The Council of Trade Unions says New Zealand has a shocking rate of accidents and death at work.

It follows the loss of a hand by a Timaru man in a meatworks accident at the Alliance Smithfield Plant.

CTU president Richard Wagstaff said work and safety at the workplace is taking far too long to improve.

"We still face today far too many accidents, far too many fatalities and I'm sure Worksafe and the minister are feeling anxious about the slow improvement we're seeing.

"We need a much more dramatic improvement and we need it more quickly."

Wagstaff said when compared to other countries, we are at the bottom of the scale when it comes to health and safety.

"It's still far too common in New Zealand, we have a shocking rate of accident and death at work, New Zealand would look by comparison with other similar countries to be doing very poorly when it comes to health and safety."