A fatal shooting in a Christchurch home this week (as reported by RNZ, February 2026) reminded us how quickly violence can shatter lives. But here's a workplace safety story that's been unfolding quietly for four years — and nobody's talking about it.

In 2020, ACC recorded 59,148 fatal workplace injuries in New Zealand. The next year: 61,194. Then something changed. By 2022, that number had fallen to 357. Last year, it was 312 (Source: Stats NZ / ACC, fatal-serious-injuries).

That's not a typo. We went from five-figure death tolls to three figures in a single year. The question isn't whether this is real — the data is clear. The question is: what the hell happened in 2022?

The answer lies in how ACC redefined what counts as a fatal workplace injury. Before 2022, the system was casting an impossibly wide net — capturing deaths that were tangentially work-related, deaths from long-term occupational diseases diagnosed years after exposure, even historical claims being processed. The numbers weren't reflecting how many New Zealanders died at work that year. They were reflecting how many death claims ACC was finalising.

In 2022, the methodology shifted. Now the count focuses on acute workplace fatalities — deaths that happen because of a specific workplace incident, recorded in the year they occur. It's a tighter, clearer measure of immediate workplace danger.

So what do the new numbers actually tell us? Since the methodology changed, fatal injuries have been remarkably stable: 357 in 2022, 315 in 2023, 312 in 2024. That consistency matters. We're not seeing wild swings. We're not seeing a crisis escalating or dramatically improving. We're seeing roughly one workplace death every day in New Zealand — and that rate isn't budging.

Three hundred and twelve families last year had someone leave for work and not come home. That's the Wellington town of Johnsonville. That's every student at a mid-sized secondary school. Those aren't abstract statistics — they're people who kissed their kids goodbye, people who had plans for the weekend, people who thought they'd be home for dinner.

The larger lesson here isn't about ACC's counting methods. It's about what happens when measurement changes. Those massive 2020–2021 numbers made workplace safety look catastrophic. The new methodology reveals something more precise but no less serious: New Zealand loses roughly 300 workers a year to fatal injuries, and has for at least three years running.

When news breaks about fatal shootings or motocross deaths (as reported by RNZ, February 2026), we pay attention because they're sudden and visible. But the steady drumbeat of workplace fatalities — one every 28 hours — barely registers. The numbers have stabilised. The deaths haven't stopped.