Lecturer awarded Lifetime Achievement Award
Dr Chris Peace has been presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award in the 2023 New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards.
The awards, established in 2005 as a way to recognise the work of those involved in the prevention of work injury and ill-health, were hosted last week in Auckland.
They are given to companies and individuals across 14 different categories, with one overall winner, a special commendation award, and this year—three lifetime achievement awards.
Speaking at the event, Dr Peace said he couldn’t believe it when he got the call.
“I was like, award? What award? Must be a mistake...
“I wouldn’t be here without the support of so many people. Professor Vicky Mabin from the School of Management, my first PhD supervisor; Associate Professor Carolyn Cordery, my second supervisor; and, of course, my wife, Ruth—who has helped me in more ways than I can count.”
Dr Peace was presented with the award for his work highlighting the need for risk management and better risk standards, and for elevating the ambition of health and safety practitioners by mentoring them to aim for study at postgraduate level.
“New Zealand doesn’t have a good record for workplace health and safety, about 900 people die every year because of or at work. Every workplace death hurts fellow workers, whānau, and witnesses, and if I can help improve and alleviate some of that, I’m happy.”
He first joined the University in 2020, after completing his PhD on the effectiveness of risk assessments in 2019. Prior to working at the University, Dr Peace has had a varied career in risk management spanning both Aotearoa and the United Kingdom, including work with the Natural Gas Corporation, and his own risk management consultancy firm, Risk Management Ltd.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Health and a Master of Science in Risk Management from Aston University in Birmingham, as well as diplomas in occupational health and safety, and air pollution control.
Dr Peace is a Chartered Fellow of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health, the largest international professional body for occupational health and safety practitioners; and a Certified Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Safety Management, the largest professional body for occupational health and safety practitioners in Aotearoa.
Dr Peace’s colleague within the Faculty of Health, Professor Joanne Crawford, says the award recognises his immense expertise and knowledge.
“He deserves this award because of his work and commitment to workplace health and safety over the last 40 years in Aotearoa New Zealand. He’s been a consultant, an expert witness, and now as a lecturer, he is passing on that expertise to the next generation of practitioners.”
Pike River campaigners Sonya Rockhouse and Anna Osborne also won lifetime achievement awards, for using their Pike River experience to raise awareness of the need for higher safety and regulatory standards, greater justice in the system, and better treatment of the survivors of mass tragedies and their whānau.
The full list of winners in each category is available on the Safeguard magazine website.