August 19, 2015
Little challenges soft safety law
Labour leader Andrew Little says industries with a high proportion of Maori workers are among those that will be worst affected by the government's watering down of new health and safety law.
The Health and Safety Reform Bill, which was brought in to address problems identified in the wake of the Pike River mining disaster, will exclude small businesses including so called family farms, despite more than 100 workplace deaths in the agriculture sector over the past five years.
It could also exclude small subcontractors, including many in the forestry industry.
"I just don't get all this dithering over the law and who should be in it and who shouldn't. You would have thought we would have learned the lessons and far too many families are continuing to grieve for the loss of family members who went to work and never got home. It is not an experience we should tolerate for anyone to go through again," he says.
Mr Little says responsibility for safety needs to start at the top, with directors and managers taking responsibilty, but also giving workers a voice in safety.
Maori workers are seriously injured at a rate of 18 per 1000 in the workforce compared to 14 in 1000 Pakeha.
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