I suspect some readers would be familiar with the names Mark Law and Kahu NZ. Mark is CEO of family business Kahu NZ, based in Whakatāne. With its fleet of helicopters, Kahu NZ provides heavy-lift and aerial-support services to a variety of industry sectors, including transportation, firefighting, construction, disaster and emergency response, among others.
Mark and some of his colleagues from Kahu NZ were among the first aerial responders when Whakaari/ White Island erupted on 9 December 2019. He based his keynote speech at the Transporting New Zealand North Island Road Freight Seminar last month, entitled ‘Do to lead’, on this experience.
Tall, muscular, square jawed, Mark is exactly the type of person you’d picture standing beside the Black Hawk helicopter with his company’s name on it. Mark explained that Kahu was one of four local companies used to fly tourists to the island.
When all was said and done, Mark was awarded the New Zealand Bravery Star for an outstanding act of bravery evacuating victims. However, as he recounted the day and the subsequent “circus” that followed, I couldn’t help but notice certain parallels with the transport industry.
“New Zealand is a peacetime country; we’re a free-spirited bunch who haven’t seen much of this or had much experience with command-and control ability to make logical, common-sense decisions. A lot of the decision-makers at the top end have not had those experiences,” he says.
And no, neither do many of the decision-makers at the top end of transport – the industry often has to work around rules set by those with a surface-level understanding of it. Maybe the minister of transport’s new advisory council will help with that (see page 8 for details).
“None of us has the opportunity to prepare for something like that. A lot of New Zealanders are motivated; they care, they can do something. We have a great voluntary spirit, and it’s times like this where you see it come through.”
Indeed, when the transport industry rallies, it goes big. A good cause, a community event, essential service or disaster relief, farewelling a lost member; it doesn’t matter the call, it only needs to be made once.
“None of us have experience working in a volcano, but what we like to ensure is keeping that spirit to help people. And it doesn’t matter if you’re unqualified, you do. You need to [be able to] follow, to be a good doer. And once you’ve done enough of that, you start to lead other followers.”
Followers becoming doers, doers becoming leaders, it’s the story of the industry’s people…
“When it [the response] was [still] local, it went well, considering the hazards and risks going on. As New Zealanders, we were also shocked that the health and safety, risk-based approach has got so bad as far as letting people take care of other people [is concerned].”
Notwithstanding the many ways it’s been necessary and changed things for the better, there’s an argument to be made that the ‘health and safety, risk-based approach’ has likewise overreached within the industry.
“The moment you take away the leadership and spirit of the people on the ground who want to help their community, you’ll have problems. You have to truly trust the people on the ground: they know.”
Once again, we fully hope the minister does just that with his new advisory panel.
“The compliance and investigations can break a lot of people, unnecessarily so. We were investigated by WorkSafe. We were the only ones who did not liquidate. And in the end, it was all overturned – for what? A tremendous amount of pressure can go on – there’s always an end to it.”
While it may be of a different kind, hopefully there’s some comfort in that for those in and around the industry who have faced the tremendous pressures of the past couple of years.
Mark’s story was engaging, horrifying and inspirational, and received a raucous round of applause from the seminar delegates. It was a true example of the human spirit, and the lengths we’re willing to go to and the consequences we’re willing to endure, to help others in need.
