About 'Have a hmmm'
'Have a hmmm' asks all of Aotearoa to take a moment, 'have a hmmm', and think of others before acting.
On this page
'Have a hmmm' is a constructive wero (challenge) to Aotearoa to take action to avoid injury and keep yourself, your whānau, friends and community safe and well.
Injury can have life-changing impacts – for those who are injured, their whānau and society. Around 90% of injuries are not random events. They're predictable and therefore preventable.
We're starting by asking everyone in New Zealand to do something easy: take a moment, 'Have a hmmm' and think of others before acting.
Why we're doing it
We're doing this to help New Zealanders avoid injury and to keep whānau and communities safe and well.
ACC receives 5,000 injury claims per day. That's around 2 million claims a year costing around $4 billion. That's a lot of harm happening that doesn't need to.
We want to prevent harm occurring in the first place, so we've developed this campaign to challenge everyone to take action to avoid injury and keep themselves, their whānau and community safe and well.
Our approach
We're asking people to take a pause or 'have a hmmm' and consider how an injury might impact those they care about. This came from significant customer research that informed all stages of the development of this project. We've learnt a lot about how the people of Aotearoa think about risk and injury, and what might get them to think and act differently.
We tested a range of creative approaches and 'have a hmmm' performed the best and showed a remarkable ability to be remembered and actioned.
Our starting hypothesis was that the people of Aotearoa had a widespread 'she'll be right' culture. This inhibited proactive safety thinking and action-taking.
We talked to New Zealanders from a range of ages, life stages, ethnicities and locations. We found these views exist, but they're not as prevalent as we thought. We explored attitudes and beliefs around injuries, and what motivates or inhibits conscious and sub-conscious risk behaviours.
However, regardless of attitude to risk, our research found one powerful and consistent moderator of behaviour – the impact of injury on others.
If we have responsibility for others, or are taking actions that involve others, such as members of our whānau, our behaviour changes. Even if others are not present or not hurt, people acknowledge that their injury affects others too.
Attitudes to risk
Most of us assume the average New Zealander has a 'she'll be right' attitude with a light-hearted approach, bending the rules and disregarding the consequences. But we discovered four main attitudes to risk. All of which think differently about how we handle risks.
Some of these attitudes to risk have the 'she'll be right' approach to life, while others actively avoid risk.
Kia tupato, kia ata haere
They're anxious and hardwired to stay away from harm.
They're cautious, nervous and anxious about harm. They tend to stay in their comfort zone, as for them risk is about loss.
He tangata, he tangata, he tangata
They put others first. Their values are about people.
They tend to be altruistic and selfless with a strong family, community, and cultural focus. They see risk as a threat.
Tino rangatiratanga, Maui persona
They have a 'bring it on' attitude.
They have high self-confidence, like to challenge themselves and others, see risk as an opportunity for gain, and believe in taking calculate risks.
Haututū, te whare tapa wha 'thrills'
They're driven by experience and enjoy the feeling that risk-taking brings.
They live for experiences, adrenalin and thrills. They perceive risk as an opportunity to gain something and to live in the moment.
Find your attitude to risk
Take the quiz to see which one you are.
The campaign
The campaign launched on 11 April 2021 on television, video-on-demand, YouTube, online, and cinema.
If you'd like to find out more about the campaign, or a copy of the research, contact us.
Email haveahmmm@acc.co.nz