Darien FENTON Labour Spokesperson Health and Safety Spokesperson 3 July 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT Forestry workers need a Minister who cares The Minister of Labour, Simon Bridges, seems wilfully determined to ignore serious safety issues within forestry, says Labour’s Health and Safety spokesperson Darien Fenton. “There is mounting public concern around work practices in what is one of the most dangerous industries in New Zealand. “Mr Bridges’ insistence that a weak code of practice – which notes forestry is an industry ’with significant risks and has suffered a large number of fatalities and work-related injuries over the years’ - is sufficient to stop those deaths and injury is nonsense. “He told the Transport and Industrial Relations Select Committee that Rotorua forestry workers he had met recently supported the code and that it just needed a chance to bed in. “It turns out that wasn’t the case. Mr Bridges was, in fact, told by those employees that the conditions they worked in were extremely dangerous. They worked in the dark, and they worked long hours and without sufficient support. “The approved Code of Practice is deficient. It was developed without worker input, and includes only a passing mention of employee participation in health and safety. “This is despite both the Pike River Mine Royal Commission and the Taskforce on Health and Safety stressing the importance of worker involvement. “The only reference to fatigue is that workers should have a sleep - there are no maximum hours or breaks between shifts and the Code only requires seat belts to be worn in work vehicles ‘when fitted’. “I don’t understand why the Minister thinks this is acceptable and why he continues to deny the growing calls for an independent inquiry. “By not caring lives continue to be at risk.”
Posted on: Thu, 04 Jul 2013 07:58:53 +0000
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