Huo Raymond: Health and Safety Reform Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeHuo Raymond: Health and Safety Reform Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 13 March 2014. Volume:697;Page:16718. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]RAYMOND HUO (Labour):Very good. I rise to take a call to support this Health and Safety Reform Bill. It is very important that we have a robust health and safety system to protect New Zealanders. It is equally important that this new law is supported by stronger enforcement and education. We must work together to meet our target of reducing the New Zealand workplace injury and fatality toll by 25 percent by 2020. The Minister of Labour said in his earlier contribution that this bill seeks to put more onus and legal requirements on managers and company directors to manage risks and keep their workers safe. This bill will require greater worker participation so workers are more involved in health and safety in their workplaces. This bill will establish stronger penalties enforcement tools graduated offence categories and court powers and it will of course seek to amend a number of other pieces of legislation including the WorkSafe New Zealand Act 2013.The proposals in this bill are well intentioned but there are at least four issues that I wish to bring to the attention of this House. The first one is that WorkSafe New Zealand must be properly resourced to enforce all obligations under this bill including the worker participation requirements. This cannot be seen as an afterthought by inspectors as it has been under the present law and as we saw with fatal results at the Pike River mine disaster. Secondly it will be vital for inspectors to deal with workers and health and safety representatives independently of their employers to ensure the workplace systems have integrity. Thirdly it was incredibly disappointing to see in the case of the Pike River mine disaster that in spite of the royal commission finding clear fault by a number of parties no one—no one—has been held fully to account to date. This brings me to the fourth issue which is that there is no provision in this bill on corporate manslaughter. Therefore there remains a gap in the law.The most egregious cases of workplace death caused by gross negligence will still be met with a fine. If we look closely at the proposals under this bill new orders available to the court—such as a restoration order an adverse publicity order an injunction or health and safety project order—will not apply at least in any practical sense in the case of a workplace fatality. Where the failure is a systemic one directors and senior management should be held to account. Under this bill the limitation period for mounting a prosecution will be extended. It will be extended from 6 months under the Criminal Procedure Act and that is welcomed because it allows time for a lengthy investigation where that is required or follows a coroner’s inquest so that the possibility of a prosecution is not closed off if a coroner draws a different conclusion from an inspector. To wrap up it is very important for us to have a robust health and safety system to protect all New Zealanders.