I did for years. Moved to a new role and do not miss it.

Firstly, ACC is an insurer. It helps to keep in mind that the ACC AEP framework was developed from the perspective of assessing risks related to the costs of injury claim, rather than strictly workplace safety. Its usefulness depends on what the organisation expects to get out of it.

I have worked with a number of companies that were in the AEP programme, and while having standards and audits does provide important feedback, it does seem that the whole programme often misses the mark about genuine safety matters in the workplace while overly relying on documentation. Documents are not necessarily the evidence we assume them to be; documents should not be taken at face value. especially if the systems and processes behind them are flawed.

For many companies, the focus is passing the audit rather than keeping people safe. It can lead to blind spots and a false sense of certainty. And unfortunately I have also come across a number of ACC auditors who also missed the point. That's why ACC eventually found that accreditation did not necessarily correlate with lower injury rates.

If you use the ACC AEP programme as one tool amongst your H&S management / improvement tools and understand its strengths, weaknesses and biases, then it could be useful. Just make sure you understand sufficiently what the ACC framework does and does not do.

Yes, just had an ACC/AEP pre-audit, which didn't seem much different (in structure) than the ACC WSMP one. Not impressed so far.

Tina, I work for an organisation that is an accredited partner. Firstly, it is designed for large organisations - as a thumb rule, say with a workforce of over 400 or so. Secondly, if you want to become one just to pass the audit and to get some discount on the ACC levies, forget it. That should not be the motive. The audit is WSMP + Injury Management, so the audit is not too dissimilar to WSMP audit.

Hi Tina - This has been a Project of mine for the last few months and we are just at the Procurement Stage now for going out for a TPA. It will be the first time for the Ministry going forward into this programme, prior to February we have had our own ACC Claims Manager and helped with our work and non work related injuries etc. However, with the ACC Changes this all changed. Plus our E/R had continued on the up, so it was an opportunity to see what the ACC AEP will be like. All our Sites have just finished a Self-Assessment using the templates which I converted into word and added extra columns to make it easier for them to mark what still needs to be done at their Site etc.

We have also just finished having a number of our Site's SafePlus Assessed, and we realise that there will be a number of recommendations that will come out of this, but all in all, it gives the organisation something to benchmark ourselves with. We also went out to other departments to see who was in the programme etc.

Nothing wrong with the AEP - you can choose options and levels within it. Make sure you go in for the right reason - looking after your staff. It's the financial gains that organisations tend to use to get it across the senior leadership line though. The audit side of the AEP is terrible, ACC have been reviewing this but have been very slow - in fact we just don't hear anything anymore.

I have worked in organisations who are accredited employers. AEP audits are annual so you tend to be continuously working to keep up with the accreditation audit standards and then you have less time to develop and implement wider HSW initiatives (unless you have a large team). I have also worked with Safe Plus and found it to be a good H&S improvement tool which focusses more on leadership, worker engagement/participation and risk management.

I could be if I wanted to be. But I can't be bothered. Injury outcomes too low to even make it worth thinking about.

Did get Accredited Employer (Talent) from Immigration and that is much more useful