Work-Related Road Safety Collaboration Discovery Project
The Work-Related Road Safety Collaboration Project focused on determining the strategic intent, desirability, feasibility and viability of a work-related road safety collaboration programme within New Zealand.
This project was led by Waka Kotahi in conjunction with Beginners Mind with support from Navona.
Project Objective
Waka Kotahi commission this project as an integral component of the broader Work-Related Road Safety Programme. Its chief goal was to address the specific needs of five principal road user groups: professional drivers, professional travellers, commuters, workers on the road, and third parties like pedestrians and cyclists. The project's methodology was twofold. Firstly, it explored the desirability of the proposed initiative and assessed the applicability of the Australian National Road Safety Partnership Programme to the New Zealand context. Simultaneously, it laid the groundwork for collaborative engagement, drawing insights from a diverse array of stakeholders to enrich the design process.
Project Process
Leveraging the Collective Impact Framework and design thinking principles, the project reached out to an extensive range of industry stakeholders within road safety and the health, safety, and wellbeing arena. Navona's strength in this endeavour was its ability to tap into its vast professional network, ensuring an active and diverse participation.
Across six months, our team conducted 11 workshops and facilitated 27 one-to-one interviews, amassing insights from over 100 participants. The project design was anchored in the principles of He Awa Whiria, adopting a braided rivers approach. This method saw separate Maori and Western streams working independently before converging for collaborative synthesis. This inclusive methodology ensured every voice was acknowledged, fostering a holistic outcome enriched by community contributions.
Project Delivery
Beginners Mind, alongside Navona, successfully delivered a comprehensive main report, accompanied by a detailed annex, as a culmination of insights and findings for Waka Kotahi's Work-Related Road Safety Programme. Additionally, a presentation document was crafted, tailored for the future socialisation and broader dissemination of the project's outcomes. The final report was particularly noteworthy, presenting a series of nuanced recommendations that addressed the collaboration's structure, its operational methodologies, potential partnerships, and other foundational elements essential for ensuring the collaboration's success within the Road to Zero strategy.
Work-Related Road Safety Health, Safety and Wellbeing Ecosystem Challenges
New Zealand’s ecosystem for health, safety and wellbeing is evolving and re-shaping. Compared to other developed economies, New Zealand’s health, safety and wellbeing and road safety environment is less mature, for example New Zealand has adapted Australia’s longer-established health and safety model including the principles of PCBU (person conducting a business or undertaking), but has not yet fully evolved similar codes for Chain of Responsibility to the extent adopted in Australia.
The current work-related road safety ecosystem in New Zealand frequently engages, and often relys on, the five road user groups to operate, including road users that are historically neglected by the businesses’ health, safety and wellbeing policies such as grey fleet professional travellers and commuters.
Project Background and Landscape
Development of a Work-Related Road Safety Collaboration is an early part of Waka Kotahi’s wider Work-Related Road Safety Programme within the overall Road to Zero strategy. Road to Zero has a vision of a New Zealand where no one is killed or seriously injured in road crashes, with an intermediate target of 40% reduction in deaths and serious injuries by 2030.
Waka Kotahi, industry, and other government agencies are combining forces to implement a work-related road safety collaboration which forms one of five focus areas within their Road to Zero strategy. The Work-Related Road Safety Collaboration Discovery Project contributes to part of the work-related road safety programme, the workstreams, and ultimately the wider Road to Zero strategy.
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Interested in learning more about this project or discovery projects in general? Please reach out and someone from the team will be in touch.