It is a pleasure to be here today to address your annual conference and to be presenting the PRINCE and Responsible Care awards. These awards are an excellent way to recognise leadership and looking at the agenda I can see that you know your priorities. You have the awards first and then you get down to the heavy stuff.

With subjects such as "meeting the hazardous substance challenge", "managing risk" and "an environmental protection authority" - these are serious issues.

Awards are a great example of an industry celebrating and with that, demonstrating leadership in improving workplace and environmental health and safety. It is clear and heartening that you support the Government's aim of reducing harm to our people and our environment.

Despite huge gains in health and safety New Zealanders still have far too many injuries in the workplace when compared with other first-world nations. And the fact that each year 80 to 100 New Zealanders don't go home to their families at the end of a shift, is sobering.  We kill and injury too many people at work - not only when compared with other fist world countries. Quite simply, we kill and injure too many people at work.

I am told that the financial and social cost of our work toll is high.  At an estimated $16 billion a year, that is a massive sum in anyone's language, around 10% of GDP. I know Bernard Hickey is discussing Economic Nirvana later this morning. I don't know what Bernard will talk about but I do know that as a country we cannot afford to lose 10% of our GDP due to injury.

When I look at the chemical industry, and when I see programmes such as your performance accreditation programme, it shows me that safety, health and environmental protection is being taken seriously by this industry. It is this sort of leadership that we as a country greatly need from our major industries.

What I also recognise is that industry leaders are in a prime position to positively influence health and safety practices, not just in their own workplaces but across the supply chains and the communities in which they operate. Leadership by our senior executives on this issue is critical if we are to bring down rates of illness and injury.

In this regard the Chemical Industry Council is somewhat unique. I am told that the Council represents more than 90% of our national and international manufacturers and importers together with a cross section of major users. As you represent the voice of the industry, my expectations are high.

This Government knows that when we all work together we achieve outcomes. I am pleased to see the Department and the Council already have a productive relationship and that together you are supporting best practice in the chemical industry.

I want to encourage this and I know that Maarten Quivooy will be talking later about what the Department hopes to achieve through the application of modern regulatory practice.

I am aware that some industries haven't quite yet developed such a productive relationship with the Department. Some of you will have heard that I recently attended a health and safety forum involving a group of New Zealand CEOs. This was the first government-industry meeting of its kind and is a further example of how this Government want the country's largest firms to explore ways that business and government agencies can work together.

I was heartened by the strong commitment these leaders made to work together on an ongoing basis.  I will meet with them again later this month when some of the business leaders will present initial ideas on how this CEO forum might work in future.

The CEO forum not only reflects how the Government wants to engage with industry but also reflects a change that is taking place in the way the Department of Labour works with industries. Many of you will have read about how the Department is moving to strengthen its role as an effective and modern regulator. Modern, more effective regulators promote and encourage voluntary compliance by working with the industries and people they regulate. Maarten has talked to me about using enforcement strategically, holding serious and repeat offenders to account but equally, using the right tool for the situation.

I know that the Chemical Industry Council already works closely with various regulatory bodies to help ensure the industry has the right tools and that the councils range of tools enables employers to demonstrate a superior standard of health and safety performance. I am particularly pleased that these tools are operating for SMEs as often these are the businesses that find it most difficult.

I appreciate that I am talking to the converted but I want to emphasise the link between health and safety and productivity. I have already mentioned the cost. Too often health and safety is seen solely as an expense, as a cost - the cost of buying the right gear, the cost of training staff etc.

When we start to see health and safety in light of productivity, then we will be making the right steps. There are sound business reasons for improving health and safety in our workplaces and the research shows clear links between the drivers of a company's health and safety performance and its productivity.

I know of a recent management capability study released by the Ministry of Economic Development that showed organisations that are leaders in health and safety practices within their industry also tend to have a better overall business performance. Investing in high performance workplace practices is good for health and safety and good for productivity.

Some of the benefits of linking health and safety to productivity are obvious. Fewer injuries mean more people keep working and reduce ACC costs. However, many of the benefits are more subtle. Having safe workplaces enhances an organisation's reputation with customers, investors and employees. Designing safety into business practices supports innovation, improves quality and efficiency.

Clearly, safety is not a trade-off for productivity.  The two go hand in hand. In tough economic times, such as we face now, safety initiatives can almost be overlooked or ignored due to perceived or real compliance costs. If a business is struggling they might look for short cuts or simply let something lapse that they wouldn't normally. Compliance costs are an issue on many fronts but the cost of a workplace accident is far greater. The consequences can be huge for a business; its reputation, the morale and its productivity are all potentially vulnerable.

The Council's involvement in the Responsible Care/PRINCE awards tells me that your industry understands the link between workplace health and safety and better business performance.

I hope you will join me in spreading this news down through your supply chains.

Before I close I want to put a final word in for the review of the Workplace Health and Safety Strategy. As you know the strategy aims to ensure that public and private sector efforts to reduce the human and financial toll of workplace injuries are well targeted and coordinated.  Its vision is healthy people in safe and productive workplaces.

The Strategy, which has been operating for the last three years, has a 10 year timeframe. The current review is one of three priorities agreed between me and the Prime Minister for the Labour portfolio.

The review process - which involved seeking feedback from industry organisations like the council - was designed to ensure a broad spectrum of opinion and input was captured. There was a notably high level of consensus about workplace health and safety's progress, barriers and future priorities.  This level of consensus provides a credible foundation from which to consider the review's findings. 

The feedback received has affirmed the need for the Strategy. There was also widespread agreement about the need for clearer direction in order to bridge the gap between the higher level framework and implementation activities.

I anticipate that when it is completed it will provide a practical agenda for action in improving workplace health and safety. I trust that the chemical industry and the council will continue to play an active part.

Thank you.

It now gives me great pleasure to present the PRINCE and Responsible Care awards.