Health & Safety

The Live Well, Build Well initiative began in late 2022 to help residential construction workers improve their mental health and wellbeing. Backed by the Mental Health Foundation and ACC, the programme is designed to help builders and tradies build the mental strength and resilience needed to cope with the demands of working in a challenging […]

Canterbury’s meth use is now almost 40% above its average level from last year, recent wastewater testing shows. National consumption has risen to an estimated 36.6kg per week.  This level of methamphetamine use has a weekly social harm cost of almost $40 million. Cocaine use has decreased since it spiked in the October 2025 quarter, […]

When MATES in Construction NZ heard from more than 2300 workers through the 2025 Industry Well-being Survey, supported by ASB, the message was clear: connection matters. Not in a vague or abstract way, but in the everyday moments that shape life on site. In fact, 27% of workers said mateship and social connection positively contributed […]

Fast-moving floodwater dramatically increases the risk to urban pedestrians, new modelling has shown.  A Wellington case study showed that walking and driving routes to hospitals, public transport and essential services can be cut off during peak flooding. Researchers overlaid flood risk maps onto Wellington’s transport network to assess whether people could reach essential services during […]

WorkSafe is calling on all industries to follow through on controlling risks once they are identified after a gas explosion burned a forklift driver.  In March 2024, the forklift caught fire, igniting LPG that was being released from condemned cylinders. Several nine-kilogram gas bottles exploded, fuelling the fire. The driver was hospitalised with burns and […]

Six children’s coloured sand products prompted widespread school closures across Australia and New Zealand in November 2025 after laboratory testing detected traces of tremolite and chrysotile asbestos. By mid‑November, dozens of schools in New Zealand and over 70 in Australia’s ACT had temporarily shut, while hundreds more sought guidance from regulators. The products, rainbow sand from Educational […]