Death stalks the forests: New Zealand forestry is facing up to a health and safety crisis

摘要

A probe into a record death toll in New Zealand's forestry industry has uncovered scandalous working conditions, say unions. Last year, ten workers were killed - exactly twice the annual average. The industry's death rate is now twice that of Australia and six times that for the UK. Working hours are long, pay rates are abysmal and, in many cases, the pressure to produce wipes out any safety training. Since 2008, 32 workers have been killed and over 900 seriously injured.As the death rate rose and unions protested, the government finally started investigating some of the country's 330 forestry contracting firms. Within weeks, with only half of the firms visited, 14 were shut down because of an imminent danger of seriousinjury or death and inspectors issued 182 enforcement notices to others to do with safety shortcomings.The country's opposition Labour party wants fines of up to ten million dollars and jail terms of up to ten years for managers found guilty of serious safety breaches.