Minister Brooke van Velden insists she has consulted widely throughout the country. Photo: RNZ / Reece Baker
A health and safety expert says recent Government announcements fail to address a dysfunctional system and distract from what really needs to be done.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden made four separate announcements this week, covering safety compliance for some businesses, governance liability, private land access and codes of practices.
They included clarifying that different industries, like forestry and mining, could develop their own approved codes of practice, instead of WorkSafe taking the lead, that private landowners were not liable for accidents involving recreational activities on their land, and director and board responsibilities.
She also announced reduced health and safety compliance for some businesses by narrowing the focus of the Health and Safety at Work Act to risks that could cause death, serious injury or illness for small operators, and cutting notification requirements to critical incidents.
Institute of Safety Management board chair Mike Cosman told Nine to Noon that the minister had created some myths that she was now trying to solve.
He singled out comments she had made around businesses having to put warnings on hotwater systems and remind workers to hold handrails when using stairs, which he said were "completely irrelevant" and questioned where those reports were coming from.
"People know how to use the stairs and that's a distraction from what are the things that are killing about 1000 Kiwis a year as a result of work," Cosman said. "The minister referred to critical risk and certainly that is where we would encourage businesses to focus, but the things that she is recommending won't actually do anything much to address those critical risks."
The industry had faced funding cuts and restructuring, which meant they lost people and their skills.
"Our ratio of WorkSafe inspectors to employees is about two-thirds of what the International Labour Organisation recommend and two-thirds of what they have in Australia," he said. "This is what we saw before Pike River.
"If you reduce the numbers of people and their experience in relation to managing risk in those particularly high risk industries, then we're not able to have effective control and moderation of our industries' performance."
Cosman described the current system as dysfunctional, with different organisations that were not working together or properly joined up with industry safety groups, professionals and other stakeholders.
They needed a national strategy that was clear, coordinated and kept people accountable, and an adequately resourced system, he said.
Cosman worked on the forestry safety review little more than a decade ago, recommending an industry-approved code of practice that WorkSafe would produce. That hadn't happened and he said nobody was holding it accountable
He largely agreed with the minister's proposal for industry-led codes of practice, saying they had tried to go down that path before, but had been blocked. Cosman described the announcement on board and director responsibilities as only indicating the direction she planned to travel in.
He thought it would be a backwards step, if she decided to reduce the role of directors in health and safety.
"I spend a lot of my time in boardrooms and I know that if directors are engaged around managing risks, including health and safety, then actually big, important, strategic decisions get made with worker safety at their heart."
Last year, the institute wrote to the minister, asking for a ministerial advisory group to better inform Government and a national strategy. Cosman said they had not received a reply.
Van Velden said she consulted Kiwis up and down the country about their experiences and thoughts on health and safety.
"Our reforms - and reforms still to come - are a direct response to the feedback we received and I thank everyone who gave their time to come along," she said. "I have listened to many businesses, employers, workers, iwi, farmers, tradies and road workers, and have responded to their concerns."
Van Velden also claimed she responded to the institute and invited it to meet with her.
