Workplace Safety Review Flip Side To ACC Re-Nationalisation

"The Government's review of workplace safety law is the flip side to the re-nationalisation of ACC," National ACC and Associate Labour spokesperson Gerry Brownlee said today.

"The re-nationalisation of ACC means individual businesses get judged by the overall safety records of their industries. ACC premiums are struck by industry category so the worst performing industry sets the benchmark.

"There is no incentive to be safe at the outset.

"If the Government was serious about decreasing accidents and workplace deaths it would have seriously examined the impact of the 12 months of the private ACC market instead of ploughing on with an ideological agenda.

"Under the private system individual workplaces had financial incentives to be safe and reduce accidents, and that lead to substantial reduction in accident costs.

"The approach adopted in the Review of the Health and Safety in Employment Act further entrenches the gulf between employers and employees. It does not create an environment of collaboration and co-operation to work together to improve workplace safety."

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