Clean up safety concern justified

IN THE wake of any sort of large-scale natural disaster, there are inevitable fallout and recriminations from people who think there either isn't enough being done to help, or what is being done isn't happening fast enough to help those who are suffering.

It's understandable - people are under pressure and their lives have been disrupted.

All most of them want is for life to return, as much as possible, to the way it was earlier.

In this country, the most recent example of this is the earthquakes in Christchurch - there's been some criticism of the Government response, some of it possibly justified, but a lot of it simply a natural response from hurting people who just want a glimmer of hope.

On a far lesser scale is the weekend storm that caused destruction across Wanganui and South Taranaki.

The Government's response has included the use of the Enhanced Taskforce Green initiative, which was put to use during the floods of 2004 and 2006.

The re-activation of Enhanced Taskforce Green will allow local beneficiaries and supervisors to partner with councils, iwi and community groups to help with the clean-up.

On the face of it, extra hands to help with what is a big task would appear to be a good thing.

And yet concern has been raised by Wanganui Federated Farmers president Brian Doughty, who is worried about the risks involved in cutting up fallen trees, claiming it to be a risky task unsuitable for unskilled workers.

It's easy to have some sympathy for Mr Doughty's comments.

These aren't some rash words, quickly thrown out by someone who doesn't know what he's talking about.

Not only is Mr Doughty knowledgeable, having co-ordinated Enhanced Taskforce Green operations in 2004 and 2006, he's clearly motivated by concern for his own community.

He's also had a friend die while cleaning up fallen trees in the past.

However, since the storm blew through last weekend, there's likely to have been all manner of people dealing with fallen trees on their properties.

Many will have used chainsaws, and there's no guarantee that all of these people were necessarily highly skilled.

The Government maintains no unskilled worker will be put in dangerous situations.

That will be the responsibility of the people supervising the work on the ground, and it can only be hoped that sufficient precautions are taken, to ensure Mr Doughty's worst fears do not come true.

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