Media Releases
Sexy Stats and Pertenant Points for Easy Reference
Monday 30 June 1997
As of 30 June 1997:
GENERAL:
- Workplace fatals investigated by OSH year ended June 30, 1997 Total is 41 as compared to 53 for 1990
- Of those, 14 were farm fatals
- Jan 1 1993 to June 30 1997 HSE prosecutions lodged by OSH Total = 1,427, Against employer = 1,153 and Against employees = 74
- Of the HSE cases concluded (total = 1,262) 754 were convicted and fined 103 were dismissed and 342 withdrawn. Total fines = $3,018,645
- 1,122 of these were initiated following an accident
- Poor skill was the causal factor in 37 % of accidents
FORESTRY:
- Approximately 100 fatalities per 100,000 workers in the industry in 1997
- 9 out of the 1997 total fatalities of 41 were in forestry
- Forestry made up 20% of fatalities investigated by OSH from July 92 to June 96
- Forestry was the employer of approximately 8,700 Kiwis in 1997
- 1995-6 intervention activity in the agriculture and forestry sectors involved 2,449 compliance actions, 1,039 investigations of a total of 5,772 activities
- If you are working in logging you are 70 times more likely to have a fatal accident than the average NZ worker
- If you worked in logging for 40 years you have a 1 in 7 chance of dying in an accident
- Felling trees and operating mobile plants causes 9 out of 10 fatal accidents
- Deaths over the last five years:
- felling fatalities - cut up and hung up trees 44%
- mobile plant fatalities - thrown out and crushed by rollover, no seatbelt 47%
- "If they [forestry workers] all worked in a single factory and a man were killed every six or seven weeks, it is doubtful whether the factory would continue to operate at such a fatality rate." Dr Tom Garland
- Cost of forestry ACC claims (new and old) for 1996 - $13 million
FARMING:
- 1997 farming made up 14 of the 41 fatals of the year
- It employed approximately 140,000 New Zealanders
- Farming made up 33% of fatalities investigated by OSH from July 92 to June 96
- For intervention activities see forestry
- By far the majority of accidents on farms are on machinery e.g. ATVs, tractors. In 96-97 tractors accounted for six of the 14 accidents
- Of farm fatals investigated in 1997, six were the farmers themselves, four were employees, two were contractors ( including one vet), one was a child under 18 years and one was a farm cadet
CONSTRUCTION:
- Made up 10 of the 1997 total fatalities investigated (41)
- 110,000 workers in NZ employed in this industry
- July 92 - June 96 construction made up 21% of investigated fatalities
- 1995-6 intervention activity in construction stood at 12,204, including 6,862 compliance actions and 2,123 investigations

