New Zealand Businesses Invited to Bid on Health and Safety Funding

New Zealand’s small and medium businesses will soon be able to bid on a share of safety funding, after the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) announced a $22 million injury prevention scheme to help prevent workplace injuries before they occur.

The ACC say the money ($4.4 million per year over five years) will help the many organisations that do not have the financial resources, capability or capacity to invest in health and safety improvements and innovation.

Subsidies will allow businesses to invest in training, equipment, or advisory services that have a direct impact on the health and safety of workplaces. The safety fund will also provide grants to larger businesses in order to promote innovation and research.

ACC Head of Workplace Safety and Levies, Paul G Gimblett, said that while New Zealand was well-known around the world for its’ innovation and work ethic, it still had an unacceptably high rate of workplace accidents.

“This funding will support Kiwi businesses to access effective health and safety solutions and share learnings and innovations to tackle the unknown. We want all Kiwis to return home to their friends and whanau in the same health as when they began their day at work.”

Priority areas for investment

The ACC processed over 230,000 claims for work-related injuries in 2017. The following five sectors currently represent half of all sever workplace injuries, and are therefore being treated as priority areas for investment.

• agriculture
• construction
• forestry
• manufacturing
• healthcare and social assistance.

For grants, the first funding round will open in February, with a subsequent round expected in September.

For subsidies, three rounds of offerings (sector-specific) are planned in 2019. The first round will start in February with other subsidy offerings expected in June and September.

Learn more about subsidies.

Learn more about grants.