Mothers bring work deaths home

By MATHEW DEARNALEY

Three mothers - all with harrowing tales of the deaths of sons at work - left MPs charged with reviewing industrial safety rules in sombre mood in Auckland yesterday.

The three, from different walks of life, found themselves with all too much in common delivering heart-rending submissions to Parliament's transport and industrial relations select committee.

Their testimony left normally animated MPs from both sides of Parliament asking few questions.

But they were unanimous in thanking the mothers for having the courage to appear before them to put a human dimension to proposed law changes.

Each son was killed at what should have been the start of a long and productive working life, and the oldest was in his early 20s.

Wilfrid Hansen was 18 when the cherrypicker on which he was erecting stage lights toppled at the New Zealand Pavilion in Mangere in 1995 for want of what his mother, Penelope, said was a crucial safety pin.

Darren Skeen's death left his two young children fatherless when the 19-year-old, after just two weeks in a new job in 1999, scrambled down an Auckland water services manhole to the rescue of two older workers overcome by fumes.

The whole team died in the worst industrial accident in 20 years.

Lynne Skeen criticised a lack of basic training which she said should have prompted her safety-conscious son to call in emergency services equipped with breathing gear.

She accused the Occupational Safety and Health Service of not consulting her before striking a "plea bargain" with two subcontractors to Metrowater, to persuade them to admit relatively minor charges on which they were fined $34,000.

Supporting proposed higher maximum fines and a removal of the service's monopoly over prosecutions, she said everyone had the right to stay alive until knocking off time, and she rejected submissions by employers that people were safer at work than anywhere else.

"Darren went off to work in the morning and came home in a coffin," she told the ashen-faced MPs, as her tears fell.

Susan Goudie said she was still trying to pay legal bills while waiting for a coroner's verdict over the electrocution of her 23-year-old son, Nathan Whale, on a power pole in Waiuku in 1999.

Another worker had failed to isolate a jumper lead in heavy rain, and clearance was given to reconnect live wires without any requirement for her son and a third employee to get off the pole.

Government inspectors said there was no ground for prosecution, and she received no financial help from the employer while preparing for the inquest into Nathan's death.

Each mother believed her son would be alive today had his employer followed simple safety steps, and Mrs Hansen said after the hearing it was probably no coincidence that all three were working for subcontractors.

The Mt Eden woman told the parliamentary committee her son was under pressure to accomplish two days' work in just one, and a pin which should have stopped the cherrypicker from collapsing was not to be found on the entire site.

Mrs Hansen said she was not oblivious to business costs, but noted that Wilfrid's death had traumatised other workers to the extent that some left their jobs, causing great disruption to the employer.

She was disappointed the Health and Safety in Employment Amendment Bill did not address the special needs of young workers, who were often more willing than older hands to take risks in their eagerness to please.

She read out a letter from her son's main employer, for whom he was not working on the day of his death, describing his "boundless enthusiasm" and saying he was a pleasure to have around.

"But we don't have him around any more because he died at work and the cost is too great," she said.

An OSH spokeswoman said it was inappropriate for a Government agency to comment on allegations to a parliamentary committee.

But other witnesses at the hearing said tightening safety laws was pointless unless the service was given more resources.

Auckland occupational hygiene specialist Ian Bartlett said the service was far too "reactive" rather than taking preventive action before workers were injured.

Northern Amalgamated Workers' Union secretary Ray Bianchi said safety inspectors were so thin on the ground that they booked appointments before calling on building firms, allowing plenty of time for sites to be tidied up.

He said 10 construction workers had died on the job this financial year.