Woodhouse Michael: Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill — Second ReadingText is subject to correctionWoodhouse Michael: Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill — Second Reading[Sitting date: 22 October 2013. Volume:694;Page:14086. Text is subject to correction.]Hon MICHAEL WOODHOUSE (Minister of Immigration) on behalf of theMinister of Labour: I moveThat the Health and Safety (Pike River Implementation) Bill be now read a second time. I thank the members of the Transport and Industrial Relations Committee and its chair David Bennett for dealing with this important bill so swiftly and efficiently and for reporting it back to the House earlier than scheduled. I would also like to thank those who made submissions on the bill. The select committee has recommended that the bill proceed with a number of amendments and I agree with the amendments proposed.This bill is the Government’s commitment to implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy by the end of this year. The first part of the bill establishes the stand-alone agencyWorkSafe New Zealand. In relation to the board ofWorkSafe submitters were unclear as to whom the phrase “workplace participants” referred. Some were concerned that knowledge and experience of the workers’ perspectives were not clearly stated in the skill set for the board. This clause has been amended to refer to perspectives of workers and perspectives of employers to provide clarity. The objective ofWorkSafe has also been amended to align with the Australian Model Work Health and Safety Act which will be the basis for new legislation that will replace the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 as was announced in August.WorkSafe’s main objective will be to promote and contribute to securing the health and safety of workers and workplaces. This sends a strong signal ofWorkSafe’s intent in the health and safety system from the outset.Part 2 of the bill provides the necessary statutory support for the new mining regulations. The issue that attracted the most attention from submitters both in response to the Safe mines: safe workers consultation document and in response to the bill was whether quarries should be included in the new regulatory regime. There are about 1000 quarries in New Zealand and by far the majority of them are small operations with just a handful of employees. The Government supports the conclusion that quarries and alluvial mining operations do not entail the same level of hazard as other mining operations and should be removed from the definition of a mining operation. However the quarry industry recognises that it needs to raise health and safety standards and it is commencing work with officials to develop in the first instance a set of guidelines for health and safety. The intention is that these will form the basis for quarry-specific regulations in the future.Several key changes have also been made to the functions and powers of site health and safety representatives. Many submitters argued that the bill should explicitly set out all the functions and powers necessary for site health and safety representatives to do an effective job. Accordingly two new functions have been added. These are a general function to represent mine workers in matters relating to health and safety and a function carried over from the current health and safety framework to promote the interests of mine workers who are harmed at work. To exercise the powers relating to inspection and stopping work site health and safety representatives are required to meet certain prescribed competency standards. This has not changed. What has changed is that site representatives will not have to hold these competencies before they put themselves up for election. It was felt that this would unnecessarily limit candidates for the role. Instead the representatives will not be able to exercise these particular powers until they have received the necessary training. To address concerns relating to information that health and safety representatives will have access to as they carry out their functions as raised by some industry submitters a confidentiality provision has been added.Other changes include adding an immunity from liability provision for health and safety representatives adding a positive duty on mine operators to ensure that site representatives have sufficient time and access to facilities to enable them to carry out their functions and exercise their powers and permitting mine workers to elect a temporary health and safety representative while an appeal against the removal of a representative is under way.The committee heard a range of views from submitters on the issue of the scope of industry health and safety representatives otherwise known as check inspectors. We agree with the committee that they are appointed only for the underground coalmining sector as was recommended by the Pike River royal commission. Although all themining operations that are proposed to be covered by the new regime have principal hazards there is a substantial additional risk in the underground coal sector that relates to the presence of methane. The vast majority of multiple fatality incidents in the mining industry in the past 100 years has occurred in this sector. The Government considers that this is where the resource of industry health and safety representatives—the extra set of eyes and ears the extra line of defence—that the royal commission spoke of is best targeted. The final part of the bill ensures that the legislation that supports the mine’s rescue service is fit for purpose and minor amendments have been recommended by the committee.The changes recommended by the committee reflect a balanced and careful consideration of the wide range of comments made by submitters. They clarify the provisions establishingWorkSafe New Zealand they reflect a sensible conclusion on which sectors of the mining industry should be included in the scope of the legislation and they further strengthen the worker participation arrangements at mining operations.I would like to take this opportunity to signal the intention to introduce a Supplementary Order Paper. The proposed changes will support the proposed inter-agency protocol for responding to major underground mining emergencies in particular by recognising the functions of the incident controller who will take the lead in determining how the emergency response proceeds. This protocol has been developed in response to a recommendation of the royal commission. These issues were not able to be included in the bill as introduced as the protocol was still in development and had yet to be tested which occurred earlier this month. The Supplementary Order Paper will also include an amendment that will enable any surplus levy collected to cover the costs of the mine’s rescue service to be used when necessary to build up and maintain the trust’s reserve fund for dealing with mining emergencies.Once again I would like to thank the select committee and all those involved in expediting the progress of this important bill. We owe this to the workers who lost their lives at Pike River to their families and to all current and future workers in the mining industry. I commend this bill to the House.