With the shearing industry’s evolution away from camp-out jobs, travelling to and from the job site has increasingly become a concern to shearing contractors. With the travel-cost increases forcing the Australian industry to follow the New Zealand model of using buses rather than the worker’s private vehicles, the safety responsibility of the vehicle and driver shifts from a worker who owns and drives that vehicle, to the employer.
Events this week in NZ, where a bus crash has resulted in two workers being in critical condition and another two with serious injuries, is a harsh reminder of the need for employers to do their utmost to keep workers safe, given that the police believe seatbelts had not been worn by the occupants. Full story:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11570310
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