A very brief history of accident compensation in New Zealand - Part 1

“What experience and history teach is this - that people and governments never have learned anything from history, or acted on principles deduced from it.” 

G. W. F. Hegel.

Amidst the furore around the National government’s assault on ACC, it is easy to forget why New Zealand has a world-leading, no-fault, comprehensive accident prevention, rehabilitation and compensation system in the first place.  ACC is so woven into the fabric of New Zealand society that only those born before the early 1960s will have any recollection of life before it. 

Over the course of the next few Making History pieces, I will sketch out some of the history of accident compensation in New Zealand, and remind readers why it is a system worth fighting for. 

Funeral at mass grave of 33 miners at Stillwater (1896)

The Accident Compensation Commission was formed on 1 April 1974 to administer the Accident Compensation Act, but the motivation for the creation of the legislation derived in part from the Industrial Revolution and the early colonisation of New Zealand.  In the nineteenth century, England’s industrial power spread throughout the world, founded upon enterprise, ingenuity, and the not inconsiderable exploitation of cheap labour.  Working conditions in mills and mines were often appalling and workers had little protection from injury or death at work.  And these conditions were exported with little modification throughout the Colonies.

In 1891, death rates from workplace accidents in New Zealand’s timber industry, mines and quarries reached nearly 100 per 100,000 population.  Legislation made it almost impossible for low- paid, injured workers to sue employers and there was no compensation as of right.  The inadequacy of the system became all too apparent in 1896 when the Brunner mine, on the banks of the Grey River in Stillwater, exploded killing 65 miners and injuring many others.  The small town was devastated, and 39 widows were left with 192 children to support, and with only charitable organisations and union-run “Friendly Societies” to help them.

Disasters like this led to the first attempt to provide compensation for personal injury, called the Workers’ Compensation Act (1900).  Based on similar models developed in more than 40 other countries around the world, the Worker’s Compensation Act offered injured workers compensation based on a levy paid by the employer.  But coverage was rudimentary and only included the most dangerous occupations.  A much larger tragedy in the First World War reinforced the hopelessness of attempts to levy funds from industry to provide for the care of returned servicemen.  Conditions for war veterans were poor even if one was able-bodied; with pensions that were below the basic wage, and widespread unemployment during the Depression.  But for the families of the 17,000 servicemen killed in the war – or for those returning with sometimes horrific and barbaric injuries – substandard housing, unemployment, poverty and piecemeal rehabilitation were the likely rewards for fighting for King and country. 

The First World War and the resulting worldwide Depression touched many families in New Zealand, and while the politicians battled in the ideological trenches, the public took it upon themselves to support its returned servicemen.  Thus, in 1931, during the short term of the spectacularly unpopular Liberal-Reform government (one of the first governments to require unemployed people to work for their “benefit”), the Disabled Servicemen’s Re-establishment League was formed to help invalided soldiers back into the workplace.  It provided vocational training to help support wages, it advocated for the rights of the disabled worker, and it pioneered new approaches to adaptive technology and ergonomics. 

As the Second World War came to a close, agreement was reached to introduce ex-servicemen into massage training, and 1946 saw the first intake of male soldiers into the Dunedin School.  Ian Tayler, one of the first recruits, once told me that massage training had been the making of him.  He had been interred in a Japanese prisoner of war camp for more than three years, and came out of the war a broken man.  But returning to civilian life with a purpose, spending time around young people again, and learning how to heal others had brought him back to life.  A fine achievement for such a simple idea. 

By David Nicholls

Further reading

Armstrong, H. (2008). Blood on the Coal: The origins and future of New Zealand's Accident Compensation scheme. Wellington, Trade Union History Project.