http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/69323916/ministry-of-social-development-in-court-over-ashburton-shooting
This sort of stuff just scares me silly. Some idiot walks into an MSD office and shoots someone. That is really tragic for everyone concerned. Then WorkSafe take the MSD to court because they didn't keep their employee 'safe'. So what is going to happen now - will every government department need to install bullet proof screens for their staff to hide behind? Will they need to employ armed guards in every public space? What happens if someone car bombs an MSD building? Will we then have to do all future contact via video conferencing so the staff can work in nuclear bunkers? I bet that the MSD forgot to put "Armed Gunman" in their Hazard Id Register. Definitely get prosecuted for that. But if MSD get prosecuted, what do every private business in NZ do? Do our waiters and waitresses need to wear bullet proof vests? Do we move to 'hole in the wall' service at every shop? Whilst I don't have much sympathy for a government department getting hung under their own rules, this is a load of bollocks.
MNZ are also rapidly heading down the WorkSafe track and seem to believe that their main function in life now is to prosecute as many people as possible. If one of you guys went fishing on one of our boats and cut yourself on the bait knife, or stuck a fish hook in your hand, eye, foot etc, MNZ could prosecute us if we haven't remembered to put those in our Hazard Register and taken steps to mitigate the chances of you being careless. I think we should ban fish hooks and bait knives, or at least insist that the hooks and knives are blunt. Same if we forget to tell you that you shouldn't get sun burned etc etc. This is one seriously sick bureaucracy that we are developing in this country and that isn't good for our future.