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Speaker 1: So more change coming to the safety rules that WorkSafe

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Speaker 1: apparently is inconsistent, so a reset is needed. The Minister

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Speaker 1: for Workplace Relations and Safety, Brook Ben Belden's with us

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Speaker 1: very good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning mate.

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Speaker 1: Can you just change so you're moving from enforcement to

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Speaker 1: advisory so we're here to help. Can you actually just

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Speaker 1: do that by instruction or does it need more than that?

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Speaker 2: Well, there are a lot of people out there who

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Speaker 2: do want to keep their workers safe. That's what we

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Speaker 2: heard through the road show. But secondly they said, but

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Speaker 2: we don't know where to go to actually get some guidance.

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Speaker 2: And we're talking about people who are really time poor

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Speaker 2: and resource poor who are also trying to figure out

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Speaker 2: how to deal with payroll and all of how you

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Speaker 2: keep your business afloat in the modern economy. And we

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Speaker 2: know that there is a huge fear from businesses about

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Speaker 2: work safe coming into their shop or to their work site,

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Speaker 2: and so you're doing the wrong thing. Was going to

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Speaker 2: prosecute you. My hope here is that we can change

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Speaker 2: the culture of work safe away from how I'm here

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Speaker 2: to hurt you to how I'm here to actually help you.

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Speaker 2: And I know that sounds a bit difficult when you're

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Speaker 2: dealing with a regulator. But there are old guidance documents

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Speaker 2: that they're pulling from the website and reassuring new guidance.

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Speaker 2: But ultimately, I want people to know that there is

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Speaker 2: one central place to go if they are time poor

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Speaker 2: and they need to know how do I practically keep

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Speaker 2: my workers safe on the ground.

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Speaker 1: Will I be able to know? First of all, this

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Speaker 1: requires some law change. Legislations will be in by when

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Speaker 1: the end of the year.

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Speaker 2: My hope is that we will have legislation through next year.

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Speaker 2: But we're focusing on critical risk. So this is the

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Speaker 2: important point that we're changing the focus of worker health

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Speaker 2: and safety to focusing on the critical risks, those things

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Speaker 2: that can cause death and serious injury. And at the

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Speaker 2: same time, I'm changing the focus of work safe to

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Speaker 2: care about death and serious injury as well, and not

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Speaker 2: sweating the small stuff because we've had a culture of

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Speaker 2: too much overcompliance, ticking all the boxes, trying to get

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Speaker 2: all of the paperwork done, rather than focusing on do

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Speaker 2: I actually do anything in my workplace that could cause

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Speaker 2: death or serious injury? And are we doing that correctly.

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Speaker 2: So I'm saying to everybody out there let's not sweet

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Speaker 2: the small stuff. Let's focus on those death and serious

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Speaker 2: injury activities, and let's have work Safe going on site

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Speaker 2: providing more upfront guidance so that they're here to help

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Speaker 2: rather than having too much of the stick without that

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Speaker 2: upfront guard.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's hope you can achieve it that. Where's the

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Speaker 1: road cone tip line fit into all of this?

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Speaker 2: So the road cone tip line is really just a

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Speaker 2: pilot of that culture change and shift within WorkSafe, because

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Speaker 2: we know that that's the main work site that most

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Speaker 2: New Zealanders see if they're not dealing with critical risks.

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Speaker 2: When you're taking your kids to school or you're going

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Speaker 2: to work, you're thinking, why on Earth am I seeing

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Speaker 2: so many pesky road cones and are they actually keeping

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Speaker 2: people safe? I want to ensure that in the future,

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Speaker 2: when people are seeing road cones, they know they're therefore

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Speaker 2: genuine and safety risk. And so this is what we're

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Speaker 2: getting the inspectors, m ZTA work Safe, the road controlling

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Speaker 2: Authority than contractors on board with so that we've got

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Speaker 2: a real program of work to reduce pesky road cones.

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Speaker 2: So what we're actually seeing is focused on worker safety.

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Speaker 1: Okay, well, let's hope it goes well. That's digital. By

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Speaker 1: the way, it's not a phone call. It's not an

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Speaker 1: O eight hundred. I've seen too many cones. It's digital.

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Speaker 1: Brookvand Build, Minister for Workplace and Safety Relations, ran into

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Speaker 1: the very problem this morning. I don't have time to

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Speaker 1: boil you with it, but I've involved me backing down

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Speaker 1: a street at two thirty in the morning. The whole

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Speaker 1: thing was a complete cluster. For more from the Mic

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Speaker 1: Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks it'd be from

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Speaker 1: six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.