Young Jonathan: Health and Safety Reform Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeYoung Jonathan: Health and Safety Reform Bill — In Committee Speaker Recalled In Committee[Sitting date: 19 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5968. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JONATHAN YOUNG (National—New Plymouth): Can I start off in my opening remarks by giving an acknowledgment of those people in the gallery who are from Pike River. I would also like to acknowledge the family of Michael Kane who may be here as well. He was a worker who lost his life in New Plymouth.Can I just say in terms of remarks on the process that the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee worked through that this indeed is a very complex and very large piece of legislation and by and large we worked very well to progress it. There were obviously points of difference. There were points and amendments that Labour members brought to the committee that we agreed to so it has not been about politics. It has been about producing something that is workable and best for New Zealand.We know in Part 1 clause 3 when it talks about the purpose of this bill it says the “purpose of this Act is to provide for a balanced framework”. That has been the very intent and the very beginning of what it is all about. It is about having a piece of legislation that is proportionate to the risk. Out in the media world there has been a lot of misinformation. There have been people saying: “So an insurance company of people who work in an office of over 25 will have a health and safety rep”—I know that is Part 3; we are going to come to that in due course—“but a team of miners who are maybe seven or eight do not have a health and safety rep?”. There has been all of this conjecture and debate taking place out in greater New Zealand and I am just thankful that the Minister for Workplace Relations and Safety has come today and tabled that list—which he promised he would do in his second reading speech—which starts to identify the high-risk industries where there will be those mandatory health and safety reps.We have always known that that process will take place and it is not in the primary legislation because those lists need to be updated from time to time and we want to have flexibility around law-setting. Having a balanced framework is about many aspects of work life. It is about the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) having their responsibilities. It is also about the worker fulfilling their responsibilities. It is also having measures in place that are proportionate to the risk.There will be companies and businesses that will have three people involved so one may be the PCBU and the others are perhaps both workers. What this bill puts in place is that every business or undertaking has a legal obligation to have engagement with its workforce and to have participation with its workforce around a health and safety regime in that workplace that protects the workers and also protects every person who comes into that workplace.So when my colleague Phil Twyford states that 25 percent of the workforce will have no health and safety around them or that they are carved out that is not correct. That is not correct.Phil Twyford: That’s not what I said Jonathan.JONATHAN YOUNG: You went on to say that in your second statement around worker representation. This bill is very strong on saying that there is an obligation upon every workplace and upon every PCBU to have a health and safety regime and understandings and procedures in place that incorporate engagement with their workforce at a very meaningful level. In fact this bill puts in the provision that if somebody contravenes this section then for an individual there is a fine not exceeding $20000 and for any other person—and when it is referring to a “person” it is talking about a company—there is a fine not exceeding $100000. Those are very strong measures. They are very strong measures to ensure that businesses put in place a health and safety regime.I am very pleased to acknowledge the work for example of the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety which is headed by Rob Jager and represents workers right across the work spectrum—in unions as well as in high-hazard industries—which looked at a whole number and raft of measures that are incorporated in this bill. The balanced framework—because this is what this bill starts talking about a balanced framework—is a framework that is workable for New Zealanders and for New Zealand businesses. You know it is not selling out. It is not going weak at the knees but it is having a regime having legislation and having a framework of law that people can understand that they can work with that they can apply to their workplaces and that is not tick the box but encourages a whole culture change.It is not only the employers and the managers but also the workers who have a part to play. It is not just the worker representative—and I am not saying that that person is not important in the mix of things—but it is saying that every single worker has a part to play and this is the culture change that we need. This is where everybody thinks: “What is needed to keep myself safe and my workmates safe? What is it that is needed in this surrounding this situation with this industry that I am working in?”. That is what we want to encourage and that is very central to what this bill is about because it is about engagement and it is about effective participation. None of that has ever been changed. It is at the nub the very essence of this bill.I believe that when we look at this balanced framework we have got to acknowledge that there are industries that are high risk and there are industries that are not. It is not one-size-fits-all; it is what fits for that industry to make it safe for its workers and for people who come into that workplace. It is important for us to get it right.All that we have heard from the Opposition is that it is one-size-fits-all and we know that it is not. By and large we have worked I think quite constructively. There are obviously some differences but from our side I believe that we have come to a good place and I am happy to defend that position. Thank you.