About Provention | Workplace Safety & Injury Prevention Specialists NZ

MEET THE PROVENTION TEAM

Workplace Safety and Injury Prevention Experts in NZ

Provention’s mission is to create safer workplaces in New Zealand and Australia. Our team of experts deliver manual handling, ergonomics, and injury prevention training trusted by businesses nationwide

Alison Richmond

Founder & Director of Provention

Dip. Phyty. PGDip Phyty.

Alison founded Provention after qualifying as a Physiotherapist in 1990, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Manipulative Physiotherapy.

With over 25 years’ experience across many industries, Alison has seen how people’s movement habits are significant contributors to manual handling–related workplace injuries, and how the right training can prevent them. Drawing on insights from sport, observations of the uninjured, and the neuroscience of habit change, she has developed movement education programmes that genuinely work in real workplaces.

Her passion for helping people move better and prevent injury led to the creation of First Move — a manual handling and injury prevention programme proven to reduce workplace injuries and improve performance beyond the job site.

Anya Wood

Lead Trainer – National

Dip. Phyty. PGDip. Phyty.

Based in Auckland, Anya delivers First Move programmes across New Zealand.

She holds a Diploma and Postgraduate qualification in Physiotherapy (MT) and has been part of the Provention team for over 15 years.

Anya has worked across all industry sectors and knows what it takes to create real change in how people move and work. She believes the success of First Move Manual Handling Training lies in its physically interactive approach, it’s not about being told what to do, but learning by doing.

Passionate about improving people’s physical wellbeing Anya takes pride in helping those who put their bodies on the line every day to move better, feel stronger, and stay safe.

Chris Desmond

First Move Manual Handling Trainer
Wellington Region

BPhty, PGCertRehab (Voc Rehab), MMgmt (Enterprise Development).

Chris is our trainer for the Wellington and Wairarapa region and brings over a decade of experience in vocational health, injury prevention, and helping injured workers return safely to work.

He also runs his own business focused on injury prevention, injury recovery and return to work for Kiwi Tradies.

Chris believes the success of First Move lies in how it builds physical intelligence through practical, easy-to-grasp manual handling and injury prevention training. By combining simple principles with real-life demonstrations, participants immediately see and feel how small movement changes can make a big difference.

Randa Abbasi

FIRST MOVE MANUAL HANDLING TRAINER
Canterbury Region

Dip OT. OTNZ, NZISM and NZBI member

Randa is a Canterbury-based trainer who brings over 30 years of experience as an Occupational Therapist to the team.

She has worked in injury management and injury prevention since the early 2000s, both in New Zealand and overseas. In addition to her role as a First Move Manual Handling Trainer, Randa owns and operates injury management companies across the South Island.

Randa loves seeing the ‘lightbulb moments’ when participants feel the difference that comes from moving with physical intelligence, when they realise how to use their bodies more effectively to feel stronger and in control. She believes the success of First Move lies in its physical, hands-on learning approach, where people don’t just hear the theory, they physically experience it.

Meredith Rookes

FIRST MOVE MANUAL HANDLING TRAINER
CANTERBURY REGION

Dip OT. OTNZ, MHANZ and HFESNZ member

Meredith is a Canterbury-based trainer with over 30 years of Occupational Therapy experience in New Zealand and the UK.

She has extensive expertise in developing and implementing moving and handling programmes and wellbeing initiatives across the public health, corporate, and industrial sectors.

Her background spans health and safety, vocational rehabilitation, injury management, and injury prevention, giving her a well-rounded understanding of the challenges people face at work.

Meredith loves the engagement and energy that the First Move Injury Prevention programmes create. Through active participation, people have fun, learn, and retain knowledge developing physical intelligence that helps them move better and reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries at work and at home.

Denise Fenner

FIRST MOVE MANUAL HANDLING TRAINER
TARANAKI REGION

Dip OT, Vocational Rehabilitation, Training for Independence, Social Rehabilitation (ACC).

Denise represents Taranaki for the Provention team and brings a wealth of Occupational Therapy experience from both the UK and New Zealand.

Her background includes piloting and developing Occupational Therapy services in A&E departments in the United Kingdom, as well as extensive work in community rehabilitation, neurological outreach therapy, orthopaedics, injury prevention, renal medicine, and rapid intervention care.

Denise believes the interactive and practical nature of First Move sets it apart, creating lasting, habit-forming movement principles that truly work.

“Over my career, I’ve been exposed to many manual handling training courses, and the Provention First Move training is by far the best. It’s practical, informative, and applicable.”

Hayley Laughton

FIRST MOVE MANUAL HANDLING TRAINER
OTAGO REGION

Dip OT

Hayley is our manual handling trainer for the Dunedin and Central Otago region.

She holds a Diploma in Occupational Therapy and brings over 25 years of experience in vocational assessment and rehabilitation, with a special interest in helping people return to work after injury.

Hayley believes First Move Injury Prevention programmes have a real and lasting impact on how people approach everyday tasks, both at work and at home. Even those who have completed many manual handling training courses discover a new, practical, and more effective approach through First Move.

Debbie Rafferty

FIRST MOVE MANUAL HANDLING TRAINER
NORTHLAND REGION

Dip Occ Therapy, Post Grad Cert Rehab. HASANZ member

Debbie is our Northland-based trainer and a qualified Occupational Therapist with over 40 years of experience.

Her career has spanned general medical and orthopaedics, paediatric neurodevelopmental therapy, and adult vocational rehabilitation. Including work with the CRS in Australia and running her own rehabilitation and injury prevention business in New Zealand.

Debbie supports Provention’s First Move programmes because she’s seen how they reach people who are often hard to engage. She values their interactive, practical nature, which makes them effective in any manual handling environment - at work and beyond.

Debbie Glendinning

FIRST MOVE MANUAL HANDLING TRAINER
NORTHLAND REGION

Dip. OT, Post Grad Cert Rehab. HASANZ member

Debbie is a Northland-based trainer and a qualified Occupational Therapist with over 30 years of experience, including 20 years specialising in rehabilitation and injury prevention training.

She’s a strong advocate for helping people understand and take control of how their bodies move - because when people develop physical intelligence, they reduce the risk of injury associated with manual handling activities. Debbie is passionate about making training practical, relevant, and genuinely useful in everyday working life.

Shane Meyers

BAY OF PLENTY REGION

Bachelor of Physiotherapy, PGD Sport and Exercise, Master of Health Practice – Rehabilitation
Occupational Health Physiotherapy Group (Committee Chair), International Federation of Physiotherapists working in Occupational Health and Ergonomics (Executive Committee)

Shane represents the Bay of Plenty region for the Provention team and brings extensive experience as an Occupational Health Physiotherapist.

He is the Director of Work-Life Physiotherapy, providing workplace injury management and injury prevention services across the region. His background includes occupational health physiotherapy, musculoskeletal and sports physiotherapy, a Postgraduate Diploma and Master’s and active involvement with NZ and International Occupational Health Physiotherapy Groups. Shane is focused on improving systems, services, and outcomes.

Shane believes First Move stands apart because it’s simple, effective, and participative, helping people build awareness, confidence, and control in how they move. Participants can feel the benefits immediately and apply safer movement habits at work, at home, and in recreational pursuits.

Karla de Kock

FIRST MOVE MANUAL HANDLING TRAINER BLENHEIM & TOP OF THE SOUTH ISLAND

BSc Physiotherapy. PNZ and OHPG member.

Karla is our Blenheim-based trainer, covering the top of the South Island. She owns Hands-on Physiotherapy and works as a subcontractor MSK on-site physiotherapist across workplaces in the region, providing injury management and injury prevention services.

Her career spans community rehabilitation since 2018, six years with APM under ACC’s Vocational Rehabilitation service, and a decade running her own physiotherapy practice in South Africa.

Karla believes First Move stands apart because it’s practical and experiential: small changes in grip, stance and foot position let people feel the difference immediately. Her favourite part of training is that “aha, I feel the difference” moment, when someone adjusts their technique and instantly understands why it works.

Tracey Hamilton

FIRST MOVE MANUAL HANDLING TRAINER SOUTHLAND REGION

Bachelor of OT, PGCert (OT Practice). OTNZ, NZAOT member. Vocational Rehabilitation (ACC)

Tracey is Provention's Southland trainer and a born and bred Southlander with over 24 years of experience as a qualified Occupational Therapist.

Her career spans Ministry of Health work in a rural hospital across the Gore/Eastern Southland region, three years of locum work throughout the UK, and the last 18 years specialising in vocational rehabilitation, workplace assessments, and return to work monitoring across a wide range of industries.

Tracey believes First Move stands apart because it gives people practical, lifelong physical skills that work both in the workplace and in everyday life, empowering individuals to understand their own movement rather than simply following rules.

Her favourite part of the training is connecting with new clients, learning about their workplaces, and seeing the First Move programme come to life in a real working environment.

The Provention Team

About Our Team

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