The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is holding a targeted consultation on agricultural health and safety, including whether little Johnny can safely help Mum with light chores on the farm.
Currently, health and safety regulations say no one under 15 should undertake tasks related to preparing goods for sale – rules that, on paper, could make a small egg-collecting chore a $50,000 affair.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has heard from rural families worried they are unwitting outlaws. She wants to clarify the rules so that light, age-appropriate chores are legally okay. A practical solution to a silly problem. Egg-cellent.
But a two-month consultation?
Contrast that with the pace of change elsewhere. Like sweeping reforms to the Resource Management Act, legislation so complex it could give Kafka a headache, are being pushed through at speed.
And then there is the use of urgency. At the end of May, Newsroom observed that 18 months into its term, the coalition government had passed more bills (24) through Parliament under urgency without a select committee process than any since at least 1987. Bills introduced and passed in less time than it takes to teach a kid to bottle-feed a calf.
This matters because rushed, poor-quality advice and skipping steps increase the risk that legislation is ineffective or unworkable.
There are real issues with health and safety on farms, and the review should focus on sensible rules that reflect genuine risk. But light farm chores? That calls for reflection, stakeholder input, and, presumably, a regulatory impact statement. At what cost to the taxpayer?
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark weighed in on ‘X’: “Does anyone seriously think the Govt should waste its time consulting on whether children can collect eggs laid & feed their pet lambs? I grew up on a farm doing both for years to no ill effect. It’s not April Fool’s Day….”
One must sympathise with the Minister. In a world where HR manuals need a risk assessment for sharing a cheese sandwich, perhaps it really does take her officials eight weeks of walking on eggshells to create a new regulation that will allow a child to water the beans.
Nick is a Senior Fellow, focusing on local government, resource management, and economic policy. This article was first published HERE
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden has heard from rural families worried they are unwitting outlaws. She wants to clarify the rules so that light, age-appropriate chores are legally okay. A practical solution to a silly problem. Egg-cellent.
But a two-month consultation?
Contrast that with the pace of change elsewhere. Like sweeping reforms to the Resource Management Act, legislation so complex it could give Kafka a headache, are being pushed through at speed.
And then there is the use of urgency. At the end of May, Newsroom observed that 18 months into its term, the coalition government had passed more bills (24) through Parliament under urgency without a select committee process than any since at least 1987. Bills introduced and passed in less time than it takes to teach a kid to bottle-feed a calf.
This matters because rushed, poor-quality advice and skipping steps increase the risk that legislation is ineffective or unworkable.
There are real issues with health and safety on farms, and the review should focus on sensible rules that reflect genuine risk. But light farm chores? That calls for reflection, stakeholder input, and, presumably, a regulatory impact statement. At what cost to the taxpayer?
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark weighed in on ‘X’: “Does anyone seriously think the Govt should waste its time consulting on whether children can collect eggs laid & feed their pet lambs? I grew up on a farm doing both for years to no ill effect. It’s not April Fool’s Day….”
One must sympathise with the Minister. In a world where HR manuals need a risk assessment for sharing a cheese sandwich, perhaps it really does take her officials eight weeks of walking on eggshells to create a new regulation that will allow a child to water the beans.
Nick is a Senior Fellow, focusing on local government, resource management, and economic policy. This article was first published HERE
5 comments:
If collecting eggs on a farm, (albeit they may be for sale) is such a health and safety issue, then anyone who has chickens is presumably also at risk. When is this Government going to address the real issues facing NZ?! Namely the apartheid system and tribal rule creep, seeing some of our best people leave the country.
Damn, and little Jenny washed the car at weekend in preparation of its sale, while wee Johnny mowed the lawns at our house, which is currently on the market! Who would have known and who passed such a stupid regulation in the first place? But then give them another year, and some would also give them the right to vote.
Having read several stories, on this subject, many on this Web Site, along with the posted comments, I am now wondering if - "it will be safe to drive down a rural road, where I might be confronted with some child breaking the Health & Safety Laws, by just simply riding their horse along the road edge, or in a paddock, behind a fence".
If I come across such a scenario, can someone advise what I should do? You may take 2 months to respond.
No wonder this country is in such a mess!!!
I climbed trees as a kid, usually our big old walnut tree.
There I was about 25 feet up.
No PPE, ropes, cones, warning signs, parental supervision or a permit.
I think my grandmother took the picture who then just wandered off... ?
But decades later I posted the picture on Facebook.
Collecting the eggs didn't capture that much excitement for a subject in the 70's.
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