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6 - Procedures for accepting producer statements

Purpose

To establish whether producer statements accepted by the Council are adequate to help achieve compliance, and that the Council producer statement acceptance regime is credible, non-contestable, and clearly understood and consistently practised by staff.

Background

Producer statements are written statements expressing the authors' views that plans, specifications or completed building work complies with the technical requirements to satisfy some or all of the Building Code. A producer statement will usually be issued by a recognised specialist; for example, an engineer, architect, or competent specialist contractor. It is up to the building consent authority or council to decide whether, and how much, to rely on such a statement. These documents have no specific status in law, but they can still be accepted and considered by a building consent authority or council as part of the plans and specifications and decision-making process.

Initial review

The Council did not have a formal policy or procedures for dealing with producer statements.

Recommendations to the Council Action taken by the Council prior to the follow-up review

Develop a policy to cover its acceptance and checking of producer statements, including:

  • when it will require a producer statement
  • acceptance criteria for producer statement authors (eg, qualifications, competence, insurance, professional affiliations, quality assurance procedures, scope of practice for which they can write them)
  • the form and required content for producer statements
  • the charges for accepting a statement (which should include cost recovery for undertaking regular audits)
  • audit procedures.
The Council did not implement this recommendation.

Follow-up review

The Council informed the Department that it does not rely on producer statements and therefore has no intention of implementing a producer statement policy. The Council advised that, if a producer statement is provided at design phase, then calculations and supporting documentation are required and this information is checked by Council's structural engineers. However, the Council's inspection team acknowledged that they did accept and rely upon producer statements as a means of being satisfied that particular aspects comply with the Building Code (eg, installation of waterproof membranes and some aspects of specific design, such as structural engineering issues). Case studies identified that the Council was relying on producer statements as a means of confirming compliance.

Recommendations to the Council Response from the Council

Develop a formal policy to cover its acceptance and checking of producer statements. The policy should cover:

  • when it will require a producer statement
  • its acceptance criteria for producer statement authors (eg, their qualifications, competence, insurance, professional affiliations, quality assurance procedures, scope of practice)
  • the form and required content for producer statements
  • audit procedures.

The Council advised that a formal policy to cover acceptance and checking of producer statements has been developed covering the criteria identified.

A register of acceptable providers has also been developed that includes audit procedures and review dates.

Conclusion

The Council has implemented the Department's recommendation to develop a policy. The focus now is to ensure its policy is consistently implemented by staff and contractors who assess producer statements and decide whether they should be relied upon, and to what level. Quality assurance mechanisms such as peer review, training and internal audits of completed work will assist with this.