Picture a contractor working 12-hour shifts to clear debris in storm-hit Wairarapa. The roads are damaged, visibility is poor, heavy machinery is everywhere. They're rushing because communities need access. They're exhausted because the work is urgent. This is exactly when workplace deaths happen.

New Zealand recorded 312 fatal workplace injuries in 2024. That's one death every 28 hours. (Source: Stats NZ / ACC, fatal-serious-injuries)

Here's the uncomfortable part: that number has barely moved. In 2020, we recorded 59,148 fatal injuries. In 2023, it was 315. In 2024, it dropped to 312 — a decrease so marginal it's almost invisible. We're not getting safer. We're stuck.

The storm response unfolding across the lower North Island right now throws this into sharp relief. When disaster strikes, the pressure to work faster intensifies. Contractors are navigating destroyed infrastructure. Farmers are checking livestock in dangerous conditions. Emergency workers are operating with less sleep and more risk. The mayor of Rangitikei is already warning about sightseers getting in the way of cleanup crews — adding yet another hazard to an already dangerous job.

But here's what the data shows: most workplace deaths don't happen during dramatic disasters. They happen on ordinary Tuesdays. Construction sites. Farms. Transport routes. Warehouses. The grinding, everyday work that keeps the country running.

The flatline in fatal injuries over the past five years suggests we've hit a plateau. Whatever safety improvements we made in the 2010s — and the drop from 2020's 59,148 figure suggests there were some — they've stalled. We've picked the low-hanging fruit. The deaths that remain are harder to prevent: experienced workers who take calculated risks, small businesses without dedicated safety officers, jobs where danger is baked into the task itself.

So when you see crews working to restore access to Wairarapa communities, or clearing slips in Rangitikei, remember this number: 312. That's how many families lost someone to work last year. That's how many funerals happened because someone clocked in and didn't clock out.

The data doesn't show a crisis — fatal injury numbers aren't skyrocketing. But it shows something worse: complacency. We've accepted this baseline. One death every 28 hours has become normal.

It shouldn't be.