Govt agency defends $10k grant from trust

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Worksafe NZ, the Government entity responsible for investigating workplace accidents, says taking a $10,000 grant from a Gisborne community trust with close ties to the city’s port is neither a conflict of interest nor taking money away from local volunteer groups.

Earlier this week Trust Tairāwhiti released details of its latest community grant distributions, which included Tairāwhiti community organisations as well as WorkSafe.

When questioned on why the government-funded entity applied for a grant, a WorkSafe spokesperson said WorkSafe was delivering a series of forestry safety wānanga with workers and businesses in Te Tairāwhiti.

“The wānanga are a key part of collective harm reduction efforts within our regional strategy, and it is critical that kaimahi (workers) exposed to forestry harm are part of solutions. This is funded by WorkSafe through our baseline resourcing.

“Kaimahi face barriers to attending wānanga during work hours due to lost wages and other work pressures. To address this, WorkSafe agreed to administer grant funding of $10,000 to support three forestry kaimahi to attend the wānanga on behalf of Trust Tairāwhiti. All of the funding approved by the trust is for the workers, and WorkSafe’s role is to coordinate arrangements.”

Worksafe “categorically reject” the framing of The Gisborne Herald’s questions.

“We have not begged for money or taken it away from volunteer organisations,” the spokesperson said.

Trust Tairāwhiti also owns Eastland Group, which operates Eastland Port.

WorkSafe was aware of the relationship between Eastland Group and Trust Tairāwhiti, the spokesperson said.

“We note that Trust Tairāwhiti has an independent board that makes decisions on funding applications. Questions about managing conflicts of interest around grant applications are best put to the trust.

“Engaging with businesses is a normal part of our regulatory role, which is wider than investigations and enforcement. Working with entities like Eastland to prevent harm before it occurs is vitally important if we want to turn around health and safety outcomes for forestry kaimahi, but it does not stop WorkSafe from taking enforcement action against the same entities where required.”

A Trust Tairāwhiti spokeswoman said WorkSafe applied for the funding on behalf of the community who requested it to cover the costs for three kaimahi to attend five full-day wānanga.

“They don’t get paid by their contractors to attend these wānanga so the funds help cover their loss of income in attending as well as travel expenses.

“Māori workers are seriously injured and killed at work at a rate 55 percent higher than non-Māori. Tairāwhiti is one of the regions across Aotearoa with the highest fatalities and serious injuries related to forestry activities.

“The wānanga bring together regional leaders from iwi, industry, local and central government agencies along with forestry kaimahi.

“The total cost for the three kaimahi to attend is $17,250 over five months, of which the trust has contributed $10,000.”