Workers Memorial Day serves as a sober reminder that New Zealand continues to lose more than one person each week in fatal workplace accidents, says Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson.

Speaking at the Working Wise Future-Proofing Health and Safety Conference in Wellington today, Ms Wilkinson noted that serious accident statistics had continued to hover around the 6000 mark each year for the past decade.

"Workers Memorial Day is about remembering New Zealanders and workers throughout the world who have been injured or killed at work.

"Too many families suffer every year from deaths of loved-ones in accidents that are largely preventable.

"There is a lot more emphasis being placed on health and safety now and it is incredibly heartening that we are seeing a lot of progress in this area.

"High risk industries like construction, forestry and agriculture are stepping up and taking their responsibilities seriously.

"They appreciate that a safe and healthy workplace means a safer and more productive workforce.

"But there is a lot of room for improvement and the Government will continue to work with businesses and unions to foster a strong workplace safety culture."

Posted by staff in News at 15:41

It is a pleasure to be here today, on what is the ILO’s World Day for Health and Safety at work. I have been entrusted with giving a quick outline on the Government’s health and safety focus and I want to begin by acknowledging you all here, as you are leaders in this field and the work you do quite literally saves lives.

The Government most certainly has a role to play and I will talk briefly about how I envisage that role. I wish to say at the outset that safety in the workplace is a central concern for me. This month I took the opportunity to get out and visit workplaces around the country while Parliament was in recess. My travels took me from Whangarei to Mosgiel and over four days I toured 14 work sites ranging from an oil refinery and stadium construction site to a can processor. I even went 5km underground to the coal face of a mine. Different industries and businesses implement different initiatives so I was interested to talk with those on the ground about what does and doesn’t work. I also wanted to know where the Government could offer greater assistance.

Talking with managers and staff it was clear that they agreed they were in the best position to lead health and safety practices. The Government, they say, has a role to set the right environment and make available the expertise and information businesses need. This could include training opportunities and encouraging companies to invest more in health and safety measures. There is greater recognition that accidents have a serious impact on productivity, so prevention is key. In Whangarei, the New Zealand Oil Refinery, for example, just celebrated one year without lost time due to injury.

They showed real pride in this achievement and in the fact they were the ones taking the lead role and being responsible for what happens on their site. This is the sort of example I want to see mirrored around the country. The Government has to work with industry and enable it to address its own needs.

As Minister of Labour, I have noted that we have been hovering around about 6000 serious harm incidents a year for the past decade. There has not been any significant downward trend as far as statistics show. The emotional and human impact is immense on those involved. The cost to the economy of having 6000 serious accidents a year involves billions of dollars in annual ACC payments, insurance levies and lost productivity.

We have a responsibility to act to bring these numbers down and I believe this requires a systematic examination of what we are doing from top to bottom in workplace safety. We also need to follow through with specific actions targeted at getting these numbers down.

One area I am interested in is the use of internet-based tools to give employers ready access to the latest information. I understand Peter Hall-Jones from Working Wise is going to give a more in-depth presentation on this shortly, but I want to take the opportunity to encourage innovation in this area.

There is a mountain of information out there for businesses to use and it’s a matter of being able to both access and decipher it. Google is obviously a useful tool, but you probably know that when you search a subject you can literally come up with hundreds of thousands of results. It’s a matter of being able to cut through it all and pull out what is actually relevant to you.

The experiences of businesses around the world can play a big part in how we tackle health and safety issues. One of the benefits of globalisation is that we can learn about initiatives that work in a manufacturing company in Canada, for example, and implement them here. While it’s not quite the same as being on site and experiencing it yourself, the fact the information is available is a starting point.

I would be surprised if there was a small business in New Zealand that didn’t have access to the internet, so it makes sense to utilise a medium we are all familiar with. How we best do that is up for debate, but I’m always keen to hear good ideas for the Government to get involved in.

Our health and safety legislation puts the emphasis on employers to protect their workers. The Government simply can’t be everywhere and I have no intention of returning to a system where we walk around wagging our fingers at businesses. The lead has to be taken by industry to take charge of their responsibilities and take pride in them. As I mentioned earlier, there is greater recognition among businesses that health and safety is tied to productivity.

For a long time you only had to mention the words ‘health and safety’ and immediately people’s eyes would glaze over. That was the unfortunate result of employers getting sick of being told what to do and feeling they were being bogged down by regulations. That attitude passed down to staff and we’re now in a position where we have to turn around an imbedded culture where we all think: ‘Oh it’ll be fine, just let me get on with it’.

It is incredibly heartening that we are seeing a lot of progress in this area. High risk industries like construction, forestry and agriculture are stepping up and taking their responsibilities seriously. They appreciate that a safe and healthy workplace means a safer and more productive workforce. Media attention on workplace accidents – deaths in particular – has also raised awareness of the dangers. We are seeing companies and unions really step up in response and pinpoint what is and isn’t acceptable practice on their sites.

I accept that accidents do happen. We are all human and we make mistakes. But we can work harder toward seeing a downward trend in accident statistics. There is plenty of room for improvement and I am pleased to see so many people want to make a difference.

Thank you.

Posted by staff in Speech at 12:03

A simple change to Paid Parental Leave will make it easier for self-employed parents to benefit from the scheme, says Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson.

Self-employed people have been eligible for the scheme since 2006 by submitting a declaration confirming their earnings and their self-employed status.

Currently these declarations have to be verified by a chartered accountant, or they can be witnessed by a Justice of the Peace or other person entitled to witness a statutory declaration under the Oaths and Declarations Act 1957.

Ms Wilkinson says tax advisors will now also be able to verify statements and declarations.

"I am aware that parents in rural areas or isolated communities may not enjoy easy access to chartered accountants of justices of the peace," says Ms Wilkinson.

"Enabling tax advisors to sign applications will improve their access to the assistance to which they are entitled. It will also help reduce the costs to parents of complying with legal requirements."

The change will come into effect on 1 July 2010.

Tax advisors need to be a member of an organisation that has approved advisor group status under the Tax Administration Act in order to be eligible to verify declarations.

Posted by staff in News at 11:55

The Employment Relations (Rest and Meal Breaks) Amendment Bill received its first reading in Parliament tonight.

Minister of Labour Kate Wilkinson says the current law, passed in 2008, had created a host of problems for businesses and workers due it being overly prescriptive.

"Unfortunately, the practical implications of the current law simply do not match up with its intention.

"I have received numerous complaints from workers including teachers, supermarket night-fill staff and healthcare professionals who have been adversely affected by the current law.

"The Bill introduced today will address their concerns as it maintains all employees’ right to reasonable breaks but offers greater flexibility around when they can be taken.

"It will provide a requirement for employers to either allow for rest and meal breaks that give employees a reasonable opportunity for refreshment, or make compensatory provision.

"Compensation could be made through employees negotiating later start or earlier finishing times or accumulated time in lieu – arrangements that can’t occur right now.

"These amendments encourage employers and employees to negotiate terms that best suit their workplace and are more in line with the flexible arrangements that work so well across the country."

The Bill has been referred to the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee for consideration.

Posted by staff in News at 15:36

In the House

The Mining Debate

Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock this past month you would be well aware that the proposal to remove some mineral rich areas of the conservation estate from Schedule 4 protection status has drawn a lot of attention. It is a big issue and one that I am quite comfortable having a discussion about. A lot of the opposition has focussed on shutting down the debate, but I feel the public is better served by having access to all the information possible so they can weigh up the pros and cons themselves.

I appreciate that mining is an emotive issue and so much of the coverage in the media has been on the sensational side. I would suggest the majority of illustrations you have seen on television and in the papers would be of open cast mines, because they are ugly, really, and lower the perception of the industry. I can assure you, we won’t be seeing any new Martha mines. I have always maintained that economic opportunities have to be balanced with our environmental responsibilities on a case-by-case basis. Any mining company has to show they can mitigate the environmental and conservation impacts of their operation. They have to meet a high threshold and that includes rehabilitating the land they use. If they can’t, then quite simply it won’t happen.

It is my role, as Minister of Conservation, to advocate for and preserve the conservation estate for all New Zealanders. Ultimately it is all public land so what activities are allowed on it is a valid point of public debate. There are differing views on the proposal, as you can imagine. Opposition has come from the environmental groups and their members, while the general public appear to be taking a more measured approach. I visited the West Coast recently to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Westland Tai Poutini National Park.

There is support on the Coast for the proposal. The area of land that is being looked at in that region is near Inangahua in the Paparoa National Park and was added to Schedule 4 in 2008 against the advice of the Department of Conservation. Locals noted the area has been subject to mining and logging in the past, so are interested in allowing prospecting to go ahead. The greatest contention is being seen elsewhere, on the Coromandel and Great Barrier Island. Submissions don’t close till Tuesday 4 May so if this is an issue that interests you please send in your thoughts.

Health and Safety Tour

Parliament has been in recess this past two weeks so I took the opportunity to get out and visit workplaces around the country. My travels took me from Whangarei to Mosgiel and over four days I toured 14 work sites ranging from an oil refinery to a can processor. I even went 5km underground to the coalface of a mine. Health and Safety legislation in New Zealand puts the emphasis on employers to identify and mitigate the risks workers face in their jobs. Different industries and businesses implement different initiatives so I was interested to talk with those on the ground about what does and doesn’t work. I also wanted to know where the Government could offer greater assistance.

Talking with managers and staff it was clear that they agreed they were in the best position to lead health and safety practices. The Government, they say, has a role to set the right environment and make available the expertise and information businesses need. This could include training opportunities and encouraging companies to invest more in health and safety measures. There is greater recognition that accidents have a serious impact on productivity, so prevention is key. In Whangarei, the New Zealand Oil Refinery, for example, just celebrated one year without lost time due to injury. That’s a great example of a company taking its responsibilities seriously.

In the Electorate

ECan

The Government’s decision to intervene in Environment Canterbury and replace the councillors with commissioners – temporarily to 2013, if not before – is representative of just how serious the issue of water management in our region is. The long-standing uncertainty about water management under ECan has affected the level of investment in Canterbury water schemes. As the Deputy Prime Minister said recently, the organisation had 15 or 16 years to get a water plan in place and the fact they couldn’t manage it borders on negligence. There has been a lot of frustration in the community and with the region’s councils over this issue and there is a way to go to get the situation sorted out. If you have any concerns, please feel fee to get in touch and I’ll do my best to address them.

Saving the skinks

On a bright note, I was lucky enough to get along to Peacock Springs to welcome some endangered Otago skinks to their new home. The population has been decimated due to introduced predators like rats and stoats and their recovery is as fragile as that of the kakapo and takahe. Hopefully the dozen or so skinks that now have protection up here will help give the population a boost.

Posted by staff in Newsletter at 15:31