Kerre Woodham: More road cones aren't the answer to workplace safety

I know the road cones might seem trivial, but to me, I've always thought they were a metaphor for excessive spending and over-rigorous regulation.  

When you looked at road cones, it wasn't a little cherry orange witches hat you saw, it was costs being inflated and people being overly cautious, the wasting of time and money, which was happening across so many government departments. When National referred to road cones during the election campaign, as they did from time to time, I thought they too were using it as a symbol of excess and a symbol of red tape strangling growth. But no, road cones are in fact in the gun.  

Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced excessive use of the temporary traffic management tools (as they're officially known), must come to an end.  He says use of road cones is out of control and the temporary speed limit reductions that are often left in place when work is complete is a massive frustration for drivers, and says common sense must prevail.  

Of course, safety for road workers must be paramount. I heard Andrew mention 40 deaths a year... well, no, there are 10 deaths per year among road workers and 30 serious injury accidents. Way too many. That's 10 deaths too many, 30 serious injury accidents too many, even taking into account that you're working with unforgiving machinery and that there are far more risk factors involved than there are in working in an office, that's way too many accidents.  

But clearly an overabundance of road cones doesn't equate to an overabundance of caution. There are millions of road cones on our roads, and they are not keeping the road workers safe. It's unlikely more road cones is going to be the answer when it comes to workplace safety.  

I imagine there will be a chill wind blowing through the accounts offices of all those companies and contractors that have been working for government departments. No more sending off of invoices and just counting the gold coins coming back into the company. This seems to send a message that costs will be questioned and audited and double checked, and this is a very, very good thing. People have to be accountable when it's taxpayer dollars that are funding the projects, and I suspect that while many, many companies and businesses and who can blame them, have had a glorious few years feathering their nests, the good times are fast coming to an end.   

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Carrywood and Morning's podcast from News
Talks ad B.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
I know the road cones might seem trivial, but to me,
I've always thought they were a metaphor for excessive spending
and over rigorous regulation. When you looked at road cones
and wasn't a little cherry orange witches hat you saw.
It was costs being inflated and people being overly cautious,

(00:35):
the wasting of time and money, which was happening across
so many government departments. When National referred to road cones
during the election campaign, as they did from time to time,
I thought they too were using it as a symbol
of excess and a symbol of red tape strangling growth.
But no road cones are in fact in the Gun.

(01:00):
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has announced excessive use of the
temporary traffic management tools as they're officially non must come
to an end. He says use of road cones is
out of control and the temporary speed limit reductions that
are often left in place when work is complete is
a massive frustration for drivers and says common sense must prevail.

(01:23):
Of course, safety for road workers must be paramount. I
had Andrew mentioned forty deaths a year. Well, no, there
are ten deaths per year among road workers and thirty
serious injury accidents way too many. That's ten deaths too many,
thirty serious injury accidents too many, even taking into account

(01:47):
that you're working with unforgiving machinery and that there are
far more risk factors involved than there are in working
in an office. It's way too many accidents. But clearly
an over abundance of road cones doesn't equate to when
overabundance of caution. There are millions of road cones on

(02:10):
our roads and they are not keeping the road workers safe.
It's unlikely more road cones is going to be the
answer when it comes to workplace safety. I imagine there
will be a chill wind blowing through the accounts offices
of all those companies and contractors that have been working
for government departments. No more sending off of invoices and

(02:34):
just counting the gold coins coming back into the company loop.
This seems to send a message that costs will be
questioned and audited and double checked. And this is a
very very good thing. People have to be accountable when
it's taxpayer dollars that are funding the projects, and I

(02:55):
suspect that while many many companies and businesses and who
can blame them, have had a glorious few years feathering
their nests, the good times are fast coming to an end.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
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podcast on iHeartRadio.