Published on NEW ZEALAND LAW SOCIETY
The Superdiversity Institute of Law, Policy and Business has released a report it has prepared for WorkSafe on Health and Safety regulators in a superdiverse context: Review of challenges and lessons from United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
The report examines how regulators in three superdiverse countries are challenged by and are working to improve the health and safety outcomes for a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) population, which tend to have a significantly higher rate of injury.
It provides recommendations and proposed actions for WorkSafe based on the challenges and the lessons to be learned from overseas regulators.
Commissioned by WorkSafe and with assistance from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, the report looks at United Kingdom, Canada and Australia because those countries are most like New Zealand when it comes to health and safety regulations, and have similarly high levels of superdiversity.
The report draws on insights from interviews with staff from health and safety regulators in each jurisdiction. It also includes an analysis of the three countries’ legislative frameworks comparative to New Zealand, and a review of literature related to improving the health and safety of CALD workers in the various jurisdictions.
The findings show that achieving good health and safety outcomes for CALD populations requires a strategic and joined up approach. However, ad hoc reactions to fatalities and serious injuries were too often the approach in other superdiverse countries.
This report makes 15 high-level recommendations for WorkSafe, on how they could improve health and safety for workers who are culturally and linguistically diverse.