Annual Report 2007/08
APPENDICES
Workplace fatalities in 2007/08
Workplace fatalities are an important indicator to report in terms of the enormous social impact and costs, and resource commitment for the Department to investigate. It is one of the many indicators of occupational health and safety trends investigated and monitored by the Department. On its own, the number of fatalities investigated by the Department is not a reliable guide to levels of safety performance in the workplace now or over time.
In the year to 30 June, the Department received reports of 53 workplace deaths (as of 31 July 2008).
| Industry | Deaths 2007/08 |
|---|---|
| Total | 53 |
| Forestry | 2 |
| Construction | 9 |
| Industrial/ Commercial | 22 |
| Agriculture/ Horticulture | 20 |
| Extractive Industries - mines, quarries and petroleum extraction | 0 |
Source: www.osh.dol.govt.nz/resources/stats/fatals/index.shtml
These statistics show the number of fatal work-related incidents reported to the Department of Labour and investigated under the Health and Safety in Employment (HSE) Act 1992. This may involve the death of an employee, self-employed person, or a person in, or in the vicinity of, a place of work. All data is based on the year ending 30 June and is now part of a revised time series.
Caution: Data limitations
The Department of Labour fatality investigation statistics are administrative statistics arising from coverage of the HSE Act and do not indicate overall fatality trends in New Zealand workplaces.
Another source of New Zealand health and safety statistics and commentary can be found on the Statistics New Zealand website. Note that a small change in the number of fatalities from year to year can cause a large proportionate annual change. Injury rates are another indicator of health and safety performance, and as a larger figure, the annual number of injury claims is less likely to be subject to large proportionate annual fluctuations.
The Statistics New Zealand report provides information about work-related injury claims accepted by ACC, including fatalities, and offers information by gender, age, ethnicity, occupation, region and industry. (Please note, Statistics New Zealand website information is in calendar years; Department of Labour information shown here is in government financial years, ending 30 June).
The Department of Labour statistics do not include fatalities in the maritime or aviation sectors, or fatalities due to work-related crashes on the road as these are investigated by Maritime New Zealand, the Civil Aviation Authority and the New Zealand Police respectively.
The Department of Labour figures do not include fatalities from long latency diseases caused by exposure to hazardous substances.
The annual statistics published on this website may differ from those published previously by the Department of Labour because further information about fatalities for the period may have become available after publication. The statistics on the website are updated if additional information becomes available following subsequent enquiries.
Migrant levy and allocation
Background
A migrant levy has been paid in some form by migrants since 1995. The levy is paid by most migrants in the Skilled/Business and Family Sponsored Streams, and some in the International/Humanitarian Stream. It is not paid by Samoan citizens, refugees and family members of refugees.
The levy for this year was $300 per person (up to a maximum of $1,200 per application) for skilled, business and family migrants and $150 per person (up to a maximum of $600 per application) for Pacific Access Category migrants.
The levy helps pay for services necessary because of immigration but difficult to charge for directly. These include contribution to the tuition of English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in the compulsory schools sector and for adult learners. The levy also funds the Department's immigration research programme and provides funding for our settlement services, and it contributes towards the Department of Internal Affairs' Office of Ethnic Affairs' telephone interpreter services (Language Line).
Allocation of funds is agreed before the start of each financial year based on estimated numbers and revenue. The allocation of funds for the 2008/09 year, 2007/08 year and the three previous years is outlined below.
| Vote | Service | 2004/ 05 $0000 |
2005/ 06 $000 |
2006/ 07 $000 |
2007/ 08 $000 |
2008/ 09 $000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 11,869 | 10,551 | 7,374 | 11,469 | 12,625 | |
| Education | ESOL in the compulsory schools sector | 2,767 | 2,460 | 2,460 | 2,460 | 2,460 |
| Education | ESOL in schools (material for parents, and professional development) | 450 | 400 | 400 | 400 | 400 |
| Education | ESOL for adults (home and community based) | 397 | 353 | 353 | 353 | 426 |
| Immigration | Levy administration | 398 | 354 | 354 | 422 | 629 |
| Immigration | Immigration Research Programme: Short -Term | 650 | 578 | 1,203 | 2,253 | 2,473 |
| Immigration | Immigration Research Programme: Longitudinal Survey of Immigrants to New Zealand (LisNZ) | 273 | 224 | 216 | 431 | 707 |
| Immigration | Settlement Services | 1,106 | 983 | 1,233 | 1,700 | 1,780 |
| Statistics | Immigration Research Programme: LisNZ | 2,435 | 1,200 | 300 | 1,000 | 650 |
| Employment | Settlement Services | 445 | 396 | 438 | 711 | 782 |
| Internal Affairs | Language Line - pilot telephone interpreting service | 1,266 | - | 417 | 537 | 669 |
| Internal Affairs | Cultural awareness project | - | - | - | - | - |
| Sub total | 10,187 | 6,948 | 7,374 | 10,267 | 10,976 | |
| Contribution to Budget settlement package | 1,682 | 3,603 | - | - | - | |
| Contestable fund for one off settlement projects | - | - | - | 1,202 | 1,649 |