Disability advocates fear more harm from WorkSafe changes after four choking deaths last year

Disability advocates Glenn and Fran Marshall.
Photo:
RNZ / Tom Kitchin
Disability advocates fear recent changes to WorkSafe will lead to more harm to the intellectually disabled after four IHC residents choked to death while in care last year.
The government announced on Monday it was
shifting the work and safety regulator's priorities from enforcement to advice
.
Two days earlier, disability advocate Glenn Marshall wrote to WorkSafe urging it to prosecute IDEA Services, IHC's provider arm, over the four choking deaths.
The deaths in Taranaki and Auckland were referred by WorkSafe to the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC) in May, June and July last year, documents released under the Official Information Act reveal.
In a statement, WorkSafe said it would continue enforcement where appropriate and sometimes other agencies, including HDC, were better placed to respond.
An
investigation was launched by Whaikaha, the Ministry of Disabled People
, a summary of which was released to disability advocate Jane Carrigan.
Made up of audits by Standards and Monitoring Services, the investigation found the deaths happened amid documented failures including staff unfamiliar with or not adhering to Safer Eating and Drinking Plans, concerns raised by staff and families not being listened to, and problems with kitchen layout and understaffing.
It also found that in one case a seclusion practice being used by a support worker was a "direct breach" of IDEA Services' contract with Whaikaha, now Disability Support Service.
IDEA Services was to review staffing to deliver services safely including at mealtimes, provide evidence that staff could see residents during mealtimes, ensure staff were properly trained in safe eating plans and medication use for de-escalation instead of seclusion, and ensure staff had a better understanding of the restraint policy and the implications of using restraint.
Four people choked to death while in IDEA Services' care last year.
Photo:
Idea Services
Marshall said he was alarmed at the changes to WorkSafe because he believed enforcement was critical to compliance.
"When you've got six deaths that occur, four of which occurred in a year, all due to negligence regarding vulnerable people, we need enforcement not advice."
Last year's deaths were not the first time an IDEA Services resident had choked to death.
In December 2020, a 63-year-old woman died after choking on leftover food at an IDEA Services flat on Auckland's North Shore.
A WorkSafe investigation found her death was preventable but no one was prosecuted.
Her death came two years after a 59-year-old man choked on uncut sausage in another IDEA Services home.
In that case, the Coroner found the death was avoidable and referred it to the HDC which found IDEA Services breached his rights.
In his letter on Saturday to WorkSafe, Marshall wrote: "These deaths are not isolated tragedies."
"They are the predictable result of systemic failure and unsafe practices that have long been raised with government agencies."
He implored WorkSafe to prosecute.
"If WorkSafe fails to act on five workplace deaths, involving clear evidence of repeated breaches, it would send a chilling and unprecedented signal; that the lives of disabled people in state-funded care do not count.
"Such inaction would embolden other providers to treat safety obligations as optional and would severely damage WorkSafe's credibility across all high-risk sectors. If this pattern of fatal neglect, repeated five times, doesn't trigger prosecution, then what ever will?"
He said sanctions resulting from WorkSafe prosecutions were often more significant than HDC findings.
He pointed to two drowning deaths involving
Palmerston North teenager Nathan Booker
and
Vicki Campbell in Taranaki
both of which resulted in hefty fines.
Carrigan said it was a sad indictment on the system for those with an intellectual disability that WorkSafe had become a primary identifier of conduct in residential care homes, leading to unnecessary death and harm to its residents.
"WorkSafe has been an advocate, a voice of reason, and a prosecutor in many cases where, were it left to our conflicted disability support system and health and disability complaints system, none of the substantive issues would have been identified."
Disability advocate Jane Carrigan.
Photo:
RNZ / Ana Tovey
A WorkSafe spokesperson said it would continue enforcement "where appropriate" under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015.
They said sometimes other government or regulatory agencies also had responsibilities in respect of a sector and were better placed to respond to incidents, including HDC.
"WorkSafe is guided by its regulatory approach and by its enforcement decision-making model to decide when it will intervene and to make proportionate decisions, including enforcement decisions, on a case-by-case basis."
IHC disability services chief operating officer Joan Cowan said IDEA Services was "deeply sorry and saddened" by the deaths and had been in contact with the families.
Cowan said some people with intellectual disabilities had a higher risk of choking and IDEA Services' Safer Eating and Drinking support framework was in place for this purpose, including specialised guidance and support for staff.
The framework was updated in 2020 and 2023 and further improvements were planned, she said.
After the audit was completed in October 2024 an action plan was put in place and completed, and no further action was required, Cowan said.
"We want families and individuals to know that we work hard to provide safe services. This includes a specialist clinical team that provides extra support to our front-line staff.
"We also utilise temporary double staffing where we assess that there may be elevated risk following serious incidents."
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden said her thoughts go out to the families who are impacted by the deaths.
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden.
Photo:
RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
She said her announcement provided WorkSafe with clear expectations to engage early and to help support businesses, individuals, and providers to manage their critical risks.
"This does not change enforcement processes but shifts the focus so that critical risks are managed first and foremost.
"The government's intention is that the changes get rid of over-compliance and that the main focus for WorkSafe as New Zealand's regulator is squarely on critical risks.
"Too many times, I heard throughout public consultation that businesses, which include providers and workers, feared WorkSafe's punitive actions, which is not conducive to health and safety in the workplace."
HDC confirmed it had commenced a commissioner-initiated investigation into the care provided by IDEA Services in relation to the choking fatalities.
"We cannot comment further while this investigation is ongoing."
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