. We have increased and diversified the courses on offer to the public, and now have 13 standard courses including an awareness level bush course.

▲ We have expanded our capability with 16 bushcraft instructors appointed at either trainee, Bush 1 or Bush 2 level.

▲ Investment in instructor development continues and the regional training and national bush assessments successfully provided opportunities for instructors to upskill and have their knowledge and capabilities tested in challenging environments.

▲ Manual 38, Outdoor Safety - Risk Management for Outdoor Leaders underwent an extensive review by internal and external experts and was published.

▲ MSC collaborated with outdoor education providers and the Skills Active ITO, on matters relating to the TRoQ qualifications review. This will enable MSC's qualifications to be benchmarked and industry recognised.

OUTDOOR FIRST AID

▲ The newly developed course format was implemented and delivery commenced. 82 courses were delivered with approximately 590 people qualifying or re-qualifying in first aid.

▲ Promotional collateral was updated to reflect the changes in the course format and content. The new manual, which accompanies the courses, sold more than 600 copies to course participants, organisations and the general public.

▲ Instructor professional development, incorporating revalidation and moderation workshops, took place in the North Island. The South Island workshop was cancelled due to extreme weather, however a plan was developed to ensure all instructors received the same level of training.

▲ The SOP’s were reviewed as part of the new Safety Management System.

▲ Investment was made in new training resources and equipment such as CPR Manikins, group first aid kits and Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs). These were distributed to branches actively delivering OFA courses.

FIREARMS & HUNTER SAFETY

▲ More than 9,000 members of the public (new licence applicants and community groups) attended firearms safety courses. 500 volunteer firearms instructors delivered 7,100 hours of instruction in 147 centres across New Zealand.

▲ The Whakatūpato firearms safety programme continued in the North Island with 14 rural courses being delivered to more than 180 participants. Development work continued to seed the rollout of the programme to the South Island.

▲ 15 Range Officer courses were run with 72 participants successfully attaining the MSC Range Officer warrant.

▲ More than 80 of our troops on deployment in Afghanistan, benefited from attending the firearms safety course and sitting the firearms safety test in their down time.

▲ Our knowledge, experience and credibility was recognised when MSC were invited to become a member of the newly established New Zealand Police Firearms Advisory Forum

▲ In response to calls from the sector, media and public for the firearms safety test to be updated, MSC’s Firearms Technical Advisory Committee worked with Police to review the questions, conduct consultation and trial throughout New Zealand.

RESEARCH AND EVALUATION

▲ Funding was secured for a six-month research, evaluation and project management position which began in the second half of the year and delivered a number of key objectives.

▲ Application for access to the Australasian Coronial Database was completed and submitted.

▲ The initial phase of the National Incident Database upgrade was completed. It was aligned with MSC’s other online servers and 21 improvements to the Outdoor Recreation section were implemented. Needs analysis undertaken to support funding application for next stage.

▲ Created a process which ensured data from the student course feedback evaluation forms was captured more effectively and developed a reporting process which enabled branches to view and evaluate course participant satisfaction.

▲ Worked with SMT to formulate strategies for long-term funding solutions and had significant input into identifying improvements to MSC’s business planning processes.

▲ Undertook a quality check of course data records in the new MSC database.

MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS

▲ Successfully delivered a number of national safety messaging promotional campaigns for avalanche/snow safety, firearms safety, AdventureSmart, the Outdoor Safety Code and Outdoors Intentions.

▲ Worked with Police to refresh branding of the 7 basic rules of firearms safety which resulted in our biggest ever co-branded advert, a billboard on SH1 at Wellsford Police station (North of Auckland).

OUTDOOR LEADER, YOUTH DEVELOPMENT AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

▲ Funding was secured to create this new programme manager position which focuses on youth development, community engagement and safety management.

▲ Successfully achieved funding from Sport NZ to deliver a key project aiming to increase the number of qualified outdoor leaders and young people accessing the outdoors. The Collaborative Leader Development Initiative focused on training, assessing and qualifying participants from various youth organisations to achieve the National Certificate in Recreation Leadership (level 3) – Bush Strand.

▲ Presented a series of road shows to Boys’ Brigade/ICONZ aimed at spreading the outdoor safety message and establishing a formalised leader training programme.

▲ Co-ordinated a project with Christian Camping NZ on a new initiative to manage and provide qualified outdoor activity supervisors, assessors and outdoor leaders.

▲ Increased MSC’s social media activity via Facebook and the web banner linking strategy was further developed with our digital campaigns reaching hundreds of thousands of people.

▲ Redeveloped and redesigned the MSC website, to deliver a cleaner view and create a revamped ‘Get Outdoors’ section, improved back end functionality to aid usability resulting in nearly 80,000 visits.

▲ Project managed the review, creation and publication of the Abseiling and Risk Management manuals which continued our track record of communicating safety standards and best practice through the development of quality resources.

▲ Produced a number of articles and advertisements regarding all aspects of outdoor safety which appeared in stakeholder publications, general outdoor interest magazines and newspapers as well as on websites.

9,000 7,100

INNOVATION & CHANGE

The speed of change in the outdoor sector is being driven by change in government policy, fiscal tightening, broader use of new technology and an increase in compliance and safety expectations.

MSC is a charity and is heavily reliant on volunteer input and charitable funding, both of which also present significant challenges.

Current change drivers affecting MSC include:

▲ NZQA’s Targeted Review of Qualifications process (TRoQ).

▲ Charitable funding rules. Most funding sources currently provide short term (i.e. annual rather than multi-year funding) and each one has different rules and processes.

▲ Decrease in the monetary value of the funding available to apply for and an increasing number of applicants and applications.

▲ MBIE Adventure Activities Regulations 2011.

▲ NZQA, TEC & Ministry of Education changes to education and training requirements.

These drivers are influencing future direction of MSC in terms of:

▲ Qualification pathways for MSC Instructors and completion timeframes.

▲ Financial support that can be provided to members to achieve qualification requirements.

▲ Change to National Office and Branch administrative processes.

▲ Introduction and development of new policies and procedures to meet industry compliance requirements.

▲ Hazard Management as well as health and safety requirements when delivering training.

Key Achievements:

Significant progress has been made, implementation is underway and communication is ongoing in order to meet registration requirements for the Adventure Activities Regulations and achieving OutdoorsMark Accreditation. All of these projects are essential and intrinsically linked.

In particular:

▲ Redefining of our Safety Management System (SMS)

▲ Development of the new CRM database

▲ Instructor qualifications

The National Office team is committed to the achievement of the necessary changes as they will not only ensure greater credibility but overall long term sustainability of the MSC.

Our challenge is to accept the changes and grasp the opportunities that present themselves to increase our organisation’s capability.

National office staff members participate in and contribute to a significant number of committees, working groups, advisory groups and forums across the land-based safety and outdoor sector. Our input is recognised, valued and appreciated. Below is a list of groups where we have actively contributed our expertise.

Abseil Activity Safety Guidelines Support Group ACC Bikes in Schools Project ACC Track Standards and Signage Collaborative Group Alpine Technical Advisory Committee Avalanche Education Working Group Bushcraft and Risk Management Technical Advisory Committee Collaborative Leader Development Project Department of Conservation Hunter Safety Discussion Group DOC Recreational Advisory Forum EMQUAL members forum, AGM & Stakeholders Meeting Firearms Technical Advisory Committee International Avalanche Programme Leaders Group LandSAR Alpine Technical Rescue Committee LandSAR Search Management Strategy Group LandSAR Member Forum MBIE Adventure Tourism Review Project Advisory Group Ministry of Education: Education Outside the Classroom Reference Group National Incident Database (NID) Review Group New Zealand Police Firearms Community Advisory Forum NZ Mountain Radio Service Committee NZ Register of Recreation Professionals (NZRRP) Interim Governance Group NZ Water Safety River Safety Advisory Group NZSAR Council Consultative Committee NZSAR Council Recreational Safety Partnership Committee Outdoor First Aid Technical Advisory Committee Outdoors NZ: CEO Forum SAANZ Snow Safety Committee: Ski Area Snow Safety Group Skills Active Industry Training Organisation: Shareholders Meeting Skills Active ITO TRoQ Snowsport working group Snow and Avalanche Committee Standards New Zealand ISO Risk Management Advisory Group Targeted review of Qualifications (TRoQ) outdoor recreation working group Tongariro Alpine Crossing Technical Advisory Group (TACTAG)

The summary financial statements for The New Zealand Mountain Safety Council (“Council”) have been prepared in accordance with Financial Reporting Standard FRS-43: Summary Financial Statements.

The Information contained in the summary financial statements has been extracted from the full financial statements authorised for issue by the Executive Committee on 12 September 2013. The summary financial statements cannot be expected to provide and do not provide as complete an understanding as provided by the full financial statements.

A copy of the full financial statements can be obtained by contacting the Council.

The full financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice in New Zealand. A full description of the accounting policies adopted by the Council is provided in the full financial statements. The full financial statements have been audited and an unqualified opinion has been expressed in respect of the Council.

The presentation currency is New Zealand dollars (NZ$)

QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY HONOURS 2012

Mr Terence Tuanui, a firearms instructor based on the Chatham Islands, was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal (QSM) for services to the community.

MSC LIFETIME AWARD

Rex Allen - joined MSC in 1989 and over the years has instructed in Outdoors First Aid, Bush, and Firearms and in 2009 qualified as a Range Officer. Rex is one of Gisborne’s longest standing members and has served on the committee for many years and is currently chair. His love and enthusiasm for the outdoors is an asset to our organisation. We acknowledge Rex’s knowledge and commitment with this lifetime award

COMMUNITY AWARDS

MSC Gisborne, were recognised with a win in the 2012 Trust Power Community awards under the education child/youth development category for their work on the Whakatūpato Programme.

MSC Wellington, were highly commended in the 2012 Wellington Airport Regional Community awards in the sports and leisure category.

Thank you to our funders for their generous support in 2012-2013: