Workplace warnings for Maori

Dire hazard warnings in Maori for conscientious employers to post around workplaces are available from the Labour Department's Occupational Safety and Health service.

The service has published a bilingual English-Maori glossary of common health and safety terms, including line drawings to make the meanings clearer in some cases.

For example, Maori process workers may be encouraged to wear close-fitting face masks with a warning against mate au konganuku, or metal fume fever.

OSH general manager Bob Hill said that the glossary had been developed in response to a need identified by Maori people, and reflected the service's wish to provide information in forms best understood by workers.

The service's Auckland manager, John Forrest, accepts there are cases where even instructions clearly labelled in English are absent from hazardous workplaces or machinery.

* The English-Maori Glossary of Occupational Safety and Health Terms is available from all OSH regional offices and here