Former A.C.C. officer adds to allegations

Press, 6 March 1989, Page 9

Former A.C.C. officer adds to allegations

PA Wellington The Accident Compensation Corporation’s track record in promoting safety has come under fire again, with another former senior officer alleging mismanagement.

A former A.C.C. senior statistics officer, Mr Peter Heidenstrom, has endorsed statements that the corporation did not appear to be meeting its statutory obligation to promote safety. Mr Heidenstrom worked for the A.C.C. for 17 years, including seven as a senior statistics officer. He said the corporation disbanded its research unit of safety specialists three years ago and had not replaced it, despite a statutory obligation to conduct research and two separate independent reports recommending the unit be reintroduced. At one stage in the early 1980 s, the research unit had at least six other specialists working on safety-related issues.

He said A.C.C. management had run down the unit, partly by giving officers nothing to do. He claimed one senior research officer had spent his days doing crosswords, solving bridge problems and throwing a paper knife at a stack of papers until he got fed up and resigned. The A.C.C. acknowledged last week that it had disbanded its research unit. It said several other Government agencies had also disbanded their units as part of changes aimed at improving organisation. But, it said, research was still at a level comparable to that of previous years. It was conducted by field officers and by outside consultants funded to research prob-

lems identified from analysis of claim forms, an A.C.C. manager said. Mr Heidenstrom said he believed the A.C.C. should have produced more literature and information on safety as part of its obligations. Safety publications such as the quarterly A.C.C. Report and quarterly Safety Action newsletter had been dropped, and publishing efforts had been reduced to a dribble, he said. But the A.C.C. defended its publishing efforts. The spokesman said it had just distributed a series of four kits developed with the Education Department to teach students about injury prevention, and a video and booklet about tractor safety was due to be issued soon.