HOT AIR: Serene Fan Heaters and the largest Appliance Recall in New Zealand history by Justin Sollitt

HOT AIR: Serene Fan Heaters and the largest Appliance Recall in New Zealand history

by Justin Sollitt

DESCRIPTION
ISBN: 9780473707996
Format: medium softcover
Published: August 2025, updated 2026
Size (mm): 160 w x 210 h x 25 d
Pages: 286
SKU: A4/2608/POD 

ABOUT

This story is being updated in lieu of the recent ongoing media coverage and enforcement action by Government Ministry MBIE against the Serene Industries Ltd directors', Christopher Woodward and Alexander Woodward.

To be put on the reprint list please email books@unicornbooks.co.nz 


7 years, 52 Safety Warnings, 19 Fires, $17 million cost, a Ministerial Inquiry, an Insurance Investigation, Zero Accountability.

The Story that Serene and WorkSafe Tried to Bury...

"Extremely well researched and meticulously written"

Worthy of a Netflix drama, this is a story of New Zealand national and public interest significance...

This investigative work is a detailed account of the shocking true story of how one of New Zealand’s most respected appliance legacies collapsed in late 2023, into the largest appliance safety scandal and product recall in New Zealand history.

This includes the unprecedented systematic failure of product recall management in New Zealand that required ministerial intervention, that cascaded into the fallout of the multi-million cleanup cost—then a subsequent ministerial inquiry—then a large insurance investigation—then the charges of corporate misconduct and industrial negligence being sought against the directors of Serene Industries Ltd.

The author and industry insider Justin Sollitt provides a fearless, clear, and complete record to the New Zealand public that is unforthcoming from either the manufacturer Serene Industries, or the nations safety regulator WorkSafe / EnergySafe.

This account pulls back the curtain on the breathtaking and bewildering series of events commencing in 2016 that lead up to the highly publicised Serene recall in early 2024—that has since left thousands of property and business owners across New Zealand and Australia in ongoing danger, as well as being saddled with costs and losses in the range of 17 million dollars.

It has also left the New Zealand public asking: how and why on earth could this disaster have even been allowed to happen, considering the numerous and obvious fire incident incidents, as well as the numerous safety audit warnings that had been filed since 2017.

This work is highly critical of both legacy manufacturer Serene Industries, as well as the New Zealand safety regulator, WorkSafe / EnergySafe. 

The Serene owner/directors’ Christopher and Alexander Woodward operated since at least 2015 with Titanic level hubris, arrogance, negligence, subterfuge and frightening technical incompetence. For years they literally promoted themselves as the industry "We are Number 1", whilst they deliberately manipulated and duped everyone they encountered including: the public, the safety regulator, wholesale resellers, licensees, installers, Wikifrauds, consumer advocacies, their own staff, and their lawyers.

At the same time the safety regulator WorkSafe / EnergySafe had for seven long years leading up to this crisis in early 2024 largely dismissed or ignored the numerous detailed safety audit reports and warnings from industry experts, as well as the ever growing tally of 19 official, and a much higher unofficial, fire safety and electric shock incidents recorded across the country.

This account explains and well illustrates the disastrous collision between these two hopelessly dysfunctional, inept, and incompetent "industry leaders".

Another significant question being asked by both the New Zealand public, and the subsequent ministerial inquiry into the Serene/Worksafe disaster;— is that clearly no lessons were learnt from the Pike River Mine tragedy only a few years prior, and its subsequent Royal Commission of Inquiry.

In the case of Pike River there was also a comparable and consistent stream of safety warnings by industry insiders that went ignored or dismissed by both management and the regulator for years, that ultimately lead to the explosion that killed 29 miners. Reconciling Serene and Worksafe it is very easy for a layman to see how the Pike River Mine tragedy was allowed to happen.

This Serene disaster also clearly demonstrates how both Serene Industries and WorkSafe are the epitome and global gold standard of "all authority and no accountability".

The story also details a very sad tale of the demise of one New Zealand's most respected appliance legacies, Skope Heating that was established in 1967. Skope Heating operated for decades with a proud tier one "Made in NZ" international quality legacy before the division was closed in 2012 and sold off to the Woodwards'. That once proud legacy went swiftly downhill when the Woodwards' immediately re-branded the business Serene, then commenced filling the business with cheap, illegal, fire-prone, electrically unsafe, non-compliant junk, all with little to zero quality or safety oversight.

Two of the most extraordinary realisations that emanates from this story;

Firstly, is the fact that downfall of Serene Industries was not just a failure of manufacturing; it was a profound oversight of electrical safety, regulatory compliance, consumer safety, and corporate accountability. In an ultimate twist of irony, it was the authors trade-based electrical and manufacturing experience—as well as the experience in Australasian market expansion, that the Serene directors had twice sought, first in 2014, and again in 2015, by inviting his company Genco Energy Group to join the Serene business—that was ultimately the root of Serene Industries undoing.

Secondly, was that a catalyst within Genco Energy that the Woodward's wanted to secure and leverage, was that Genco's project director is the ex-CEO of PDL, the company that founded the competing Goldair appliance brand in 1981. Alongside Skope, PDL/Goldair were titans of New Zealand manufacturing for over 80 years, and during the 1980s and 90s PDL ran the largest and most successful fan heater production facility in the Southern Hemisphere.  

Goldair wasn't perfect and they too faced a national recall in 1985. In another extreme twist of irony, is that Worksafe's then predecessor; The Department of Labour, mercilessly dragged PDL and the CEO into the national news spotlight to explain how only a handful of safety incidents could happen. However, unlike Serene Industries, PDL's then CEO, now Genco's project director, immediately took the action that PDL should have and needed to. They swiftly make the changes necessary, admitted where they got it wrong and got the products re-approved. It was this co-operation, attitude and decisive action that allowed PDL/Goldair to continue on and become the powerful and successful Kiwi brand, that still remains an industry leader today.

It was this very institutional industry knowledge and expertise, including product recall crisis management, that the Woodwards' wanted to secure in order to expand their Serene business across Australia—that became the precision tool that unraveled and toppled them.

This Serene disaster draws striking parallels to the safety shortcomings of the Grenfell Tower fire and the Titan/Ocean Gate disasters, as well as the corporate subterfuge matching the Theranos/Elizabeth Holmes scandal. 

Meanwhile, the authors effort and tenacity in exposing this scandal over nearly a decade, is a carbon copy of the TV drama "Mr Bates vs the Post Office".

This story and account is so shocking that it will leave even the most seasoned international business owner in utter bewilderment and disbelief, asking "you couldn't make this madness up if writing fiction."

"Sollitt's work is a masterclass to business owners at all levels in forensic corporate accountability, extreme risk management, and the absolute grit required to survive—when a legacy manufacturer, the country's most prominent law firm, an entire industry, and the government—are all against you." 

Illustrated throughout.

The author, Justin Sollitt, was the Australian distribution licensee for Serene Industries Ltd between 2016-2017, via the Melbourne based subsidiary of his company Genco Energy Group. Sollitt and the technical team at Genco were responsible for uncovering the numerous safety and compliance defects across the near entire Serene products, as well as subsequently filing 52 numerous safety reports/warnings into Serene, Worksafe and industry during 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023.