Counting the Cost of Our Health and Safety Record

Article by Ross Wilson, president of the NZCTU, published in the DominionPost, April 28, 2003 (International Workers Memorial Day).

Today is International Workers' Memorial Day, a day when we remember the more than two million workers who each year die around the world from work-related causes; far more than are killed by war, famine or AIDS.

It is a bitter coincidence that in New Zealand we have been experiencing a workplace accident crisis, with 74 (OSH recorded) workplace accident fatalities for the year to June 2002, compared with a total of 39 for the previous 12 months.

And the tragic reality is that this is only the tip of the iceberg. OSH has reported that, on a conservative estimate, more than 400 people die each year in New Zealand as a result of work-related accidents and disease.

As well as the huge cost of pain and anguish to the families the monetary cost to business and society of not preventing workplace accidents and disease is very high.

Experts estimate that the annual cost of accidents and disease in New Zealand is about 4% of GDP. This amounts to a $4.2 billion per year cost to the New Zealand economy. The cost of work-related accidents and disease is, in fact, so high that we run the real risk of it negating the economic growth in the economy.

The consensus forecast for GDP growth for the 2003 (March) year is 4.2%.
If we could reduce the current high incidence of occupational accidents and disease by even 50% we would increase GDP by around 2.0% to over 6%. If we work to make the reduction in the March 2004 year, which is forecast at a lower 2.5%, that would lift GDP growth over 4%.

Expressed another way, a 50% cut in the $4.2 billion cost of accidents is equivalent to 27.2% of Vote Health or 29.5% of Vote Education.

Another concern for business should be that the health and safety risks in some sectors are a barrier to recruitment. These include the forestry and construction sectors, as well as some areas of health, education, and the core public service.

From the 5th May, when the new health and safety laws come into effect we have the opportunity to make a new commitment to improving health and safety in our workplaces.

When you look past the political rhetoric, you will that the new law is entirely consistent with similar legislation in other countries such as Sweden, UK, Canada, and Australia, all of which have been considerably more successful than we have in reducing the toll of workplace accidents and disease during the past decade.

For the CTU the health and safety of our 300,000 affiliated union members is a top priority. We are developing projects with ACC, OSH and employer groups to ensure that elected and trained worker health and safety representatives play an effective role in working with employers to cut the current toll of workplace accidents and disease.

The CTU sees good health and safety practice as good business, and an integral part of the Government's focus on people as an asset, and expenditure on their educational, skill and social development as an important investment in our future.

From a human rights perspective every worker has the right to be protected by a reasonable minimum code of employment, fair employment laws, and health and safety regulation.

It is therefore disappointing that some business organisations have opposed the new laws because they "increase compliance costs". The real cost is in doing nothing about our current appalling performance.

I hope that now that the politics of the law change are behind us we can get a smooth, and speedy, implementation of the new worker participation systems. The new Act reflects a proven statutory framework on which a co-operative safety culture of best practice prevention can be built.