The Government has recently announced their latest roadshow to seek industry feedback on the current legislation which is coming up to being 10 years old; Health & Safety at Work Act 2015.
Recently, once again forklift safety has been in the spotlight with major WorkSafe prosecutions going through the courts for totally avoidable incidents.
- Trade Depot based in Auckland reversed a forklift into a customer the result of which required one of her lower legs to be amputated. Nearly $500,000.00 in fines and reparations.
- Trevelyan’s Pack and Cool Limited in Te Puke, ran over a worker's foot, again requiring a lower leg amputation. A voluntary undertaking costing approx $500,00.00 was accepted as a solution.
- Refrigafreighters Limited Auckland had to pay nearly $300,000.00 when an unserviceable handbrake allowed the forklift to roll away and caused a worker a broken back.
Risks presented by forklift use are significant and of very serious consequence. If you operate a forklift in your workplace there are some basic steps that are generally considered to minimise these risks in your assessments;
- Maintenance plans for the forklifts
- Training and licencing
- Traffic Management plans
- Demarcation zones
- Spotter workers
- Ongoing assessments and observations
WorkSafe NZ, formed in 2013 following the Pike River Mine disaster and significantly improve NZ's shocking workplace accident record, and was quickly followed by the new Act to help support this. WorkSafe NZ was initially mandated to initially achieve the target of reducing fatalities and serious injuries by 25% by the year 2020.
In May of 2021 SageBush conducted an independent review of WorkSafe NZ after being commissioned by Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood since WorkSafe complained of being under funded.
The SageBush report was critical of WorkSafe suggesting "It is unclear how WorkSafe supports the delivery of Government priorities" going on to say they lacked clear strategy and was unable to "clearly describe its role".
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says she wants to hear from businesses and workers across the country during her roadshow on opinions for the challenges faced and experienced with current Health & Safety in terms of legal requirements and obligations, to determine whether the Act as it currently stands is fit for purpose still, and in particular focussed on the following issues;
- Whether health and safety requirements are too strict, or too ambiguous, to comply with.
- Difficulties caused by the overlap between work health and safety legislation and other requirements.
- The actions that businesses undertake, the reasons behind these actions, and their effectiveness.
- Whether consequences for not complying with health and safety obligations are appropriately balanced and reasonable.
- Whether the threshold at which work-related risks need to be managed is under- or over-cautious.
More on the Government's consultation can be found here:
www.beehive.govt.nz/release/major-health-and-safety-consultation-begins