in one Gisborne forest alone in 18 months. FIRST Union, the Council of Trade Unions and a group of families began organising a campaign in 2013 to shine a light onto the poor health and safety practices and the victims of that system. Meanwhile, as log prices continued to rise the number of victims jumped upward. Code creation The industry first denied that there were any problems, and when questioned the government asserted hopefully that once the newly promulgated Approved Code of Practice had time to bed in the industry would sort itself out. It was unsurprising that no workers were involved in the creation of that document. For their part, police and coroners seemed to just accept forest deaths as the way life is. The deaths kept coming, and gradually Kelly was joined by a cohort of mothers, widows and families who wanted answers. Supported by the CTU and working closely with FIRST Union and many other unions and volunteers, the campaign formed a series of basic demands. They wanted an inquiry into the causes of the fatalities, a set of standard terms and conditions across the industry, and the right for forestry workers to form or join a union. By the end of 2013 the industry was in shock, unable to explain the loss of 10 men, the youngest only 19. The issue of deaths in forestry was becoming a serious public relations issue, and the industry had to be seen to be doing something. Despite consistent appeals the government was unwilling to get further involved, but in January the industry announced it would estab-
lish the Independent Forestry Safety Review to look into the drivers of accidents. Worksafe had already kicked into action, inspecting every contractor at least twice and issuing hundreds of notices, even shutting some businesses down. The prosecutorial role of Worksafe had also been strengthened and more prosecutions are occurring. Painstaking process The Independent Forest Safety Review process involved three health and safety experts taking a wide-ranging look into the causes of accidents, with significant opportunities for public submissions and industry and worker engagement. FIRST Union was heavily involved, meeting the panel days after it came together and putting forward its view that the crisis in forest safety was driven by organisational and structural factors. Simultaneously, Kelly and the CTU organised ‘cottage meetings’ in forestry communities around the country to submit the review. The release of the Independent Forestry Safety Review’s report left Kelly and the families vindicated by charging the forestry industry with having a weak safety culture. The panel said that instead of a ‘cando’ attitude the industry needed a ‘can-do-safely’ culture, and that developing this change in mindset would require entire industry collaboration. The review’s report was one of the key antecedents to the new Health and Safety at Work Act. This new act claims to have a stronger focus on worker participation, encouraging unions and employer organisations to play a constructive role in man-
aging health and safety. It imposes harsher penalties to disincentivise cutting corners. One of the review’s recommendations was the establishment of a Forestry Leadership Action Group (FLAG) to be the leadership agency to put in place the other recommendations. Discussions began between the industry, FIRST Union and the CTU, WorkSafe and forestry families about what the ‘FLAG’ should look like. It was agreed to form a Forest Industry Safety Council (FISC) to promote tripartite dialogue and lead the health and safety work in the sector. FISC was finally formalised in the final quarter of 2015. In a New Zealand context the council (and board) is unique as it contains industry representatives from owners, managers, contractors, farm foresters, union and worker representatives and also representatives from the regulator, Worksafe and ACC at a CE or senior management level. Funding is provided by way of the Forest Growers Levy Trust together with Worksafe and ACC. The FISC Board has established an Operations Advisory Group (OAG) and a series of Technical Action Groups (TAGs), each with industry practitioners where the grunt work is undertaken. FISC has also been fortunate to inherit the Safetree programme that was already in development. It could be tempting to say that the formation of FISC has led to the rapid decline of forestry deaths over the last two years. However, there
have been other factors at play such as increasing mechanisation, lower production on the smaller wood lots, some of the earlier safety interventions gaining traction, a much more rigorous inspection regime by both MBIE and Worksafe and a greater threat of prosecution by the regulators and police. But the shining of a light on the industry by Helen Kelly, the unions and the families, the industry admission that all was not well, the work of the independent review and the establishment of FISC all provided the momentum required to make changes to what always will be a dangerous industry. It’s worth noting that there have been two more deaths since the Safety 360 conference, bringing the 2016 total to four. FISC’s key role is to change the industry culture so that the effect of the interventions stick and become part of everyday work – something that previous interventions have struggled with. Let’s all hope that it succeeds beyond our wildest hopes and dreams. Robert Reid is General Secretary of First Union New Zealand, which has more than 26,000 members throughout the country New Zealand’s most comprehensive health and safety event, Safety 360 was organised by the country’s largest conference, summit, expo and training company Conferenz and featured the Safety Leaders’ Summit, HSNO 2016 Summit, Occupational Health Summit and the Health and Wellbeing Summit
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