An announcement today from the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon Brooke van Velden that she will be starting a substantial consultation on work health and safety, must consider the stalled progress from government and continued absence of ownership, action and regulatory clarity.

That’s according to the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum which set up an independent Taskforce to understand the country’s poor health and safety performance that costs New Zealand $4.4billion annually, and mapped out a path for improvement and progress.

The Taskforce this week released its findings, Been There. Done That A report into New Zealand’s repeated health and safety failures. The report canvassed interviews and data from senior New Zealand business leaders and stakeholders, as well as regulatory analysis, to generate five tightly focused recommendations. It makes uncomfortable reading.

“Nearly all of the 50 senior business leaders and stakeholders spoken to during the Been There. Done That report and the hundreds more surveyed, indicated they wanted the Government to priortise improvements to New Zealand’s health and safety performance,” says Taskforce Chair and Forum Director Toby Beaglehole.

“In her announcement today, the Minister says, “the sea of orange road cones…have taken over the country…” Our report also pulls out this example but points out that in complex environments there are too many factors to try and control everything. Too much bureaucracy becomes counter-productive and makes things worse. But so too does lack of clarity – through sheer volume, only made worse by numerous and differing agencies responsible for oversight.”

The Taskforce report outlines five key recommendations and makes clear that ‘While the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 is fit for purpose, the supporting regulatory framework is not. Action is needed, promptly, in service of improved productivity, allowing effective regulation to support business to better manage risk.’

“New Zealand businesses want to reduce the burden of unclear direction and guidance,” says Toby Beaglehole.

“Changes don’t need to be costly they just need a government and system players who are willing to understand we are not doing right by our people”.

“The Forum looks forward to being part of this consultation and sharing the views of our 400+ CEO members with the Minister across the next few months.”

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