Health and Safety restructuring madness

The Government’s decision to sack all 135 Health and Safety Inspectors in MBIE makes no sense and is completely contrary to the claim it is committed to improving New Zealand’s awful health and safety toll, says Darien Fenton, Labour’s Health and Safety spokesperson.

“Last week the Government trumpeted the formation of a new stand-alone Crown agency for Health and Safety.

“This week, it sacks all of our existing Health and Safety inspectors, and expects them to reapply for jobs that are essentially the same. It’s crazy.

“The new Health and Safety agency will take nearly a year to be established, and in the meantime, New Zealand workers deserve experienced Health and Safety Inspectors for enforcement and protection.

“This isn’t the first restructure Health and Safety Inspectors have faced and the continuing uncertainty around their jobs will inevitably impact on their work.

“I can’t understand why National believes that continuous restructuring will result in better outcomes for workplace health and safety. Apart from anything else, it costs millions of taxpayer’s dollars. Restructuring and redundancy costs in MBIE have already blown out to more than $3 million in the last year.

“The Minister of Labour needs to take responsibility and direct MBIE to ensure that we continue to have an experienced Health and Safety Inspector workforce to keep workers safe until the new agency is established,” says Darien Fenton.
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