The Safety Health and Wellbeing Strategic Roadmap is a new way of thinking about safety, health, and wellbeing for Fire and Emergency.  

It is defined by the following principles:

  • Everyone has access to the tools and training we need to stay safe, healthy, and well.
  • We all own and are accountable for safety, health, and wellbeing.
  • We will lead a safety, health, and wellbeing culture at all levels.

At the core of the roadmap is the Māori wellbeing model Te Whare Tapa Whā, which describes health and wellbeing as a wharenui/meeting house with four walls.

These walls represent spiritual wellbeing, mental and emotional wellbeing, physical wellbeing, and family and social wellbeing. When all these things are in balance we thrive. When one or more of these is out of balance, our wellbeing can be impacted.

Te Whare Tapa Whā was developed by leading Māori health advocate and academic, Sir Mason Durie.

“Whare Tapa Whā evolved when I was a psychiatrist at the Palmerston North Hospital.  I soon realised that just focussing on ‘the mind’ was not that helpful when there were other problems with the body, with the spirit, and with the whanau.  So Whare Tapa was born.  It has been used in a variety of contexts such as health, education, housing, land, connections, marae, and now Fire and Emergency.

“While wairua, hinengaro, tinana and whanau are each important, the key to Whare Tapa Whā lies in the way the four elements are integrated to form a holistic and comprehensive reality.  It joins up components that are all too often seen in isolation of each other.  Government sectors, academic disciplines, religious denominations, education and health services are all examples of divisiveness. Whare Tapa Whā moves to reduce divisiveness and to bring the elements together, as Fire and Emergency’s Strategic Roadmap so clearly demonstrates.”

Mason Durie, October 2024

Find out more about Te Whare Tapa Whā here [PDF, 1.2 MB], and discover how our Roadmap incorporates its elements here [PDF, 3.7 MB]

The roadmap charts our mahi/work in strengthening and protecting our wharenui, which includes improving and maturing our safety, health and wellbeing systems, processes, and support across the organisation.

Much of this work is already planned and in progress, led by Directorates across Fire and Emergency and documented in the workplan that underpins the roadmap.

We can already see its impact in bringing together different areas of Fire and Emergency to strengthen safety, health and wellbeing knowledge, increasing our peoples’ understanding of critical risks, and a taking a deliberate approach to creating a mentally healthy workplace.

Safety, health, and wellbeing is everyone’s responsibility. The roadmap supports us all to achieve changes in our workplace to ensure that everyone goes home safe and well, every time.

Head to the Safety Health and Wellbeing site on the Portal for resources you can use to follow the SHW Strategic roadmap [PDF, 4.8 MB].

 

 

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