Logie JanJAN LOGIE (Green): Thank you. I'm pleased to rise on behalf of the Green Party to support the Health and Safety at Work (Health and Safety Representatives and Committees) Amendment Bill. What this bill does is it removes the ability for a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) with fewer than 20 staff that are not in the high-risk designated area of employment to decline the request for an election for a health and safety rep and also the ability for any PCBU to refuse a request to establish a health and safety committee where the PCBU is satisfied existing practices sufficiently meet their requirements. Basically it's about making sure that more of our businesses have the ability when requested to have worker voice to improve the health and safety. What this will result in is hopefully appropriately trained health and safety reps who can meet with the employer and pass on information from other colleagues who may be struggling to articulate their concerns about what they're seeing in a workplace who might be a bit nervous or not that confident in communicating or have had negative experiences with an employer previously. It enables that trained health and safety rep to do an inspection in a workplace and to be able to issue—if they're appropriately trained—provisional improvement notices (PINs) to get a change to ensure that the workplace hazard is removed and people can be safe in their workplace and that they can direct workers not to undertake unsafe work until fixed.Now these provisions—in effect we are following through on a recommendation of an independent task force that was set up in the wake of Pike River where they noted that worker participation was a crucial weak link in the New Zealand health and safety system and they recommended that all workplaces have access to reps and health and safety committees. That was in the wake of what I think everybody around this House surely recognises as a day of absolute shame for our country where the just running down and hands-off approach to health and safety came home to roost in the death of 29 men in their workplace. I hear the discussion from National and ACT saying This is a solution looking for a problem. There is no evidence of a problem." I want to just speak back to that and say that last year 64 people died at work. More than one person a week died at work in this country and they are saying that there is no problem. We have a rate of workplace fatalities double that of Australia per capita; death in our workplaces is four times that of the UK. And this National and ACT Party are saying there is no problem. They are happy with that status quo. They are happy and willing to accept that number of people not coming home from work that number of families who lose a member close to them. That is what they are accepting when they stand up in this House and say "Everything is fine. The cost on business is balanced equal to the cost of those lives."Joseph Mooney: Absolutely disgraceful. What a disgrace—what a disgrace. JAN LOGIE: That is what those members are saying and I think that is disgraceful.I would also note where they're saying—it's nothing to do with this bill maybe but we have to recognise that actually the data we do have in terms of injuries the now workplace not even the fatalities show that the smaller businesses have much higher rates of injury.Chris Baillie: Can you show that?JAN LOGIE: Yes the ACC data showed that workplaces and firms of around 20 workers or less were 57 percent more likely to suffer an injury than larger businesses and 23 percent more likely to suffer severe injuries than workers in a larger firm. But that side of the House is saying "That is not a problem; nothing to see here." The international evidence is unequivocal: it is absolutely clear that health and safety reps that workers' voice and that those committees make a difference. They make our workplaces safer because actually those people doing the work see the problems. Sometimes it just needs support structurally—it's not about the intention of the employer but just the structure for that voice to be heard to be able to address the problems and to ensure the safety of people. I see somebody in National theatrically yawning at this conversation about the safety and death of workers and our country and I just have to say that I find that deeply offensive.Hon Members: Deeply offensive!JAN LOGIE: So they find my speech offensive—so offensive to actually be bringing into this House the reality of workplaces in this country—Chris Baillie: You're abusing employers.JAN LOGIE: —and it's seen as an attack on employers to be talking about the deaths of people in their employ. How is that the case? Why is that adversarial? I'm not making it adversarial. I am saying that that status quo is unacceptable those deaths are unacceptable and we have a choice in this House to make a difference based on evidence to save some lives and to prevent people from further serious injury.I would say that in this bill that a lot of the submissions—I do want to speak briefly on those. That actually there were a lot of other issues raised around this and I do think that this bill is a first step. I think there is clearly from the submissions that came to us more work that needs to be done. Significant concern was raised about the way the legislation is currently being interpreted in terms of the training available and there was a call for the legislation to ensure that the initial training of two days enables health and safety reps to achieve the New Zealand Qualifications Authority standard that would enable them to take action and issue a PIN. I would note that I was deeply disappointed in one of the employer groups that came to the committee: they offer a two-day training—two days is prescribed in legislation—but it does not include the assessment for that qualification to enable the workers who do that training to issue PINs. So if they want to be able to have that intervention they have to do additional training in their own time at their own cost to be able to play the role that was intended by the legislation. I don't believe that that necessarily needs a legislative change but it absolutely needs intervention to change it because it is I think an appalling abdication of responsibility and working around the legislation as it is not intended. Also there was the call for union reps to be able to issue PINs and therefore being roving reps. Also the Disabled Persons Assembly had a great contribution at the Education and Workforce Committee noting the concern for disabled people being able to access some of the health and safety measures in their workplace and that there was systemic discrimination. There is a fund through the Ministry of Social Development to support people in the workplace but recent research from the Disabled Persons Assembly shows that actually people are not accessing that as they need to. It's very clear to me that we need to have more promotion of that and a review of those rules.Finally I just want to call out for the petition that was launched on Workers' Memorial Day for there to be legislation to introduce corporate manslaughter to actually hold people accountable for the failures to keep people safe at work and to recognise that as a profound duty which it is not currently properly I believe recognised as."