Amy Adams

29 May, 2013

HSNO compliance conference

Good morning.

Kerry, thank you for your introduction and thank you to Rob and the EPA for inviting me to open your conference today.

It is a pleasure to be here and I’m delighted to see such a good turnout.

For a start, allow me to welcome you all to Wellington for what is the first ever joint conference between HSNO enforcement agencies and test certifiers. For those out of town visitors, I hope you enjoy your visit to the capital.

Today is an important day for me because today I get to start delivering in a tangible way on a promise I made 4 years ago to a special couple.

Not long after I became the Member of Parliament for Selwyn, I was visited by 2 of my constituents, Tony and Annette Gibson.

Tony and Annette shared with me the heart-breaking story of how they lost their 29 year old son, Jason, to cancer in 2003.

And what struck me the most was how fast it all happened.

One day after work, Jason went to his parents’ home complaining of hayfever-like symptoms, the day before he had had a bad nose bleed.

Knowing that his son had been dealing with lead paint at work, Tony sent his son to the doctor.

The doctor did some tests and the following day told Jason he had leukaemia.

Six days later, Jason was dead, leaving behind a wife and a three-year-old daughter.

Jason’s cancer was eventually attributed to exposure to solvents at work over a prolonged period.

In response to Jason’s death, Tony and Annette started a campaign to highlight the dangers of using solvents in the workplace and how people can protect themselves from exposure.

Through tireless work and the co-operation of the paint sector and others, Tony and Annette started the ‘Glove Up’ campaign, promoting a simple pictogram on paint and other hazardous products, warning people to protect themselves by wearing appropriate protective equipment.

When Tony and Annette came to see me that day to tell me about Jason, I made them a promise that I would do what I could to improve workplace safety around hazardous substances because I didn’t want anyone else to have to experience what Jason’s family went through.

We all understand, I think, the consequences of not properly managing health and safety, particularly around hazardous substances. The recent deadly explosion at a fertiliser plant in West Texas tragically reminded us why we must be ever-vigilant about workplace safety.

In New Zealand, the Tamahere cool store explosion and the Pike River disaster brought home the message that New Zealand is by no means immune to such tragedies. We simply must do better at safeguarding our workers from harm.

But while those disasters make the headlines, many of our workers face a far more insidious health threat from regular exposure to hazardous substances.

Chronic health problems caused by exposure to hazardous substances all too often lead to disabilities and early death.

While we don’t have exact numbers, it is estimated that every year around 500-800 New Zealanders die from occupational illness, many of those as a result of exposure to hazardous substances.

Those deaths and disabilities are largely preventable with the right combination of education, enforcement and greater investment by industry in modernising safety systems.

Tackling this issue is a priority for the Government.

When I took over the Environment portfolio, one of the first things I did was to instigate a comprehensive review of the HSNO regime and legislation.

Later in the conference you will hear about policy work that I have asked the Environment Ministry, the EPA and MBIE to carry out around finding opportunities to improve the HSNO regulatory regime. In my view the system can, and should, be made easier to understand and comply with.

As you are aware, a new health and safety agency will be established in December this year as recommended by the Health and Safety Taskforce. We are currently in the process of drafting legislation to ensure this new agency is properly set up to tackle the job at hand.

We’re also looking at how to better integrate the safety requirements under HSNO with Health and Safety in Employment legislation. Chemical exposure is one of many workplace hazards and must be treated with the same degree of seriousness we want to see applied to workplace accidents.

The taskforce report also indicated that our national culture includes a high level of tolerance for risk, and negative perceptions of health and safety.

In other words, our Kiwi ‘she’ll be right’ attitude is literally killing us.

This attitude is further documented by the EPA’s own research. Last year in a survey of 400 businesses using hazardous substances, only 25 per cent were fully compliant across eight key safety controls. That’s simply not good enough.

As you know, HSNO is complex and it can be incredibly confusing to determine which rules apply in a given situation. This is particularly true for small businesses.

If we want people to comply with their obligations we have to find ways of making it easier for them to do so. And we have to make sure everyone in the business from the managers to the newest trainee understands the importance of keeping themselves safe and how to go about doing so.

Over recent months I’ve asked the EPA to focus on ways to target these issues and they have been hard at work developing a set of tools that will help businesses better understand & comply with the current regulatory regime.

Today, I am delighted to be announcing the launch of a new hazardous substances multimedia toolbox, which is designed to help all businesses, from the one man band up, to comply with HSNO safety controls such as wearing appropriate personal protective equipment and rules around proper storage of hazardous substances.

The key tools in the toolbox are:

• A easy to read guide to working safely with hazardous substances
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• An online calculator that allows businesses to enter a list of their hazardous substances and learn what key controls they need to have in place
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• Health and safety posters reminding workers about the health impacts of being exposed to hazardous substances and the meaning of chemical labels
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• Five animated safety videos designed to convey key safety messages to staff; and
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• An easy reference emergency response plan.
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I understand that tomorrow you’ll be getting your own toolbox and will learn more about and how these tools can benefit your clients.

In your roles as test certifiers and enforcement officers, you interact with these businesses on a daily basis. We’re counting on you to help get these into the hands of those who need them and encourage them to use these tools.

In addition to these very practical tools, we’ll be investing heavily in addressing our Kiwi ‘she’ll be right’ attitude.

Later this year the EPA will launch a three year campaign to raise public awareness about safely managing hazardous substances both at home and at work.

This campaign will make both workers and consumers aware of the simple actions they can take to prevent exposure to hazardous substances.

Employers will be encouraged to obtain and make use of the Hazardous Substances Toolbox at their workplace and consumers will learn the importance of safely handling and storing the chemicals they routinely use in their homes and gardens.

The campaign will also raise awareness of the meanings of the GHS pictograms that we will be seeing on more products.

While it is important to get these issues on the radar screen of the public, it is also important that we continue to provide practical solutions for workers on the front line.

I have challenged industry and the EPA to develop solutions that educate workers on wearing the right protective gear.

The EPA and industry partners are right now working together to develop a new programme to be tested in the collision repair sector.

This voluntary industry programme will be focused on delivering to workers simple, clear information on the hazards of a product and the appropriate level of protection required.

I will be encouraging industry to take ownership of this programme and get it into workplaces across New Zealand.

As pointed out in by the Health and Safety Taskforce, all the tools and education in the world won’t solve this problem without the support of robust enforcement.

The new health and safety regulator will be investing in a larger more visible inspectorate. The EPA will work hand-in-hand with the new regulator to ensure that people working with hazardous substances are well protected.

Using a strategy involving both education and enforcement, the EPA worked with MBIE this year to improve HSNO compliance in the collision repair sector.

The EPA provided sound guidance and education material that enforcement officers distributed to collision repair businesses during inspection visits.

I understand that a second visit will be taking place to gauge compliance improvements and I will look forward to hearing the results of that.

Later this year the EPA will also be supporting MBIE’s health and safety initiative around the Christchurch rebuild through the provision of education and awareness tools for workers in the building finishing sector.

I am mindful that these people are often working with solvents and need better guidance on minimising their exposure.

When I first became Environment Minister, I have to say I was frustrated by the lack of communication and understanding between the agencies who shared responsibility for hazardous substances and I challenged those agencies to work more closely together and to find ways of better integrating their work programmes.

As I stand here today I am truly heartened to see these examples of greater collaboration and cooperation and I want to commend those involved for the way they have committed to making real improvements in this critical area. We are already starting to realise the benefits.

While MBIE has the bulk of enforcement responsibility, we have many other enforcement agencies present today from the Ministry of Health, Territorial Authorities, Regional Councils, Civil Aviation Authority and Maritime New Zealand.

I’d like to thank you all for your important contributions and to similarly challenge you to find new ways of collaborating and working together.

The fact that you are here today is a big step in the right direction. I look forward to seeing what we can accomplish by working more closely.

As you can see, the Government is serious about investing the right resources on behalf of our workforce. We are working creatively across agencies to achieve better outcomes.

The theme of your conference is “Working together for a safer environment.” As Environment Minister, you can be confident that I am working with you toward the same goal.

I do hope you can make good use of this time together to learn and exchange ideas. Your expertise, knowledge and co-operation are critical to creating the safer environment of tomorrow and to reducing harm to all New Zealanders.

It now gives me great pleasure to formally open your conference and to wish you the very best for the next two days.

No rëira

Tēnā Koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tatou katoa.

ENDS

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