Fenton Darien: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFenton Darien: Questions for Oral Answer — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 11 July 2013. Volume:692;Page:11978. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]12.DARIEN FENTON (Labour)to theMinister of Labour: How many workplace deaths have there been in the last four years?Hon SIMON BRIDGES (Minister of Labour):I cannot provide definitive statistics for 2011 and 2012. They are not yet available. What I can tell the member is that since 2003 on average there have been 75 workplace deaths per year.Darien Fenton: Further to his answer to my question on 3 July about safety in the forestry industry when he said: “We know what the problem is. Actually we know what the solutions are.” can he tell me what solutions he has to long working hours in this dangerous industry while at the same time he is trying to cut rest and meal breaks for all workers?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: As the member knows she and I have a different perspective on that. She would say that it is primarily about hours and meal breaks and so on. What I say and actually what I have heard is that it is much more about some of the more substantive issues in forestry which the approved code of practice deals with like tree felling and having the correct techniques there and breaking out and the equipment and gear used for that.Darien Fenton: How can he claim he knows the solutions when the provisions for breaks and fatigue management in his 2012 approved code of practice are similar if in fact not weaker than the provisions of the 1999 approved code of practice signed by the Hon Max Bradford?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I think as I have made clear previously to the member that there have been agendas and action plans but what is new and what is recent is theApproved Code of Practice for Safety and Health in Forest Operations . What I have heard when I have been with owners and inspectors and the like is that actually if this isfollowed we will not have the number of deaths that we have today. The member and I both agree that there are far too many deaths. We need to see this bed in and put into practice in a much greater way than it has been.Denise Roche: How many more deaths in the forestry industry need to happen before this Government will action an inquiry into health and safety in the forestry sector?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: No death is good enough. It is entirely unacceptable. But I think this Government more than any other Government in the history of New Zealand has had royal commissions and inquiries in the health and safety arena. I will very soon be responding—I think in a substantive way—to the Independent Taskforce on Workplace Health and Safety. Of course we are setting upWorkSafe New Zealand an independent agency. I think we can quite rightly make the case that we have done more than any Government in this area and an inquiry in relation to forestry specifically is not needed. Actually what we need to do is bed in good practice that we know about.Darien Fenton: Given that the Forest Owners Association is now also saying that there should be an independent inquiry will he take responsibility for any forestry deaths while he continues to insist he has all the answers?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I do not think the member is correct because what she calls an inquiry is not actually what as I understand it the Forest Owners Association is talking about. I have certainly made it quite clear that I do not support a Government-led inquiry but if the Forest Owners Association is prepared to go out and do some of the things that is good. But as I have also said on record I think we actually know what the solutions are. It is about embedding them and seeing them acted out and practised in our forests around New Zealand.Hon Damien O’Connor: Will the Minister take responsibility for due compensation to be paid to the 29 Pike River families given the failure of his department to uphold proper standards of workplace safety; if not will the Government change legislation to make the directors of Pike River Coal directly responsible for that compensation?Hon SIMON BRIDGES: I need to be I think reasonably judicious in answering that question because the fact of the matter is there are still related matters before the court and I have not received substantive legal advice on that very issue.