OSH construction blitz for Queenstown

Wednesday 02 May 2001

Four senior Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) inspectors will be in Queenstown this month visiting construction sites after a number of serious accidents this year.

"We are concerned about the increase in serious accidents to workers occurring on construction sites in Queenstown," said John Pannett, Service Manager of OSH Southland.

"There have been six major accidents since 1 January this year. Injuries have included broken ribs, fractures to the leg, pelvis and heel. Four of these accidents resulted from workers falling from heights."

For the whole of last year OSH, which is part of the Department of Labour, investigated three serious harm accidents in the Queenstown area.

"With only a third of this year gone, we have had double the number of accidents we received for the whole of last year," said Mr Pannett.

"We are fortunate that no-one has been killed as a result of these accidents.

"We believe the increase in accidents is due to an increase in high risk construction work and a decreased level of safety practices by some contractors."

The inspectors will be visiting construction sites in the Queenstown area from 7 to 11 May 2001.

The visits are to make sure contractors are meeting their obligations towards their staff’s safety, and where they are not doing so, to require improvements to be made. Follow-up visits will be made in June 2001 to check on progress.

"When people go to work, they don’t expect to receive a serious injury or worse. It is OSH’s role to ensure that employers have the same expectation," said Mr Pannett.