N.Z. accident compensation ‘landmark’

Press, 29 August 1978, Page 7

N.Z. accident compensation ‘landmark’

_ A ( - t P , - ed States university research team has haiied New s accident compensamark '’ g ' S atlOn as a “ land ' f „ The team, directed by Professor Jane Kronick, has just o?X eted , a I tWO study ■, act ' . II h as described 11 a ? , a major innovation in the industrialised world/ and as a landmark in the deveSte/ nt ° f the welfare ™,3r e u three- volume report hshed by the team reviews the chaLenge to social values E > .l ed . by question of liability for accidents in modern societies. The action taken in New! Zealand is cited as a funda-i mental solution to problems! of justice, fairness, and! equity. The programme developed to implement the act I? . considered a systeml uniquely responsive to! human need.” , I S ew ,. Zealand’s role of! leadersnip is emphasised. “In; the passage and implementa-l tion of the legislation. New! Zealand again assumed a role) of leadership in the English-! speaking world in the innovation of social programmes, moving mankind towards; higher levels of collective' well-being.” j The study was undertaken at Bryn Maw’r, one of the leading universities in the; united States. Professor Kronick was a 1954 Fullbright!

y; fellow at Lincoln College, and vi is a former reader at the i- j University of Canterbury. l-l Other members of the re- ! search team include Pro- - fessor J. Orbell, a New Zeat lander and chairman of the y political science department d'of the University of Oregon; i, Professor M. Bilspn VosI burgh, a former member of -Ithe sociology faculty at Vice toria University, now teach- ! ing at Villa Nova University tin the United States; Pro--3 fessor W. Vosburgh, of the si graduate school of social - work and social research at i; Bryn Maw’r, and a former iFuilbright fellow at Victoria; ■; Professor N. Farley, chairman ■jof the economics department > at Bryn Mawr; and Professor II R. Gaskins, Bryn Mawr’s pro•I fessor of law and social ; policy. i Professor J. Miccready and il Mr L. Castle, of Victoria University, and Mr N. Hardie, of ■; Christchurch, have collabor- ; ated in the study. I In response to its report on jthe Accident Compensation I Act, the team has been ; awarded a two-year grant by the United States National I Science Foundation. It will ; conduct a study of “the ethics Jof responsibility for the haz- ! ards of technologv in the ! workplace, the home, and the ! environment,” and then eva- ! luate the possibility of applyi ing New Zealand’s solution lin the United States.