Safety ‘falling’ in work places

Press, 1 June 1989, Page 5

Safety ‘falling’ in work places

PA Nelson Safety standards in workplaces in smaller South Island cities and towns are being adversely affected by the downturn in the factory inspection service, the Council of Trade Unions says.

The chairman of the C.T.U. northern South Island regional committee, Mr Graham Niles, said unions were concerned that safety standards in some factories were no longer being monitored as stringently.

"We are concerned that the Government has taken factory inspectors away from the smaller regions and they are having to rely on getting inspectors down from a major city.

“But even in Christchurch the factory inspectors can’t cover the amount of work that’s there. The whole thing just snowballs. Eventually there could be a big downturn in safety standards. We’ve got to keep this thing to the forefront.”

Mr Niles said safety requirements were "quite fairly and squarely an employer's responsibility, which some are not maintaining fully.” C.T.U. regional coordinator, Mr David Wooton, said the system of monitoring safety standards was “so run-down it’s verging on being unworkable.”

Health and safety issues were among a wide range of topics discussed at a two-day meeting of C.T.U. regional secretaries and presidents in Nelson.