New Zealand has a dismal file of deaths and accidents within the office, and there are considerations about what might occur if a post-graduate well being and security course at Victoria University is amongst these dumped to avoid wasting prices.

The University is the one one within the nation to supply a specialised post-grad programme in office well being and security, however the establishment has been reviewing which employees and programs will should be lower with a purpose to make financial savings.

The Workplace Health and Safety programme has been provided since 2020 – a part of a push after the Pike River mining catastrophe to scale back hurt at work.

In the primary 4 months of this yr there have already been 28 deaths as the results of a office accident, and 7 thousand accidents that resulted in individuals being off work for per week or extra.

And Worksafe estimates there are between 750 to 900 work-related well being deaths annually. 

Susie speaks with Mike O’Brien,  impartial chair of the Health and Safety Association New Zealand and Joanne Crawford, who’s WorkSafe New Zealand Chair in Health and Safety at Victoria University’s School of Health – and is among the programme’s lecturers.

Construction website security signage.
Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

Workplace deaths and accidents are frequent in New Zealand, and the doable lack of a course to fight it’s elevating concern.