In response to Māori workplace fatality and injury rates WorkSafe, Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) and Ngāti Porou embarked on a tripartite initiative called the Te Ao Maruiti: Health and Safety Learning Pilot.

The pilot aimed to provide a short-term outcome of engaging in a meaningful way (which for Māori is a kaupapa approach) with Māori forestry workers within the Ngāti Porou rohe (boundary).

The pilot comprised 4 wānanga for forestry workers and their whānau, contractors and forestry company representatives held over the course of a year at the Te Taumata o Mihi Marae, in Ruatoria.  The framework for the Te Ao Maruiti: Health and Safety Pilot employs a Māori lens to the world of work and health and safety, which involves moving beyond a sole focus on the workplace or industry and into the homes and lives of whanau, hapū and iwi engaging with Māori industry in partnership.

This kaupapa process evaluation was conducted between January 2017 and March 2018. Overall, the kaupapa process evaluation found that it was a highly successful engagement process and the pilot provided a culturally appropriate and empowering experience for Māori workers and their whanau. Significant outcomes from this pilot have been the development of a Crown-Māori health and safety intervention relationship model for all sectors; an intervention programme that is transferable to other sectors; a worker leadership model; and a transferable health and safety model that is led by regions, by Māori for workers.  This is WorkSafe NZ’s first kaupapa intervention and evaluation.