By SCOTT MacLEOD
Workers will have the right to shut down dangerous machinery and office equipment under a planned law change.
Labour Minister Margaret Wilson confirmed yesterday that the Government believed that right would help to slash the relatively high rate of workplace accidents.
But the Employers Federation said the law could spark strikes and other industrial action if workers used their new rights as bargaining chips in wage talks.
Ms Wilson said the idea was to let workers elect their own health and safety representatives who, once trained, would have the power to prevent machinery being used unsafely.
Other proposals included spot-fines for dangerous workplaces, and giving workers "a clearly defined right to refuse unsafe work."
A spokesperson for Ms Wilson's office said overseas evidence showed that involving workers in safety decisions helped to cut accident rates.
Federation policy manager John Pask said there was a danger that the safety representatives would have too much power.
Workers could use health and safety as a lever to gain tradeoffs in wage talks, and standards might become inconsistent between industries, he said.
The news came just hours after a ministerial inquiry found there were "clearly" problems with Tranz Rail's safety regime, urging that the truck and train industries be forced to meet the same safety standards as most other workplaces.
The inquiry, headed by Bill Wilson, QC, started in June after three Tranz Rail workers died in shunting accidents, another in a boat drill on the Arahura ferry and a fifth in a head-on train smash - all in less than a year.
The report says Tranz Rail must stop blaming its employees for accidents.
Workers set to get right to pull plug
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