A report highlighting health and safety failures in the New Zealand Defence Force needs to be implemented by senior officers if it is going to prevent further non-combat deaths, according to a family spokesman of Private Michael Ross.
Charles Hohaia said the External Safety Management Review, led by former ACC chief executive Garry Wilson, touched on several issues that still worried the family.
"The report confirms how much of gap there is in health and safety training in the NZDF particularly around command and leadership," he explained. "It certainly highlighted major things that we as a whanau were concerned about."
The Linton soldier drowned last year during a training exercise on Lake Moawhango near Waiouru, and is one of 15 Defence Force personnel who have died in non-combat conditions over the last 10 years.