Haumaru Tāngata Project
The Haumaru Tāngata Project is a tikanga Māori inspired approach to ensuring safety and welfare within the workplace, it is a three-year research project undertaken in collaboration with Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC). The research has been aligned with ACC’s Workplace Injury Prevention Grant stream and was designed to support initiatives that focused on improving the health and safety system in Aotearoa New Zealand’s workplaces.
Haumaru Tāngata has a clear objective: to reduce and prevent workplace injury among Māori workers across all sectors. To achieve this, our team of researchers explored how mātauranga and tikanga Māori can support the design of more effective, culturally inspired, workplace health and safety interventions for Māori. A Māori-centred approach was developed with a view to create meaningful change, with academic, health, research, policy and practical skill sets combined to refine the Haumaru Tāngata framework.
In April 2023, its first-ever Indigenous Māori Health and Safety Conference was held in Kirikiriroa Hamilton, with an aim to achieve equitable outcomes for Māori workers by promoting a ‘by Māori, for Māori’ approach. The Aotearoa Māori Health and Safety Conference was a significant event that emphasised the importance of the Haumaru Tāngata framework, and the interest in the conference showed how much people care about strategies which are built on Māori values and tikanga.
The Haumaru Tāngata Project has collaboratively designed a culturally responsive Māori-centred framework that can be applied, extended, and integrated into health and safety initiatives in workplaces. This is an incredibly important kaupapa that has and will continue to make a lasting difference to the lives of workers in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Our team
- Moira Loach – Project Lead
- Tane Cook – Principal Consultant
- Karamea Tukukino - Coordinator - Research & Innovation
- Dr Cary Monreal-Clark - Manager - Research and Innovation
Current activities
Te Rōpū Marutau o Aotearoa (TRMA) was gifted this taonga in April 2023 due to their national status as a Māori safety association with representatives from across industries and established relationships with other key health and safety organisations such as HASANZ, NZISM, and WorkSafe. These established networks are a key to knowledge transfer processes and successful integration of the framework into high-risk industries.
A marker of success of the Haumaru Tāngata framework is the interest, uptake and successful implementation of the framework across industry sectors. Reducing injury and fatalities among Māori and all workers is in the interest of all New Zealanders and can also have far reaching economic, social, and cultural effects. Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi are currently working with Te Rōpū Marutau o Aotearoa (TRMA) to achieve these goals.
Useful links:
The Haumaru Tāngata Framework aims to support Health and Safety in the workplace
Moira Loach presents at the first Māori Health and Safety conference
Related News
First Māori Health and Safety Conference
Te Rōpū Marutau o Aotearoa (TRMA) held the first-ever Māori Health and Safety Conference in Kirikiriroa last month.
Whakapā mai/Contact us
For any enquiries please contact Te Rōpū Maratau o Aotearoa