inviol x PlaceMakers: How a leading NZ retailer reduced safety risk by 80%

Building materials yards are some of the most challenging safety environments in retail. Forklifts carrying heavy, awkward loads share space with trade customers, delivery trucks, and store staff. Blind corners form between stacked timber and racking. The pace is fast, the loads are heavy, and the margins for error are slim.

PlaceMakers knows this environment better than most. As New Zealand's largest building materials supplier, PlaceMakers operates 67 stores nationwide, from Kaitaia to Invercargill, serving over 300,000 customers with more than 74,000 product lines. Across that network, forklifts are in constant motion, moving everything from framing timber and roofing iron to bags of concrete and sheets of plasterboard.

The safety challenge was clear: with that volume of forklift activity across that many sites, vehicle-related risk was the single biggest hazard to manage. And with customers regularly present in yard areas (something that makes building materials retail fundamentally different from a closed warehouse), the stakes were higher still.

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The problem: risk you can feel but can't measure

Like many large operations, PlaceMakers had safety systems in place. Training was delivered. Incidents were reported. Compliance requirements were met. But the team knew there was a gap between what the safety data showed and what was actually happening on the ground.

The challenge is one that safety professionals across every industry recognise: lagging indicators (incident reports, injury rates, workers' compensation claims) only tell you what already went wrong. They do not tell you about the hundreds of near misses, close calls, and deteriorating behaviours that happen between incidents. The Campbell Institute at the National Safety Council has published extensively on this gap, finding that sole focus on lagging metrics is not as effective in promoting continuous improvement as using leading indicators to anticipate and prevent incidents.

For a building materials yard, this gap is especially acute. The hazards are dynamic: forklift routes change with stock levels, customer traffic is unpredictable, and the physical layout shifts as products are loaded and unloaded throughout the day. A safety observation conducted at 9am may bear little resemblance to the conditions at 3pm when the afternoon delivery rush hits.

The approach: coaching-first, not alerts-first

PlaceMakers chose inviol's computer vision AI platform, which works with existing CCTV cameras to continuously monitor vehicle-pedestrian interactions, exclusion zone breaches, speed events, and near misses across monitored sites.

But the technology was only half the story. What made the difference was how PlaceMakers used the data.

Rather than treating inviol as an alerting system that generates notifications when something goes wrong, PlaceMakers adopted a coaching-first approach. When the system captured a safety event (a forklift running a blind corner too fast, a pedestrian stepping into an exclusion zone, a near miss at a busy intersection), the video clip became the starting point for a coaching conversation between the supervisor and the team member involved.

These conversations were not about blame. With faces blurred for privacy, the focus was on the situation: what happened, why it happened, and what could be done differently. Was the forklift route poorly designed? Was the exclusion zone unclear? Was production pressure overriding safe behaviour? The coaching conversation addressed the root cause, not just the symptom.

This approach aligns with what Professor Amy Edmondson's research on psychological safety at Harvard Business School has consistently shown: teams that feel safe to discuss mistakes and near misses without fear of punishment learn faster and perform better. In a safety context, this means more reporting, better learning, and sustained behaviour change.

The results: 80% reduction in vehicle-related risk

The outcome was significant. PlaceMakers achieved an 80% reduction in vehicle-related risk across monitored sites through the coaching-first approach with inviol.

To put that in context, vehicle-pedestrian interactions are the most dangerous hazard category in building materials retail. OSHA estimates that 36% of all forklift fatalities involve pedestrians, and Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows that pedestrian forklift injuries require a median of 20 days away from work, more than double the average for all workplace injuries. In Australia, Safe Work Australia's Key WHS Statistics 2025 report found that vehicle incidents account for 42% of all worker fatalities, and at least one vehicle was involved in 66% of all workplace deaths.

An 80% reduction in this specific risk category represents a material improvement in safety outcomes for workers, customers, and the business.

What the data revealed

One of the most valuable aspects of the deployment was what the data showed that nobody expected.

inviol's heatmap feature aggregated thousands of interactions across monitored sites and revealed patterns that were invisible to traditional safety walks. Specific intersections that the team assumed were low-risk turned out to have the highest concentration of near misses. Times of day when risk peaked did not always match the periods the team expected. And in some cases, the physical layout of the yard (where stock was staged, how delivery trucks were routed) was creating unnecessary conflict points between forklifts and pedestrians.

This is a common finding among inviol customers. The heatmap data often reveals that existing processes and layouts increase risk in ways that are invisible without continuous monitoring. Adjusting delivery timings, rerouting forklift traffic, or simply moving a temporary stack of goods can eliminate a conflict point entirely, improving both safety and operational efficiency.

For PlaceMakers, these insights delivered value beyond pure safety. Better traffic flow, fewer near misses, and more predictable forklift routes contributed to smoother yard operations and less damage to goods and equipment.

Why this matters for the NZ building materials industry

Building materials yards have a unique risk profile. Unlike a closed warehouse where only trained staff are present, yards regularly have customers walking through areas where forklifts are operating. In New Zealand, the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 places a duty on PCBUs to ensure the health and safety not just of workers, but of other people (including customers) who may be affected by the work.

WorkSafe New Zealand has been explicit that forklifts should be high on every business's critical risk list, and has warned that too many businesses are failing to identify and appropriately manage the hazards. The regulator's prosecution records show substantial fines for PCBUs that fail to manage forklift-pedestrian risks, with penalties regularly exceeding $250,000 for serious incidents.

For any business in New Zealand's building materials, hardware, or trade supply sector, the PlaceMakers result demonstrates that a coaching-first approach, supported by continuous data from computer vision AI, can deliver measurable, significant risk reduction. The approach does not require a complete overhaul of existing safety systems. It works with existing CCTV cameras, focuses on the highest-risk areas first, and builds improvement through coaching conversations rather than additional rules or penalties.

Getting started

inviol does not require every camera on your site. The system needs a selection of cameras covering your highest-risk areas, which for most building materials yards means the main forklift routes, key intersections, loading zones, and any areas where customer foot traffic crosses vehicle paths. With 99% of data processed on-premise, the system addresses privacy requirements from day one.

If you want to see what an 80% risk reduction could look like at your operation, book a demo and we will walk you through how the coaching-first approach works with your existing cameras and layout.

Frequently Asked Questions

How did PlaceMakers achieve an 80% reduction in safety risk?

PlaceMakers deployed inviol's computer vision AI platform across monitored sites, using existing CCTV cameras to continuously capture near misses, exclusion zone breaches, and vehicle-pedestrian interactions. The key to the result was a coaching-first approach where supervisors used the captured video evidence (with faces blurred) to have structured coaching conversations with team members, focusing on behaviour change rather than blame.

Why are building materials yards particularly high-risk for forklift safety?

Building materials yards combine forklift traffic carrying heavy, awkward loads with unpredictable pedestrian traffic from trade customers and the public. Unlike closed warehouses, yards have customers regularly present in areas where forklifts operate. Stock levels and layouts change throughout the day, and blind corners form between stacked materials and racking.

What is a coaching-first approach to safety?

A coaching-first approach uses captured safety events (near misses, exclusion zone breaches, speed violations) as the starting point for constructive conversations between supervisors and team members. The focus is on understanding what happened and why, not on blame or punishment. Research shows this approach produces lasting behaviour change and builds the psychological safety that encourages near-miss reporting.

Does inviol work with existing CCTV cameras?

Yes. inviol works with your existing CCTV infrastructure and does not require proprietary cameras or hardware. The system needs a selection of cameras covering your highest-risk areas, not every camera on site. 99% of data is processed on-premise, and faces are automatically blurred for privacy.

What is the typical risk reduction inviol customers see?

inviol customers typically see a 67% reduction in risk on average, with some (like PlaceMakers) achieving even greater reductions in specific risk categories. inviol customers also see an average 42% reduction in incidents over three years and a 61% reduction in machine-on-plant incidents.