While Wairarapa communities are cut off from their livelihoods by storm damage, there's a different livelihood story hiding in the data: New Zealand workplaces are getting dramatically safer for people who can least afford to get hurt.

Serious injuries among workers aged 55-59 dropped to 4,734 in 2024 — down from 10,350 just four years earlier. That's a 54% plunge. (Source: Stats NZ / ACC, fatal-serious-injuries)

This matters because this cohort can't afford to be injured. You're too young for superannuation, too old to easily switch careers, and probably carrying a mortgage you hoped would be paid off by now. A workplace injury at 57 doesn't just mean pain and recovery — it means financial catastrophe.

So what changed? Not the workers. The 55-59 age group is actually growing as New Zealand's population ages. More people in this bracket are working longer because they have to. Retirement at 65 with a paid-off house and a healthy KiwiSaver balance? That's becoming a fairy tale for many Kiwis.

The contrast is stark: in 2020, over 10,000 people in this age group suffered serious workplace injuries. By 2022, that number had dropped below 5,000. It's held steady there ever since — 4,929 in 2022, 4,908 in 2023, 4,734 in 2024.

This is the lowest figure since 2002, back when the world looked completely different. Back then, fewer people in this age bracket were still working. Now, labour force participation among older Kiwis is at record highs — and yet injuries are at record lows.

Something fundamental has shifted. Maybe it's better workplace health and safety enforcement after the Pike River reforms. Maybe it's the shift away from heavy manufacturing toward service jobs. Maybe older workers are being given less physically demanding roles. Or maybe — and this is harder to measure — employers have finally figured out that keeping experienced workers safe is cheaper than replacing them.

Whatever the cause, the result is clear: if you're approaching 60 and still working, your odds of a serious workplace injury have roughly halved in four years.

It won't make headlines. There's no crisis here, no minister to blame, no reason for outrage. Just thousands of Kiwis who made it through another year without a life-altering injury at work. In a week when natural disasters are cutting people off from their jobs, it's worth acknowledging: some things are quietly getting better.

For a generation that can't afford to stop working, that might be the best news they'll hear all week.