The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), in partnership with Auckand Council, will provide funding for the coordination of the Safety Collective over the next three years.

Safety Collective is a network of agencies and community groups who have recently obtained Safe Community accreditation status for the Auckland region. It aims to support communities in increasing well-being and becoming advocates and enablers of injury prevention and safety. It does this by using evidence, partnerships and collaboration to tackle the most important issues.

“A high priority for the network is to address inequities in injury and safety outcomes for groups such as Māori, Pasifika, certain age and income groups who suffer disproportionately,” Tāmaki Makaurau – Auckland Safety Collective chair and Councillor Efeso Collins said. “Road deaths and serious injuries occur at three times the rate for people living in the poorest areas of Auckland.

“The network will look for innovative ways to tackle this,” he added.

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For the next three years, Safety Collective aims to bring measurable improvement to injury prevention and community safety outcomes for the wellbeing of Aucklanders.

Auckland Council noted the region saw 2,212 injury-related deaths between 2011 and 2015. Of those deaths, 63% were unintentional. Most were predictable and preventable.