Fire and Emergency achieves the annual ACC Accredited Employers Programme (AEP) audit assessment

In October 2025, Fire and Emergency participated in an annual audit of our ACC Accredited Employer Programme (AEP). The audit covers two sections: health and safety systems and claims and injury management practices.  

We are a self-managing accredited employer which means we self-manage all employee ACC work related injury and illness claims via our Injury Management Unit - providing personalised rehabilitation support for our employees, and appropriate return to work plans.  

This is the first year of being assessed under ACC’s new audit assessment criteria which sees a shift from a Primary, Secondary or Tertiary result, to a Not Met or Met result. The new ACC AEP assessment tool has close alignment with ISO 45001:2018 - an internationally recognised standard for occupational health and safety management systems - whilst including many of the requirements from the previous assessment tool. The updated assessment tool has greater emphasis on employee engagement, improving workers’ claims and injury management experience, and increasing employer accountability.  

We are pleased to share that Fire and Emergency New Zealand has achieved the AEP assessment, using the new assessment tool.  

This positive result is a reflection of the mahi underway to consistently apply safety, health and wellbeing, and claims and injury systems and processes, effectively across the motu. It’s not all about audit assessment though. Providing a safer and healthier workplace for everyone is the goal, to ensure everyone goes home safe and well, every time | Ka hoki ora, haumaru hoki te katoa, i ngā wā katoa.   

How is the audit conducted?   

Each year ACC selects a primary and secondary site to observe our safety, health and wellbeing, and claims and injury management systems and processes in practice. This year, ACC selected Whangārei Fire Station as the primary site and the Northland District Office as the secondary site for the 2025 audit.   

An independent auditor spent three days at National Headquarters, followed by a day across the Whangārei Fire Station and Northland District Office. The audit involved presenting evidence as well as manager and employee focus groups, and an opportunity to speak with our Unions, to further verify the effectiveness of our systems. Interviews with a selection of injured employee were also completed to verify the application of the claims and injury management practices.   

Next steps  

The Safety, Health and Wellbeing Directorate will work with stakeholders across the organisation, to embed the identified recommendations as part of continuous improvement.