Researchers from two universities say 14 suicides may have been averted if safety barriers from Auckland's Grafton Bridge had not been removed from 1997 to 2002.
The study, by researchers from Otago University's Christchurch campus and Yale University in the United States, said there was a five-fold increase in the number of suicides from the bridge when the 60-year-old barriers were removed in 1996.
There were no deaths after new barriers were introduced in 2003 until the research period ended in 2006, the study said.
"This evidence justifies preventive interventions at sites that become identified for suicide, and suggests that these approaches are now moving toward becoming best practice in suicide prevention," lead investigator Associate Professor Annette Beautrais said.
"In turn, the development of best practice guidelines for preventing suicide by jumping raises important issues about the accountability and liability, both of authorities with responsibility for bridges, structures, buildings and other sites from which people jump, and of government agencies accountable for suicide prevention."
Dr Beautrais said the findings from the Grafton Bridge "experiment" had helped lead other countries to install barriers at bridges that had become popular or iconic suicide sites.
Professor David Fergusson, from the department of psychological medicine at Otago University, told NZPA it did not appear the rate of suicide deaths from other bridges had increased since the new Grafton Bridge barriers were installed.
"There is no evidence of substitution available, but there is certainly evidence that the addition of the barriers had a positive effect."
Grafton Bridge, in downtown Auckland, stretches from Karangahape Rd toward Auckland Hospital over Grafton Gully.
