Liveable Streets get MATES accreditation

Tracey Smith’s face says it all! She’s a Health, Safety and Environment Advisor for the Liveable Streets team, who have just been given MATES in Construction accreditation.

Liveable Streets is the team from Higgins and HEB who look after the roads in South Rural Auckland for Auckland Transport and MATES is a charity that exists to reduce the number of lives lost to suicide in the construction industry.

For the Liveable Streets team to become accredited with MATES, at least 80% of site workers had to receive MATES’ General Awareness training. The site also has to maintain a minimum number of people who’ve gone through the next stage of MATES training and become a ‘Connector’, as well as someone who has the more in-depth ‘ASSIST’ (applied suicide invention skills) training. In the Liveable Streets team, that’s Tracey.

She says it’s great to be acknowledged as a workplace that takes mental health and wellness seriously. “I’m proud that our team knows they have a team of people that are there to support and guide them when they need it.”