WorkSafe lacks resources, critics claim
WELLINGTON: Critics of the workplace safety regulator WorkSafe are questioning its ability to investigate bad road crashes.
WorkSafe itself has admitted the overall regulatory task is too big for it, and the Government has begun looking at giving some of its crash investigation powers to the NZ Transport Agency.
But that work has now been delayed for more than a year, because of the demands of the pandemic response, the Ministry of Transport told RNZ.
‘‘Where are we at? Well, you know, Groundhog Day, that’s where we’re at,’’ Peter Gallagher, chief executive of driver lobby group ProDrive, said.
A confusing overlap between WorkSafe, NZTA and police was identified in 2019 . Fixing it was planned for last year, but that has now been put off for at least another year.
‘‘It’s not fast enough,’’ Nick Leggett, chief executive of the trucking industry group the Road Transport Forum, said.
‘‘WorkSafe is not equipped to adequately investigate the transport industry.’’
One example of the confusion is the investigation into a fatal skifield bus crash in 2018, when police thought a health and safety inquiry was under way when it was not.
The Ministry of Transport, which is in charge of the review, said the Government was committed to strengthening regulatory settings that applied to workrelated driving.
WorkSafe recently laid out a list of highsounding aims to Michael Wood, who is both Transport Minister and Workplace Safety Minister, including a commitment to intervene in the transport sector, look into supply chain pressures, and hold unsafe businesses to account.
But in the same ministerial briefing, it added it was having to constantly ‘‘make tough choices’’ about where to intervene.
‘‘In short, our task is bigger than our available resources and we are unable to meet public expectations for responding to reported incidents and near misses,’’WorkSafe chief executive Phil Parkes and chairman Ross Wilson wrote.
A Hamilton family who went through one of WorkSafe’s investigations and its aftermath, during 201820, felt vindicated by WorkSafe’s admission.
‘‘It’s basically proving what I felt all along,’’ said Dr Mohy Sharifi.
‘‘Yes, they are lacking those resources, and that’s why they could not perform a professional investigation.’’
Her two preschool sons died when a truck rearended their car on a fine day and straight stretch of the Desert Road in 2018.
Police investigated immediately, and secured convictions of two drivers and their employer Dynes Transport, on Land Transport charges.
However, the WorkSafe investigation did not begin until nine months later, and no health and safety charges were laid.
‘‘It’s just two conflicting, contradicting facts,’’ Dr Sharifi said.
‘‘They’re saying they’ve closed the case. It’s all done and dusted.
‘‘On the other hand, they’re saying they’re lacking resources, they’re lacking professional experts.’’
WorkSafe has repeatedly said it did a thorough investigation, and has now refused further comment on the case.
Yet information newly released under the Official Information Act (OIA) shows WorkSafe made limited attempts to find out if industry factors, such as supply chain pressures, were in play.
It did not obtain all the safety reviews that companies did of the crash, interviewed two truck drivers but no other staff at the trucking company, and was not sure how Dynes Transport was monitoring its drivers.
‘‘We haven’t seen thorough investigations by WorkSafe in many instances,’’ said Mr Leggett, whose group represents hundreds of trucking firms.
‘‘WorkSafe is a bit of a toothless tiger in many ways.’’
NZTA had more resources, and was better placed than WorkSafe, to delve more deeply into the sort of supply chain pressures that undermined safety, he said.
Research has shown such pressures contribute to fatigue, and while some drivers flout the limits on work hours — as happened in the Sharifi crash — others feel powerless to resist demands from company dispatchers.
WorkSafe did not interview any dispatchers in the Sharifi case.
Mr Gallagher said the Sharifi investigation was ‘‘disgraceful’’, and showed up the shortcomings.
‘‘The bulk of the voice from the industry, is that there are still continuing systemic failures inside of regulatory effectiveness, harm prevention and systems leadership,’’ he said. WorkSafe declined to comment It argued in its briefing to Mr Wood that it was improving, having redeployed $9 million into investigations and other critical areas. Yet this was not enough.
Unprecedented pressures from Covid19 and its biggestever investigation, into the Whakaari/ White Island eruption, had compounded ‘‘a mismatch between our functions and our available resources’’, Mr Parkes and Mr Wilson wrote.
‘‘We can only respond to a small number of very serious issues that we are notified and aware of.
‘‘We constantly have to prioritise, reprioritise and make tough choices about where and when we can intervene.’’
Mr Wood said in a statement he would consider whatever advice came from the upcoming review of the roles of WorkSafe and NZTA.
He did not respond to a request for comment about WorkSafe’s resourcing.
Dr Sharifi was going back to the minister, to demand action, saying the family got ‘‘compassion and understanding’’ from previous ministers, but little else.
After her approach, the previous workplace safety minister Andrew Little ordered WorkSafe to seek external legal advice in future coronial inquiries.
The coroner had given the agency six extra months to investigate the Desert Road crash, saying it appeared Health and Safety laws had been breached, but it still laid no charges.
‘‘What was the point of this whole investigation when they didn’t look further enough and they didn’t follow up?’’ Dr Sharifi asked.
WorkSafe said in the briefing to Mr Wood it appreciated it had to look upstream.
‘‘A strong health and safety at work system and regulatory model requires a focus on changing the way work is planned, set up and undertaken,’’ it said.
‘‘Many of the illnesses, injuries and near misses that WorkSafe are told about appear to result from poor workplace and work practice design, right through the supply chain.
‘‘Increasing our focus on, and ability to influence, the key parameters of how work is set up provides a significant opportunity to get ahead of the harm experienced by workers on the frontline.’’ — RNZ