Inquiries & Recommendations

Ngā ketuketutanga me ngā tūtohunga

On 25 March 2026, the Commission recommended that the Director of Maritime New Zealand work with New Zealand commercial jet boating stakeholders to review and improve the requirements prescribed to commercial jet boat operators to ensure that safety measures on board are adequate to protect passengers from injury.

On 24 March 2026, the Commission recommended that the chief executive of KiwiRail take immediate steps to improve the safety culture of their staff at Port Otago rail yard to increase compliance with KiwiRail’s Operating Rules and Procedures and reduce at-risk behaviours.

On 24 March 2026, the Commission recommended that the chief executive of KiwiRail take steps to ensure that when the emergency stop button is applied on its remote-control packs, there is an emergency alert automatically sent through to train control.

On 24 March 2026, the Commission recommended that the chief executive of KiwiRail review and improve KiwiRail’s training on the air-brake operation system and include the associated risks of not following the required procedures.

On 25 February 2026, the Commission recommended that the Ministry of Transport, when monitoring NZTA’s regulatory performance, ensures that NZTA is fulfilling its safety oversight role effectively, including NZTA’s response to the increase in KiwiRail’s signal passed at danger incidents.

On 25 February 2026, the Commission recommended that NZTA, when monitoring KiwiRail’s performance against their safety objectives, including monitoring of key performance indicators, ensures that the safety risk of KiwiRail’s high signal passed at danger ratio is being well managed and controlled, including in non-metro areas.

On 25 February 2026, the Commission recommended that KiwiRail utilise engineering safety controls in areas of its rail network where none currently exist, to mitigate the risk of human error by locomotive engineers and reduce signal passed at danger incidents.

On 26 June 2025, the Commission recommended that Shanhaiguan Shipbuilding Industry Co Ltd implement quality assurance practices to ensure all rudder pintle assemblies are effectively installed.

On 26 June 2025, the Commission recommended that Maritime New Zealand investigate and submit papers as appropriate to the IMO (through the appropriate sub-committee) to promote standards that ensure sufficient quality assurance for rudder systems throughout the process of installation, alterations, major repairs and maintenance.

On 28 May 2025, the Commission recommended that KiwiRail review its national project management structure to ensure there is sufficient oversight of and ongoing support for all project staff at all levels to maintain safe working conditions and manageable workloads.

On 28 May 2025, the Commission recommended that KiwiRail review and improve its rules and procedures relating to track maintenance work to require additional protection within worksites where the tracks have been made impassable.

On 28 May 2025, the Commission recommended that KiwiRail review and improve its process for authorising rail movements within worksites to ensure the safe movement of all rail traffic and personnel within protected work areas, including the verification of track integrity and the sharing of and access to safety-critical information.