National Action Agenda 2010–2013
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Minister's Foreword
The Action agenda for Health and Safety in New Zealand 2010-2013 marks a shift in our national strategy to reduce the work toll. It sharpens the focus of health and safety in New Zealand and bridges the gap between the national Workplace Health and Safety Strategy for New Zealand to 2015 and workers on the frontline.
The national Strategy aims to reduce injuries and fatalities at work and deliver healthy and productive workplaces for all New Zealand. It has been in place for five years, but we have yet to see a significant reduction in our fatality and injury rates. New Zealand's health and safety performance is not where it should be. The social and financial cost of injury and illness is still much too high. We need to do better, and it is in everyone's interest to improve - government, industry, employers and workers.
Last year, a review of the national Strategy highlighted a gap between our high-level commitment to health and safety and effective actions in workplaces. This Action Agenda fills that gap. It sets out the Government's priorities for health and safety over the next three years and the actions that will be delivered through partnerships with industry leaders and worker representatives in the five sectors where the most harm is occurring - construction, agriculture, forestry, manufacturing and fishing. In times of economic constraint, it makes sense to put the resources at our disposal into the areas where we can make a very real difference.
Action Plans for the five priority sectors will target the risks and hazards that are causing injury and illness and focus on harm reduction. They will be formulated in consultation with stakeholders in each sector and will ensure more coordinated and cohesive programmes and activities. The Action Plans must be owned by each sector, with Government playing a supporting role.
This Action Agenda sets out actions over the next three years that have the potential to make a significant difference. I strongly encourage you to take part in the consultation process to formulate the five Sector Action Plans. By combining our skills, knowledge and leadership, and by focusing on harm reduction in priority areas, we will achieve the strategy vision of 'healthy people in safe and productive workplaces'.
Hon Kate Wilkinson, Minister of Labour, July 2010