Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Bill

He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata. [What is the greatest thing in the world? It is people, it is people, it is people.]

There have been some tragic accidents and incidents at workplaces all around the country, particularly on farms, forests, near railways, and driving on roads. Getting to mahi and home safely is the priority for all today and every day.

Kei te mihi ki te whānau o Tim van de Molen me tana tuahine. Tāiki e. [I acknowledge the family of Tim van de Molen and his sister. It is done.]

National opposes this bill. As a former health and safety manager of Tainui Group Holdings in—you know it—Hamilton West, I appreciate the chance to listen to and speak to this matter: the third reading of the amendment bill. Thank you to the Hon Michael Wood for his diligence here.

Coming into health and safety as a young legal zealot, convinced about me being right all the time, I was confronted with the iwi, corporate, and business reality, which focuses often on the potentially oxymoronic objectives of manaakitanga and profit. However, through the guidance of leading sentinels of that great tribe of Waikato Tainui—people like the Hon Koro Wētere, Kingi Porima, and Pokaia Nepia, coupled with the steely determination of the Tainui Group Holdings, officialdom like John Spencer, Tania Simpson, and Mike Pohio—I was able to see through the sometimes foggy lens of health and safety to practical and workable solutions to achieve those noble objectives of manaakitanga and profitable business. Hazard and risk identification: the Excel spreadsheet that defined my Microsoft Excel career; health and safety engagement with representatives, with committees, with others who are interested in this subject; subcontractor management—that little black hole that many property developers fall into.

I recall one exciting example when we were building The Base retail centre out at Te Rapa in Hamilton West, and a subcontractor decided that he was going to use an acetylene torch up next to an air conditioning unit. So at the first week of opening The Base, we had to shut it down for a few hours because one person decided, as a subcontractor, he could do that.

Another great example was a place where many of us have been to, actually. It’s called the Auckland Airport, and out at the Auckland Airport, Tainui Group Holdings built a beautiful hotel called the Novotel Auckland Airport. There’s another one coming called the Pullman Te Arikinui, and when we built that hotel, one of the subbies had a great idea to go cruising on his bulldozer and digger and hit the main gas main of the Auckland Airport and shut it down for four hours. That’s the type of experience and excitement I had to contend with as a health and safety manager of Tainui Group Holdings. It wasn’t like that jet fuel line there, Mr Cameron.

Health and safety training and education are a fundamental part of health and safety, and emergency procedures, which became as important to me as my fitness regime with Johnny Gillet of CrossFit Waikato: a few press-ups. The proposed legislation introduces more regulatory fog, reminding me of early morning runs alongside the Waikato River—haven’t done those for a while—dense fog, wet fog, Hayes Paddock fog, and St Andrews Golf Club fog; dangerous hazards for risks and under-stretched and slow runners like me, and perhaps others who sit here in the backbench of the National Party.

This proposed legislation does not eliminate, isolate, or minimise hazards and risks prevalent in small businesses. The bill is more about Kāwanatanga than manaakitanga. Not only that, it actually downplays one of the six foundations of the Treaty principles, that being pūkengatanga or expertise—the expertise that actually exists in many small and medium enterprises (SME) to deal with health and safety issues, without Big Brother watching every day and telling people what to do.

The bill seems more about ticking an election manifesto—oh, that’s right; that’s what it is. “What is right for small and medium enterprises? Health and safety reps—tick. Whakapapa profiling in ACC legislation—tick. More tax for whānau trusts—tick. Cat wash solutions for showers—tick. But potholes—don’t worry about them.” Probably the most dangerous health and safety risk presented to most businesses in this country today—nothing being done. “Let’s not fix the number one health and safety issue, but instead load more compliance on to businesses”, and that’s where we’re at right now. “Don’t worry about the pūkengatanga or the expertise around health and safety that already exists there. Let’s make sure that every business, no matter how many employees they have, have the chance to spend more money on health safety.” Folks—all of us—there are only two more ticks we need this year.

The election of one or more representatives on request by a worker replaces the existing provision whereby a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) is not obliged to elect representatives if there are more than 20, and not deemed a high-risk industry. Another provision that’s proposed requires the establishment of a health and safety committee on request by five workers or a health and safety representative. This is unnecessary. Moumou wā, moumou kōrero, moumou pire ki te pō. [Waste of time, waste of discussion, waste of a bill to the darkness.]

National set the limit at 20 employees because adding more compliance—and especially for the 105,000 small and medium enterprises that this is going to influence who fall under the rubric of this legislation—makes it harder for human resource to ideate, to innovate, to invent things, and market and sell them.

There is minimal evidence that I have seen that shows how low-risk SMEs are not already dealing with health and safety issues in a prudent and reasonable manner. This bill does not add de minimis costs. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is saying that it is about $1,500 an employee on an average wage to train up, days away from work, and productivity loss therein. Business New Zealand and the Employers and Manufacturers Association have both submitted against the proposed legislation so far, and the regulatory impact statement demonstrates that consultation with the SME sector prior to developing the bill was very, very marginal.

SMEs generally are not unreasonable PCBUs. They know that a productive and incentivised workforce is critical for their own profitability, manaakitanga, and future. Businesses like Tainui Group Holdings crack into the mahi and organise their people to be trained around health and safety for the good of the business, not to fulfil some election manifesto check box.

So, alas, we vigilantly and diligently oppose this bill in being, yet again, an inefficient use of limited parliamentary resource and my time, on a closing Thursday afternoon. I concur with my party colleagues who have spoken about this bill already, with reference to the well-known song by North Shore singer Kings, “Don’t Worry ‘Bout It”:

All that really mattered was the company I got

And everything else was just a hand inside the clock

And now getting insta-famous for a Like is not a shock

Snapchat strangers for a boost is all you got

It’s funny when the times changed

But for some of us it never changed

I’ve got great company today—I had a couple of birthday friends last night—but this bill adds more regulatory fog. My limited experience in health and safety, as a health and safety manager, suggests that we empower businesses, give them the respect they deserve, and facilitate them to do business on reasonable terms, and not forced by legislation to meet unwise manifesto aspirations. Mimicry is the best form of flattery. Get things done. Kia ora.

I’m very humbled to rise and take the final call on the third reading of the Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Bill. I proudly stand here and honour the fact that we are delivering on manifesto commitments. We are making workplaces safer for our workers. We are not apologising for that; we are proud of that.

We’ve heard a lot—it’s really funny, I kind of anticipated what the debate was going to be about—that this bill is unnecessary, that we have these small businesses that have really strong, healthy cultures where health and safety can be managed and looked after and attended to. Well, great news: it isn’t compulsory. In those firms where workers are already a part of a healthy health and safety environment, they will not feel the need to require this of their employer. So rest assured.

It is interesting that the limit has been set at 20 and that, below 20: nothing to see here, folks. But actually, you are 57 percent more likely to suffer an injury if you’re in a small firm of around 20, and you’re 23 percent more likely to suffer a serious injury. So to give half a million workers access to the right to organise around health and safety is critical.

It does improve productivity; when you invest—I keep hearing the word “cost”, and it really makes me upset—we’re talking about investing in workers. When we invest in them, they participate in health and safety, they take responsibility for the things that they do, they’re engaged, they own the health and safety environment, and you are more likely to have retention of well-trained staff that are healthy, and you are less likely to have days off work. Our whole economy is less likely to have people who cannot work. They are less likely to have people who are going to be under-employed. There will be lives saved. I’m really, really proud to say that we are standing here today delivering another manifesto promise to our workers in New Zealand.

I just need to say: we thank the officials and we thank everyone on the committee and everyone who has contributed—submitters, workers, and businesses alike. But I just need to take a moment to recognise the significant leadership and perseverance of our fabulous Minister, the Hon Michael Wood, who has led so much change for workers, for our economy through this Government. I want to acknowledge that in the House today. It is his leadership that has seen this come to this moment. Thus, I commend this bill to the House.