Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia
Document Sample
Key Work Health and Safety
Statistics, Australia
2012
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ii ... Safe Work Australia
Key Work Health
and Safety
Statistics, Australia
2012
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Contents
Key work health and safety statistics 1
National OHS Strategy 2002–2012 2
Injury and musculoskeletal claims 2
Fatalities 3
Aspirational target 3
Industry 5
Types of workers’ compensation claims 6
Work-related fatalities 8
Occupational disease indicators 10
Mesothelioma 11
Jurisdictional comparison 12
Premium rates 13
Sources 14
Key work health and safety statistics
• In 2008–09, there were 133 485 workers’ compensation claims
for serious1 work-related injuries or illnesses. This equates to an
incidence rate of 13.5 serious claims per 1000 employees.
• Preliminary data for 2009–10 show there were 127 620 serious
workers’ compensation claims, which equates to 12.6 serious
claims per 1000 employees. While the final number of accepted
claims for this year is likely to be around 3% higher, this will still
represent an improvement from 2008–09.
• Male employees experienced nearly twice the rate of serious injury
or disease compared with female employees.
• Incidence rates of serious workers’ compensation claims increase
with employee age.
• The highest incidence rates were recorded by Labourers & related
workers, over double the rate for all occupations.
• The Transport & storage, Manufacturing and Agriculture, forestry
& Fishing industries recorded the highest incidence rates of all
industries, all with nearly twice the rate for all industries.
• A typical serious workers’ compensation claim involves four weeks
absence from work.
• One-quarter of serious claims required 12 or more weeks off work.
• One in five serious claims involved an injury to the back.
• The Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Work Related Injury Survey
showed 53 out of every 1000 workers experienced an injury
or illness in the workplace in 2009–10. However, half of these
incidents involved less than one day or shift absent from work.
• In 2009–10, 216 workers died due to an injury incurred at work.
This equates to 1.9 deaths per 100 000 workers.
• Work related injury and illness were estimated to cost $60.6 billion
in the 2008–09 financial year. This represented 4.8% of GDP.
1 Serious claims involve a death, a permanent incapacity or a temporary incapacity requiring an absence
from work of one working week or more
Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2012 … 1
National OHS Strategy 2002–2012
Injury and musculoskeletal claims
Target: 40% reduction in the incidence of work-related injury by 30 June
2012 with 20% improvement required to meet the 2006–07 interim
target.
Result: There was a 25% decrease in the injury incidence rate up to
2009–10 (Figure 1). A much greater rate of improvement is required to
meet the 2012 target.
Figure 1 Incidence of serious claims: achieved versus reduction required to
meet target
18
Claims per 1000 employees
16
14
12
10
8
6
base 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
period
Actual 14.78 14.39 14.16 13.82 12.90 12.40 12.10 11.62 10.77
Actual Reduction required to meet target Projection
2 ... Safe Work Australia
Fatalities
Target: 20% reduction in the incidence of compensated work-related
fatalities by 30 June 2012 with 10% improvement required to meet the
2006–07 interim target.
Result: A 42% decrease was recorded up to 2009–10 which is twice the
desired result. However, as Figure 2 shows, the volatility in this measure
means that consistent improvement is still required to ensure the 2012
target is achieved.
Figure 2 Incidence of fatalities: achieved versus reduction required to
meet target
2.80
2.60
Claims per 100 000 employees
2.40
2.20
2.00
1.80
1.60
1.40
1.20
base 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12
period
Actual 2.44 2.30 2.09 2.07 2.14 2.09 2.22 1.88 1.34
Actual Reduction required to meet target Projection
Aspirational target
Target: Australia to have the lowest work-related traumatic injury fatality
rate in the world by 2009.
Result: While the gap between Australia and the better performing
countries has reduced, Australia remains in seventh place and did not
meet this aspirational goal.
Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2012 … 3
Figure 3 Comparison of Australia’s work-related injury fatality rate with the best performing countries
4.00
3.50
4 ... Safe Work Australia
3.00
2.50
2.00
Fatalities per 100 000 workers
1.50
1.00
2001-2003 2002-2004 2003-2005 2004-2006 2005-2007 2006-2008 2007-2009
Australia Sweden UK Denmark
Finland Norway Switzerland New Zealand
Industry
• In 2009–10, four industries ( Agriculture, forestry & fishing; Transport & storage; Manufacturing and
Construction) had incidence rates substantially above the all industries rate of 12.6 serious claims per
1000 employees (Figure 4). These industries, with the addition of the Health & community services
industry, were identified as priority industries under the National OHS Strategy 2002–2012.
Figure 4 Incidence rates of serious claims by industry, 2009–10p
Transport and storage 24.0
Manufacturing 21.9
Agriculture, forestry and fishing 21.5
Construction 19.6
Personal and other services 18.2
Mining 14.9
Health and community services 14.2
Wholesale trade 13.5
Government administration and defence 13.0
Accommodation, cafes and restaurants 10.0
Cultural and recreational services 9.4
Retail trade 8.5
Property and business services 7.7
Electricity, gas and water supply 7.0
Education 6.6
Communication services 6.3
Finance and insurance 2.7
0 5 10 15 20 25
Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2012 … 5
Serious claims per 1000 employees
Types of workers’ compensation claims
• In 2009–10, injury or poisoning accounted for 72% of serious workers’ compensation claims, with
disease claims accounting for the balance. However, the number of disease claims is likely to be
underestimated due to difficulties associated with linking the disease to workplace exposure.
• The most common work-related injuries were sprains and strains (43% of all serious claims).
6 ... Safe Work Australia
Figure 5 Serious claims: percentage by nature of injury or disease, 2009–10p
Sprains and strains of joints and adjacent muscles 43.0
Fractures 8.2
Open wound not involving traumatic amputation 7.6
Contusion with intact skin surface excluding fractures 6.2
Disorders of muscle, tendons and other soft tissues 6.1
Dorsopathies - disorders of the spinal vertebrae 5.8
Mental disorders 5.5
Deafness 4.1
Hernia 2.5
Burns 1.4
Dislocation 1.3
Other injuries 4.6
Other disease 3.6
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Percentage of serious claims
• Body stressing, Falls, trips & slips of a person and Being hit by a moving object were the mechanisms of
work-related injury or illness responsible for 75% of serious workers’ compensation claims in 2009–10
(Figure 6). These mechanisms, together with Hitting objects with part of the body, were identified as
priority mechanisms in the National OHS Strategy 2002–2012. There has been little change in the
proportion of claims due to these mechanisms since the Strategy began.
Figure 6 Serious claims: Percentage by mechanism of injury/disease, 2009–10p
Body stressing 40.8
Falls, trips and slips of a person 20.9
Being hit by moving objects 13.6
Hitting objects with a part of the body 6.8
Mental stress 5.3
Sound and pressure 4.2
Other and unspecified mechanisms of injury 2.0
Vehicle incident 1.4
Heat, radiation and electricity 1.0
Chemicals and other substances 4.0
0% 10% 20% 30% 40%
Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2012 … 7
Work-related fatalities
• Preliminary data for 2009–10 shows there were 194 accepted
workers’ compensation claims for work-related deaths, down from
the 254 recorded for 2008–09.
• Two thirds of compensated fatalities were due to injury (134 in
2009–10), with the remainder due to disease.
• However, workers’ compensation data do not include fatalities
where there are no dependants to lodge a claim or where the
worker was self-employed. Therefore, workers’ compensation data
underestimate the total number of work-related fatalities.
• The Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities report combines
information on fatalities from a number of sources. The 2009–10
report showed there were 216 worker fatalities, 79 commuting
fatalities and 42 bystanders killed as a result of someone else’s
work activity. This is the lowest number of work-related fatalities
since the series began in 2003–04.
• Table 1 shows that the Transport, postal & warehousing industry
had the highest number of fatalities in 2009–10 (51 deaths) with
the Agriculture, forestry & fishing industry recording the highest
fatality rate (11.4 deaths per 100 000 workers).
• More recent data on work-related fatalities can be found in the
Notified Fatalities Statistical Report for 2010–11. This report only
includes those deaths notified to work health and safety authorities
and generally does not include work-related deaths due to traffic
incidents on public roads. This report shows that the number of
notifiable worker fatalities fell from a series high of 151 in 2008–09
to a series low of 111 in 2009–10, but then increased slightly in
2010–11 to 120 fatalities.
Based on these data it is expected that when the Work-related
Traumatic Injury Fatalities figures are compiled for the 2010–11
period they will also show an increase. However, because of the
more comprehensive methodology used when compiling this
report, the figures for 2010–11 will differ from those presented in
the Notified Fatalities Statistical Report.
8 ... Safe Work Australia
Table 1 Worker fatalities: number and fatality rate (fatalities per 100 000
workers), 2009–10
Industry Number Fatality Rate
Agriculture, forestry & fishing 42 11.4
Transport, postal & warehousing 51 8.8
Construction 39 3.9
Mining 6 3.5
Rental, hiring & real estate services 5 2.7
Administrative & support services 9 2.4
Manufacturing 24 2.4
Electricity, gas, water & waste services 3 2.3
Wholesale trade 6 1.4
Arts & recreation services 2 1.0
Public administration & safety 5 0.7
Retail trade 8 0.7
Health care & social assistance 6 0.5
Other industries 9 0.2
All industries 216 1.9
Source: Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, 2009–10
• The total number of work-related disease fatalities has been
conservatively estimated to be at least 2000 deaths per year2.
• In 2007, there were 551 registered deaths attributed to
mesothelioma: an increase on the 486 deaths registered in 2006.
It has been estimated that the numbers will not peak until after
20143.
2 Kerr et al. 1996. Best Estimate of the Magnitude of Health Effects of Occupational Exposure to Hazardous
Substances, Worksafe Australia Developmental Grant Final Report, April 1996.
3 Clements et al. 2007. Actuarial projections for mesothelioma: an epidemiological perspective. Presented to
the Actuaries of Australia XIth Accident Compensation Seminar.
Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2012 … 9
Occupational disease indicators
• Safe Work Australia has identified eight priority occupational
disease groups to receive attention. These disease groups have
been chosen because they have a high attribution to the work
environment.
• Workers’ compensation data are complemented, where
possible, by information from the other sources4 to better identify
occupational disease trends.
• Table 2 presents the trends in the incidence of occupational
disease between 2000–01 and 2008–09. Decreasing trends were
observed for five of the eight priority disease groups. Noise-
induced hearing loss; Respiratory diseases and Occupational
cancers did not display a clear overall trend of increase or
decrease.
Table 2 Occupational disease indicators: trend from 2000–01 to 2008–09
Trend over time Occupational Disease
Musculoskeletal disorders
Mental disorders
è Noise-induced hearing loss
Infectious and parasitic diseases
è Respiratory diseases
Contact dermatitis
Cardiovascular diseases
è Occupational cancers
4 National Hospital Morbidity Database, National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System, National Cancer
Statistics Clearing House
10 ... Safe Work Australia
Mesothelioma
• Data on the number of new cases of mesothelioma are collected
nationally by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).
• The number of new cases of mesothelioma diagnosed increased
from 156 in 1982 to a peak of 668 in 2007. In 2008, 661 cases
were diagnosed. Based on a number of projections, the incidence
of mesothelioma is not expected to peak until after 2014.
• The age standardised rate of new cases of mesothelioma has
increased from 1.1 new cases per 100 000 population in 1983 to
2.9 in 2008.
• The majority (80–90%) of mesothelioma cases involve males.
Figure 7 The number of new cases of mesothelioma by sex and
year of diagnosis, 1982 to 2008
700
Total
600
Males
500
Number of new cases
ew case
400
300
200
Females
100
0
Year of diagnosis
Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2012 … 11
Jurisdictional comparison
• In 2008–09 the lowest incidence rate of serious workers’
compensation claims was recorded by the Australian Government
(Figure 8) with Queensland and Tasmania recording the highest
rates. The preliminary data for 2009–10 show a similar pattern.
Figure 8 Incidence of serious claims: jurisdiction by year
18
Serious claims per 1000 employees
15
12
9
6
3
0
Aus
Qld Tas NSW ACT SA NT WA Vic
Gov
2008–09 17.0 16.9 14.8 13.2 13.3 12.3 12.7 10.3 8.0
2009–10p 15.5 15.4 14.2 13.1 12.5 11.9 11.5 9.5 7.5
Aus Avg 2009–10 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6 12.6
• Long term claims are those involving 12 or more weeks of
compensation. The lowest rate of long term claims in 2008–09
was recorded by the Australian Government. The highest rate was
recorded by the Australian Capital Territory (Figure 9). Preliminary
data for 2009–10 should be used with caution as they are likely to
increase as claims already lodged are accepted by the jurisdictions.
Figure 9 Incidence of long term claims: jurisdiction by year
Long term claims per 1000 employees
4.0
3.0
2.0
1.0
0.0
Aus
ACT SA Qld Tas WA NSW Vic NT
Gov
2008–09 4.1 3.9 4.0 3.9 3.8 3.6 3.3 2.9 2.2
2009–10p 3.8 3.7 3.5 3.3 3.1 2.9 2.9 2.4 1.9
Aus Avg 2009–10 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1 3.1
12 ... Safe Work Australia
Premium rates
• The standardised average premium rate5 in Australia has decreased
29%, from 2.15% of payroll in 2004-05 to 1.53% in 2009–10.
• Standardised premium rates across the jurisdictions range from
0.93% of payroll in Australian Government to 2.76% in South
Australia
Figure 10 Standardised premium rates by jurisdiction, 2009–10
3.0
Percentage of payroll
2.0
ntage
1.0
0.0
ACT Aus
SA NT NSW Tas Vic WA Qld
Private Gov
2009–10 2.76 2.03 1.82 1.82 1.40 1.39 1.22 1.12 0.93
2009–10 Aus avg 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53 1.53
5 Standardisation takes into account differences in remuneration, employer excess and journey claim
coverage. Figures include self-insurers.
Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2012 … 13
Sources
All workers’ compensation statistics regarding claims have been sourced
from the National Dataset for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS).
Safe Work Australia produces an annual comprehensive statistical
bulletin, the Compendium of Workers’ Compensation Statistics,
Australia, in which many of the national statistics in this booklet can
found. Additional information on fatalities can be found in the reports
Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities and Notified Fatalities Statistical
Report.
Jurisdictional data, workers’ compensation scheme data and more
information on progress towards the National OHS Strategy 2002–2012
targets is available in the Comparative Performance Monitoring (CPM)
report.
Information on occupational disease can be found in the publication,
Occupational Disease Indicators.
Information on Mesothelioma can be found in the publication
Mesothelioma in Australia.
Information on the cost of occupational injury and disease can be found
in the report The Cost of Work-related Injury and Illness for Australian
Employers, Workers and the Community.
All of these reports can be found on the Safe Work Australia website at
www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au.
14 ... Safe Work Australia
Safe Work Australia
GPO Box 641
Canberra ACT 2601
Phone: 02 6121 9256
Email: info@safeworkaustralia.gov.au
