30 April 2013

CTU urges Government to implement Taskforce report in full

CTU President Helen Kelly says “the Health and Safety Taskforce report released today is a thorough, well researched and compelling message to all of us that we are not doing enough to keep our workers safe.”

“We urge the Government to adopt the recommendations in the report in full. There is broad support for these recommendations – it is the reasonable thing to do. This will need adequate funding and political consensus to make long term positive change.”

“The report clearly identified the importance of the tripartite model where the government works with business and unions, and more crucially, that this is something lacking in New Zealand. It calls for the adoption of an adapted Australian Law which has stronger responsibilities and duties for those in charge of a business and the Government as regulator, and highlights the importance of worker involvement in health and safety, and recognises that ‘New Zealand falls well short of the strength of worker representative legislation and levels of engagement operating in comparable countries.’ It calls for increases in the rights and roles of workers and unions in health and safety.”

The report found that workers who are in insecure employment relationships – casual workers, those new to the job, short term contractors and seasonal workers are faced with higher risk of being hurt or killed at work, and also less likely to report incidents.

Helen Kelly says “these groups of workers are more at risk because of the nature of their employment, and less likely to report incidents for fear of losing work or being fired. This report demonstrates the importance of good jobs where workers actively participate and have the security of a decent employment agreement. The report highlights the need to resource and support to these workers to be safe at work. It is critical of the deregulation of the labour market in the 1990’s and records it as a contributing factor to poor worker participation in health and safety.”

“Bolstering the legislative framework to ensure we have effective worker representation and participation is a vital part of the report’s recommendations.”

“The report identifies the weakening of unions as one of the contributing factors to our current state. The Government should reflect on its proposed changes to the Employment Relations Act which take us further down that path rather than doing all we can to put right our dreadful workplace health and safety record. It should put all proposed changes on hold while this taskforce report is implemented as a priority.”

“Pike River, this report and international examples all point towards the need for us to strengthen our law, regulations, enforcement and understanding of the need for much better health and safety standards and this report provides a sound set of recommendations to help make our workplaces safe. This is an investment we can’t afford not to make.”

ENDS

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