5.30pm
UPDATE - The Council of Trade Unions is appealing to political parties to address the "workplace fatalities crisis," in the wake of the deaths of two contractors at Fletcher Building's Pacific Steel site in Otahuhu, South Auckland today.
Fifty-five-year-old Gareth Lloyd George from Greenhithe and his co-worker 56-year-old Ray Rutherford Wilson,
from Otahuhu, died when a bundle of reinforced steel fell from a crane being moved across a dispatch area, Fletcher Building said in a statement.
The men had been carrying out maintenance work.
Mr George was killed instantly. Mr Wilson died at Middlemore Hospital shortly after the accident.
Fletcher Building said the dispatch area was operated by an external company for Pacific Steel.
Police and Occupational and Health inspectors were investigating.
The statement said support services for employees were being offered and the company was "devastated" by the deaths.
The accident brought to 73 the number of OSH investigated workplace deaths for the last 12 months, almost double last year's total of 39.
"The CTU is calling on all political parties to clearly state their policies and strategies to reduce the appalling death toll in New Zealand workplaces," Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said.
"We have seen this year public attack on the proposed new OSH legislation by employer spokespeople and ACT and National Party politicians."
"The message they are sending is that safety laws are an unfair compliance cost on employers, and that New Zealand workplaces are safe enough," he said.
"And that gives a licence to poor employers not to do anything about health and safety protection for workers"
Mr Wilson said it was time to send a consistent message, from political, business and union leaders, that the current death toll is not good enough and urgent action must be taken by employers and employees to clean up unsafe workplaces.
"That message must be backed up by strong laws," he said.
Mr Wilson said MPs had walked away from Parliament without passing the Health & Safety in Employment Amendment Bill which toughens up the HSE
Act.
"The CTU challenges the parties who have opposed the HSE bill to spell out very clearly what their policies are to address the workplace fatality crisis," he said.
- NZPA, HERALD STAFF
