Safety
255 Amputations at Work Last Year: The Lowest in 16 Years of Data
A Black Ferns star's comeback from a knee reconstruction made the sports pages. The quieter injury number sits in a Stats NZ table: work-related amputations have fallen 39% since 2009, and 2024 was the lowest year on record.
Serious Injuries Barely Moved for Nine Years. Then They Nearly Doubled
New Zealand recorded 7,650 serious non-fatal injuries in 2000 and 7,815 in 2008. By 2024 the count was 14,283, after 16 straight years of increases. But the pace of that climb has slowed sharply, and that is the part worth paying attention to.
486 Compression Injuries: The Highest Count Since 2009, and Rising
Carpal tunnel and similar compression injuries build silently over years of repetitive work. New Zealand recorded 486 of them in 2024, the most in 15 years. The number has more than tripled since 2013.
Over-75s Are Getting Hurt at Work Twice as Often as in 2012
Work injury claims for New Zealanders aged 75 and over have more than doubled in twelve years, from 1,233 to 2,598. That's about ten injured over-75s every working day, and almost nobody is talking about them.
39 Serious Injuries a Day: New Zealand Hasn't Had a Safer Year Since 2008
Serious non-fatal injuries have risen every single year since 2008, reaching 14,283 in 2024. But the climb has almost stalled since 2019, and that flattening is the most hopeful number in 24 years of data.
The Work Injury That Tripled Since 2013 While Nobody Was Watching
When a Christchurch business evacuated over an unidentified substance this week, that's the workplace danger we picture. But the fastest-growing injury in the data arrives silently, over months, and claims for it just hit a 15-year high.
More Than One Under-Five a Day: Child Injuries Hit a 19-Year High
While the government moves to protect under-16s from social media, the hard injury numbers for the youngest Kiwis have quietly climbed to their worst level since 2002. Three straight years above 380 serious or fatal injuries to children aged 0-4.