Labour promises to introduce a corporate homicide offence carrying a punishment of life imprisonment, if it's elected.
By Lauren Crimp of RNZ
Families of those killed in the Pike River Mine disaster have long campaigned for the charge.
Labour workplace relations and safety spokesperson Jan Tinetti said New Zealand had a sobering record on health and safety at work.
"We have some of the highest workplace deaths in the developed world," she said.
"This is a glaring hole that we don't have as a deterrent for those people, those employers that are not ensuring that there's strong health and safety provisions in their workplace."
Under the party's proposed law, a person or company could be found guilty, if they had a legal duty of care, and exposed anyone to a risk of death or serious injury, and if someone then died.
An individual could be sentenced to life in prison and companies could be fined up to $10 million.
Tinetti hoped that would be enough incentive for companies to strengthen health and safety practices, so no prosecutions would be necessary.
The United Kingdom had 30 convictions since the offence was introduced in 2008, she said.
Tinetti said Labour had worked with unions, employers and families of the Pike River victims on the policy.
"We all remember those 29 men and we do not want to see that happen again in this country," she said.
"This could be the deterrent that would have stopped or could have stopped that happening, but it is hard to say in hindsight."
'Fantastic' - Pike River campaigner
In 2010, a methane-fuelled explosion ripped through the Pike River coal mine on the South Island's West Coast, killing 29 workers.
Sonya Rockhouse's 21-year-old son Ben was one of them.
She and Anna Osborne, who's husband Milt also died, had since campaigned for tougher health and safety laws, including a corporate manslaughter charge.
Rockhouse said Labour's policy was "fantastic" and hoped to see it eventually introduced into law.
"If we had had corporate homicide or corporate manslaughter, we wouldn't be where we are now," she said.
"It's too late for us... but at least we can leave a legacy of knowing that those that come in the future will be far better off in the workplace."
She hoped the threat of life in prison or a big fine would be enough to make change.
"I think the majority, it will make them think twice about making sure that health and safety is a priority in their companies," she said.
"People who are in charge and who knowingly don't make the workplace safe, they need to be held to account."
Rockhouse said her work would never be done, and she and Osborne, among others, would push governments of any stripe to ensure people were kept safe at work.
They recently rallied against an overhaul of health and safety laws, which they warned would risk a workplace disaster.
The minister in charge, Brooke van Velden, said the bill offered commonsense changes that increased certainty, eased compliance costs and improved safety.
Labour has promised to repeal the changes.
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