The Government has bowed to pressure from farmers and watered down its proposed health and safety law so that sheep, beef and dairy farmers are exempt from new rules, but some unusual farm workplaces will be forced to comply.
Wendy Clark is "stoked" farmers like her have been spared from having to appoint health and safety representatives.
The Government is finalising which workplaces must appoint a staff member to make sure bosses follow the rules. This will include all those with more than 25 employees, and workplaces with fewer than 25 employees that are deemed "high risk".
The list of 57 high-risk industries released today includes mining and forestry, but most farm-based workplaces have been excluded.
National Party MP Michael Woodhouse wasn't able to give much clarification on what has been excluded, but says it was the majority of the farming sector.
Low-risk farming includes sheep, beef, dairy and deer farming, and high-risk farming includes beekeeping, worm farming, horse and cat breeding along with other industry too.
These farmers will require a safety representative.
In the past five years there have been 104 agriculture and farm deaths, which were spread over 84,000 workers.
There will be 15,000 reps nationwide given taxpayer-funded training, but the exemptions have annoyed the Pike River family members like Anna Osborne, whose husband Milton was killed.
"To me that is playing Russian roulette with a worker's life, really. I think everybody should be represented," she says.
The safety gate has been left open for farmers.
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