In 2020, 72,756 Māori workers suffered serious or fatal injuries on the job. By 2022, that number had dropped to 34,086. A stunning 53% reduction in just two years.

Then something changed. Or rather, something stopped changing.

In 2023, serious injuries to Māori workers fell to 33,675. In 2024, they dropped to 32,916. That's progress, yes. But it's a crawl compared to the sprint of the previous two years. (Source: Stats NZ / ACC, fatal-serious-injuries)

Here's the tension: we proved we could make workplaces dramatically safer for Māori workers. We did it once. We cut the injury rate in half in 24 months. Then we just.. stopped.

What happened between 2020 and 2022? COVID lockdowns reshaped the workforce. Riskier industries shut down or scaled back. Construction sites emptied. The data suggests those changes protected Māori workers, who are disproportionately represented in high-risk sectors like construction, forestry, and manufacturing.

But as the economy reopened, the injury rate stabilised. It didn't bounce back to 2020 levels, which is important. But it didn't keep falling either. We're now treading water at around 33,000 serious injuries per year.

That's still 33,000 people. Every single one represents someone who went to work and didn't come home the same way they left. A fractured spine. A severed finger. A traumatic brain injury. Or worse.

The contrast between 2020-2022 and 2023-2024 raises an uncomfortable question: if we could cut the injury rate in half once, why can't we do it again? Was the first drop just lucky timing, or did we learn something we're not applying anymore?

Looking back further, the data shows we've been here before. In 2000, serious injuries to Māori workers numbered 38,745. By 2019, they'd climbed to 67,848. Nearly two decades of getting worse, not better.

The 2020-2022 drop broke that pattern. But if we're not careful, 2023-2024 could mark the start of a new plateau. Or worse, the beginning of another climb.

We know how to make workplaces safer. We proved it. The question now is whether we're willing to finish what we started.