Acknowledging committee representatives this Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu – National Volunteer Week

The week is led by Tūao Aotearoa Volunteering New Zealand with the theme of Whiria te tangata – weave the people together. That togetherness evokes a sense of commonalty, of collaboration, which echoes the spirit of consensus-built standards.

While many standards development committee members perform the role as an extension of the work they do, many also go beyond giving hours to the development of standards – the discussion, listening, drafting, review, editing, drawing, and commenting - that takes place behind the scenes of every standard.

An army of committed contributors

Hundreds of New Zealand committee participants are involved in standards development across international standards for ISO (International Organization for Standardization) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission), joint Australian/New Zealand standards and New Zealand standards. They are experts with decades of lived experiences applying the standards they use or those with a handful of years but bright smart minds that understand how standards work. Standards experts come from a wide range of backgrounds and experience, like academia, government, private sector, industry, individual technical experts, people representing NGOs, rural Aotearoa, consumers, community groups and iwi. They bring perspectives and knowledge and their work helps grow the food we eat, helps our economy thrive, keeps innovation and design safe, ensures quality and reliability and shapes the environments we live in.

Thank you committee members

‘This week is about giving exposure, and thanks, to people who give time and energy for the greater good’, says Standards NZ National Manager Malcolm MacMillan.

‘Every single day, New Zealanders’ lives are made better by standards underpinning the business practices, built environment, tools, machines, workplaces, products and services, and homes they interact with. Thanks to standards development committee members - the subject matter experts giving their knowledge and experiences and working together to create and agree the good industry practice and guidelines we live by - businesses thrive, people go home safe, quality is achieved, and things work so that we don’t even need to think about why they do. Without them there are no standards. And without standards we live with greater risk, poor quality, less productive businesses, and isolated from trade and market access opportunities and innovation.’

Get involved in standards development

As New Zealand's national standards body, Standards New Zealand welcomes new experts to join standards development committees to help shape and develop the standards of tomorrow – standards that will influence the future direction and performance of our critical sectors and overall economy and that will help society and protect the environment.

Giving your time to make standards gives you:

• unrivalled professional networks
• new skills, knowledge and expertise
• career development
• a chance to understand industry trends, challenges and opportunities
• exposure to the latest technical and sector innovations
• stimulating, intellectually challenging and rewarding experiences
• opportunity to contribute back and shape the future of your industry, by helping to set the standards it uses.

This Te Wiki Tūao ā-Motu – National Volunteer Week let’s acknowledge those behind the standards that sit behind almost every aspect of our daily lives and take inspiration to get involved ourselves.

Find out more including opportunities on our website:

Help make standards