In Depth back to UNI In Depth home page 11/30/2000 Workers Lives On The Line In Health And Safety Debate Press Release New Zealand Council of Trade Unions 29/11/00 13:55:00 The Council of Trade Unions welcomes any changes that will address our pitiful health and safety in the workplace record, said CTU secretary Paul Goulter today. “We are talking about workers’ lives here,” he said. “Surely no New Zealander can be happy with our shocking record of workplace death and injury. The fact is that our workplaces are unsafe and we need changes to ensure that workplaces are safe.” Paul Goulter said that it was nothing new to allow for workers to stop working in unsafe environments. “The Employment Contracts Act provided for workers to take strike action if their workplace was too unsafe to continue work. “What is being considered is for elected representatives on the spot to be able to call for unsafe machinery or practices to halt until they are made safe.” Paul Goulter said that the CTU supported this proposal which is actually better for workers and for management. “The proposal is better for workers as it means that the works on the spot who understand when their workplaces or machinery are unsafe can make that judgement call. At the same time it is better for management because potentially serious problems can be addressed earlier on. Obviously it is better for a unsafe machinery or practices to be fixed before serious accidents occur, causing injury or even death on our worksites.” Rory O'Neill. editor@hazards.org www.hazards.org Safety reps may get the right to stop the job ______________________ Union Network International http://www.union-network.org - contact@union-network.org