Boards urged to ‘join dots’ on safety and productivity

In 2024, preventable harm cost New Zealand $5.4 billion. While overall workplace injuries are trending down, the time off work from each injury has doubled in the past decade – due to factors including more severe injuries, health system delays, ACC changes and workers presenting with multiple conditions.

New Zealand workers remain significantly more likely to be killed at work than their counterparts in many other OECD countries, including being 6.5 times more likely than workers in the UK.

These outcomes are not due to a lack of effort, but to system-level gaps in how work is designed, resourced and governed, according to the third State of a Thriving Nation report, commissioned by the Business Leaders’ Health and Safety Forum.

Forum Chief Executive Francois Barton and Chair Sheridan Broadbent CMInstD call for leadership that goes beyond compliance: doubling down on critical risk controls, staying connected to ‘work as done’ – including with their supply chains – and proactively managing return-to-work for affected workers.

They state: “We know many CEOs are already doing this, and more, but if we are to do our part to improve our country’s international competitiveness and prosperity, we need all our CEOs, board chairs and directors to join the dots on safety and productivity and lead from the top.”

For the first time, the report demonstrates a measurable relationship between lower workplace deaths and higher productivity in many countries.

New Zealand’s productivity has trailed behind Australia for nearly four decades – and so has its workplace safety record.

Of the 25 OECD countries with better productivity than New Zealand, 80% have lower fatality rates per 100,000 employed. This reinforces what many already know: improved safety and operational performance can be achieved in tandem, if done right.

The report outlines four key points for businesses looking to improve safety and operational performance:

 1. Secure and sustain funding for safety: identify all safety-critical risks, have a clear budget line and collaborate with others to share costs.

2. Track and value hidden benefits: measure staff retention, turnover and training costs alongside safety performance, and factor reputational risks into investment decisions.

3. Keep people at the core of work design and delivery: design processes and environments to prevent unsafe shortcuts, and train workers and managers to recognise real-world hazards.

4. Integrate safety into daily operations: align procurement and management systems with safety objectives and hold managers accountable for safety outcomes as part of performance.

The report calls for leaders to embed health, safety and wellbeing into how decisions are made, how success is defined and how systems are built.

Organisations must engage in continuous learning and sense-making to close the gap between how work is planned (‘work as imagined’) and how it actually happens (‘work as done’). This adaptive approach enables safer, more resilient workplaces that respond effectively to frontline realities and economic pressures.

As the report makes clear, boards shape outcomes through the way they lead, invest and respond to pressure. While each organisation must lead within its own walls, effective governance underpins higher safety standards and system-wide maturity.

The opportunity – and responsibility – lies in ensuring that work is designed to support not only business goals, but also the people doing the work.

For directors seeking ways to enhance organisational health and performance, refer to the IoD and WorkSafe’s Health and Safety Governance: A Good Practice Guide.