INDEPENDENT NEWS

Innovation in health and safety projects

Published: Wed 31 Jul 2019 02:42 PM
Five organisations are being awarded grants for innovative projects that help reduce injuries in the workplace, and help us to make progress in protecting the wellbeing of working New Zealanders says ACC Minister Iain Lees-Galloway.
The grants are part of ACC’s new $22 million injury prevention incentive programme for businesses over the next five years.
The successful applicants are the Food and Grocery Council, Forestry Industry Safety Council, Construction Health and Safety New Zealand (CHASNZ), Beca, and a collective made up of the Auckland, Hawke’s Bay and Hutt Valley District Health Boards.
“Kiwis are well-known around the world for being innovative and hard working. That’s great, but the sad truth is that we also have an unacceptably high rate of workplace accidents compared to international standards,” says Iain Lees-Galloway.
“These grants we’re announcing today are about supporting business innovation and strengthening leadership on health and safety in our high-risk sectors. The projects include virtual reality, smartphone apps, and intervention training.
“These injury prevention grants will help ensure New Zealanders return home to their friends and whanau safe and healthy after work. They align with the Health and Safety at Work Strategy I announced late last year to drive sustainable, system-wide improvements.
“It is particularly encouraging to see two successful applicants, CHASNZ and Beca, working together to find modern safety solutions for the construction sector that is experiencing its worst fatality rate in a decade, with 11 deaths already this year,” says Iain Lees-Galloway.
In 2018 there were around 37,000 construction injury claims received by ACC. The injury prevention grants will help Beca and CHASNZ tackle this problem with an immersive virtual reality health and safety induction for the vertical construction industry, that is supported by advanced analytic techniques and better data collection.

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