Building real-world safety improvements at Auckland Council

After three decades in education, Becki made the transition into health and safety and strengthened her capability through the EMA’s NZ Diploma in Workplace Health and Safety Management (Level 6), New Zealand’s only face-to-face NZQA Level 6 programme dedicated to health and safety professionals.

That investment in professional development proved pivotal. The programme supported Becki to move from operational safety roles into strategic leadership, helping “open up doors” to larger, more complex opportunities, including Auckland Council, where she now leads health, safety and wellbeing across a workforce of around 7,500 people.

Today, as Head of Health, Safety & Wellbeing, Becki is applying that foundation to drive real change, shifting the organisation away from traditional, top-down training models towards a more collaborative, practical approach grounded in how work actually happens.

Her work at Auckland Council demonstrates what’s possible when capability development is paired with the right mindset: safer systems, stronger worker engagement, and solutions that are designed with the people who use them every day.

Building safer systems through people and partnership

As one of New Zealand’s largest and most complex organisations, Auckland Council manages a diverse workforce of around 7,500 people.

Ensuring their health, safety and wellbeing requires more than compliance—it requires deep understanding of how work is actually done.

For Becki Abbott, Head of Health, Safety & Wellbeing, that journey has been shaped in part by her professional development through the EMA’s NZ Diploma in Workplace Health and Safety Management (Level 6).

The programme helped support Becki’s transition from a career in education into health and safety leadership—opening doors to a role where she now leads a team of 42 specialists focused on improving outcomes across the Council.

The challenge: When training doesn’t reflect real work
In a large organisation, traditional approaches to health and safety training can fall short.

Auckland Council faced common challenges:

• Training designed without enough input from frontline workers
  Complex operational environments, including shift work and public-facing roles.
• Communication gaps between teams creating safety risks
  Difficulty engaging a diverse workforce with different learning needs.
• Becki recognised that effective safety outcomes depend not just on what is taughtbut how learning is designed.

The solution: Co-design and learning teams
At the heart of Auckland Council’s approach is a simple but powerful shift from designing training for workers to designing it with them.

This approach, known as co-design, brings workers directly into the process of shaping how health and safety learning happens.
It’s delivered in practice through learning teams, structured sessions where workers, leaders and specialists come together to:

• Understand how work is really done
• Identify risks and pressures
• Develop practical solutions
• Improve systems collaboratively

Real-world impact: Safer, smarter outcomes

By embedding worker voice into training, decision-making and problem-solving processes, Auckland Council has achieved tangible improvements in both safety and operational performance.

One example came from its regional parks teams, which were facing fatigue risks during busy summer periods due to high workloads and demanding schedules. Through a collaborative learning process, staff helped redesign existing rosters and trial a new approach over the peak season. The results were significant, with the initiative described as an “absolute game changer” by those involved. Following its success, the new rostering model has now been implemented across all regional parks, helping to better manage fatigue while supporting staff wellbeing and performance.

Improving communication to reduce risk

Disconnects between call centre staff and animal management teams were creating unnecessary risks for workers responding to incidents. Through a co-design process, the teams developed a shared language and clearer operating procedures, ensuring critical information was passed on before staff attended callouts. The initiative also strengthened collaboration, with teams now working together more regularly and effectively. As Becki Abbott reflected, “It was a lightbulb moment… people realised they didn’t understand each other’s work.”

Overcoming barriers: Culture, complexity and capability

The journey was not without its challenges. Early workshops revealed underlying tensions and a tendency for teams to blame one another when issues arose. Leaders also needed coaching to move away from directing conversations and instead focus on listening and understanding different perspectives. Progress was not always consistent, as some parts of the organisation were more ready for change than others.

To overcome these barriers, Becki’s team invested in building the capability of facilitators, carefully selected and prepared participants for the process, and focused initially on areas that demonstrated a high level of readiness. By starting where momentum could be built and then scaling successful approaches across the organisation, the team was able to foster greater understanding, trust and capability over time.

The role of training and capability building

Auckland Council continues to invest in health and safety capability across all levels of the organisation. This includes strong participation in Health and Safety Representative (HSR) training, with more than 300 HSRs now supporting teams across the Council. Alongside this, there is an increasing focus on equipping leaders and frontline staff with practical tools and skills that help embed safer ways of working. EMA training pathways have played an important role in this development, providing opportunities ranging from foundational HSR programmes through to advanced qualifications, including the Level 6 Diploma.

Lessons for other organisations

• Start with the work: Understand what really happens on the ground.
• Involve workers early: They hold the knowledge needed to improve safety.
• Design for real life: Account for shift work, operational pressures and diverse learning styles.
• Invest in facilitation: Great conversations lead to great outcomes.
• Build leadership behaviours: Listening is more powerful than directing.
• Scale what works: Start small, then grow success across the organisation.

A long-standing partnership for better outcomes
Auckland Council has been an EMA Member since 1968, reflecting a long-term commitment to capability building and organisational performance. Through access to training, support and professional development, the partnership continues to contribute to safer, more effective workplaces across the organisation.