Following three deaths and two near-misses in forestry in the Gisborne and East Coast district in the past six months a Ruatoria man has called for action. Source: Gisborne Herald
Advocate for the grieving families and workers Joe McClutchie is behind a meeting aimed at producing positive and immediate change.
The hui, involving the Forestry Industry Safety Council, Worksafe New Zealand, forestry managers, contractors and workers, will be held at Te Tini o Porou, Kaiti.
Following the death of Piripi Bartlett on 21 August, Mr McClutchie realised “action to look at preventing another death within our people” was needed.
“Following Piripi’s death, in the days leading up to the tangi, it was clear that grief and sadness of the loss was not the only topic being discussed,” he said.
“Across the region I was met with mixed emotions and conversation. This was a clear indicator to me that many of our people are saying ‘enough is enough’. People were unhappy and angry.”
He contacted Work Safe NZ and asked it to consider calling some of the forest industry together to have an urgent conversation and to put ideas on the table about “what can change tomorrow or what can change next week?”
Other changes could be considered later.
WorkSafe said it was a regulatory body and that it was the Forestry Industry Safety Council’s responsibility to keep the forest safe.
“FISC has agreed to mobilise the meeting for this Thursday in Gisborne, inviting some of the principal forestry managers, some contractors working up the Coast and hopefully a number of our forestry workers,” he said.
“The hui is not looking at what happened to Piripi and others, or who is to blame, but as part of forestry health and safety responsibility we need to sit down and look at other measures that might need serious consideration for immediate change.”
WorkSafe will attend the meeting.
“Today, the undercurrent among some of our people is still simmering away,” Mr McClutchie said. “I hope this hui will go somewhere towards dealing with health and safety considerations that will help keep our people safe and return them home to their families.”
Maybe we need to look at the PCBU (principal) and have discussions on work pressure on the contractor to perform, he said.
