Heartbroken families speak out against safety rule changes
Families of deceased workers are protesting the New Zealand government's decision to reduce workplace health and safety requirements for small businesses. Critics argue that deregulation prioritizes cost-cutting over human lives, citing past fatal accidents.
Why it matters
This highlights the ongoing tension between economic deregulation and public safety standards, a recurring theme in labor policy debates.
<p>More than 700 people have been killed in work-related deaths in the past decade, despite the Key government's overhaul of workplace health and safety laws following the Pike River Mine disaster. The coalition government has <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/03/31/govt-to-cut-health-and-safety-requirements-for-smaller-businesses/" target="_blank">again changed the law,</a> this time to cut red tape and ease compliance costs, but critics say more New Zealanders will die at work as a result. South Island correspondent Timothy Brown reports.</p> <p><b>By Tim Brown of </b><a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/health/1483113/his-life-was-worth-nothing-to-them-heartbroken-families-speak-out-against-work-safety-rule-changes" target="_blank"><b>RNZ</b></a></p> <p>Working in a timber yard was not Ethyn McTier's idea of a dream job.</p> <p>His role at Timaru's Point Lumber was just a means to an end and a way to raise some money for his real dream of moving to Australia and becoming a builder.</p> <p>Instead, the 23-year-old went to that job on November 1, 2022 and never came home.</p> <p>McTier was trapped by an unguarded conveyor belt and crushed to death…
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