Meet the ISG - Darren Wu

Get to know the ISG.  

It’s time to meet our Chair and Association of Consulting Engineers NZ representative – Darren Wu. 

Keep an eye out for your representative, as we continue to introduce you to our members.

Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background in TTM 

I’m a Technical Director – Transport Advisory at Beca Ltd and have been in the industry for over 18 years. My earliest exposure to TTM was as a summer student when I was working on a maintenance contract looking after the Auckland motorways, where there were clear rules and training for pulling over for inspections activities. Since graduating, I've continued to gravitate towards projects and clients involving TTM, albeit in a bit of an atypical fashion as a traffic engineer involved mainly in the planning for complex and tricky situations. 

I had a couple of years working full time on the Victoria Park Tunnel project, looking after the project's staging and interaction with some of Auckland's busiest roads. I remember it fondly because it let me do more than just the planning, with practical involvement in sorting out traffic signal arrangements, road marking and long-term temporary road layouts so we could build the tunnel safely.  

The risk-based approach is something that has been important for the planning of complex and tricky projects, like when we closed State Highway 1 for the Newmarket viaduct replacement project for a whole weekend. I’m therefore keen to bring this knowledge and experience to the sector through the current change that is taking place. 

Give us a quick helicopter-view of where the industry is on this journey at the moment and what needs to change to get to where we want to be? 

The shift to a risk-based approach to TTM is still in its early days of the journey of change, with a varying degree of understanding and experience across the sector. However, the industry as a whole has made significant progress in understanding why this is important and how it can help deliver safer and more efficient TTM on our roads. 

At this moment in time, I believe there are two key focus areas where, if they are understood well, will enable the corresponding initiation of change to take place: 

1. Organisational understanding for a change plan – the move to a risk-based approach for TTM offers benefits to a PCBU’s health and safety and productivity outcomes. In most cases, asking for an operational team to sort this out alone will lead to low chances of success. Instead, leadership at all levels (from executive through to operational) need to consider where changes are required and to plan accordingly to make this happen.
2. A true risk-based approach to TTM should transform delivery culture – while a risk-based approach can seemingly be brought into effect through systems and processes, it will rely on transformation of your delivery culture to really see impact. Examples include those delivering TTM being involved much earlier in works planning and that a growth mindset is enabled across the team as the rules of CoPTTM go out the window  

Where do you see the ISG adding the most value over the next 12-18 months? 

The ISG is working incredibly hard to keep our finger on-the-pulse for where there is greatest need for us to connect, collaborate, advocate and share. We’re really excited about some plans for the next 12-18 months and list some highlights below to name a few: 

• Work alongside councils to practically help them map out a pathway for adopting a risk-based approach to TTM. 
  
  
• Provide learning opportunities for the sector through a mix of online and in-person education. 
  
  
• Advocate through central and local government to support safer outcomes for road work sites. 
  
  
• Continued delivery and operationalisation of the new credentials framework to replace outdated training material. 
  
  
• Domestic and international cross-sector engagement and partnerships where there are opportunities to share learning. 

What do you think is the biggest challenge for RCAs in shifting to a more risk-based approach? 

I see lots of examples where the many voices within councils are creating confusion and distraction to having a clear plan for change to a risk-based approach to TTM. The many voices exist between operational staff, executive leadership and the local politicians and either result in more reactive measures being taken and/or the lack of a clear plan to address specific changes like, staff competency, commercial contracts, processes and systems and roles and responsibilities. The ISG is hoping to work across all levels of councils to help them develop clear plans that enable them to successfully shift to a risk-based approach.  

If you could clear up one misconception or let people know one thing that you don’t think is widely understood about the shift to a more risk-based approach, what would it be?  

The shift to a risk-based approach to TTM is not just about updating training, processes and systems to force a different outcome. While it does need those things too, the shift more importantly needs to see change in who is involved and who works together when to solve the problem. Those planning the physical works activity need to bring those planning the TTM in earlier so that risks on both sides are considered together. In another space – traffic engineering and road safety skills will be needed more regularly to help understand the risks and how to translate them to effective controls that support safer and more efficient outcomes.