Key work health and safety statistics, Australia 2021
Key Work Health and Safety Statistics, Australia 2021 provides an overview of the latest national data on work-related fatalities and workers’ compensation claims.
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This includes trends, gender and age comparisons, and industry and occupation breakdowns for work health and safety and serious workers’ compensation claims in Australia.
The costs of work-related injuries and diseases are not included in Key Work Health and Safety Statistics, Australia 2021.
Work-related injury fatalities
Safe Work Australia compiles the Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities data set which provides national statistics on all workers and bystanders fatally injured at work. This data draws on a range of information sources, including:
- initial reporting of fatalities in the media or on relevant authority websites such as police, road authorities and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau
- notifications to Safe Work Australia from the jurisdictional authorities, and
- the National Coronial Information System which provides confidential access to coroners’, police and other investigative reports.
Work-related fatalities resulting from diseases, natural causes and suicides are excluded. Further explanatory notes on the data can be found in the Explanatory notes for Safe Work Australia datasets.
This document provides statistics about people who die from an injury sustained in the course of a work activity (worker fatalities) in Australian territories or territorial seas.
Trends in worker fatalities, 2003 to 2020
Worker fatalities by gender, 2020
Worker fatalities by age group, 2020
| Age group (years) | Number of fatalities | Fatality rate (fatalities per 100,000 workers) |
|---|---|---|
| Under 25 | 8 | 0.4 |
| 25-34 | 30 | 1.0 |
| 35-44 | 34 | 1.2 |
| 45-54 | 36 | 1.4 |
| 55-64 | 55 | 2.9 |
| 65 and over | 31 | 5.3 |
| Total | 194 | 1.5 |
Worker fatalities by state/territory, 2020*
*fatalities are presented according to the state or territory where the fatality occurred, not the jurisdiction under which the fatality fell.
Worker fatalities by mechanism of incident, 2020
Note:
- only mechanisms accounting for 5% or more of fatalities are included. The remaining mechanisms are grouped together under other mechanisms.
- the percentages shown in this table have been rounded to the nearest whole number; therefore the sum of percentage figures for each column may not equal the total.
| Mechanism of incident | Number of fatalities | % of fatalities |
|---|---|---|
| Vehicle collision* | 80 | 41% |
| Being hit by moving objects | 25 | 13% |
| Falls from a height | 22 | 11% |
| Being hit by falling objects | 17 | 9% |
| Being trapped by moving machinery | 13 | 7% |
| Being trapped between stationary and moving objects | 11 | 6% |
| Other mechanisms | 26 | 13% |
| Total | 194 | 100% |
*vehicle collisions include fatalities that occurred as a direct result of a vehicle crash. Vehicles include not only road vehicles such as cars and trucks, but also machines such as aircraft, boats, loaders, tractors and quad bikes.
Worker fatalities by occupation, 2020
| Occupation | Number of fatalities | Fatality rate (fatalities per 100,000 workers) |
|---|---|---|
| Machinery operators and drivers | 67 | 8.4 |
| Labourers | 41 | 3.5 |
| Managers | 35 | 2.2 |
| Technicians and trades workers | 26 | 1.5 |
| Community and personal service workers | 11 | 0.8 |
| Professionals | 11 | 0.3 |
| Sales workers | 2 | 0.2 |
| Clerical and administrative workers | 1 | 0.2 |
| Total | 194 | 1.5 |
Worker fatalities by industry, 2020
| Industry of employer | Number of fatalities | Fatality rate (fatalities per 100,000 workers) |
|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 46 | 13.1 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 49 | 7.8 |
| Construction | 36 | 3.1 |
| Manufacturing | 19 | 2.2 |
| Mining | 5 | 2.1 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 3 | 2.0 |
| Administrative and support services | 6 | 1.4 |
| Public administration and safety | 10 | 1.1 |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services | 2 | 0.9 |
| Other services | 3 | 0.7 |
| Wholesale trade | 2 | 0.5 |
| Arts and recreation services | 1 | 0.5 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 5 | 0.4 |
| Accommodation and food services | 2 | 0.3 |
| Education and training | 2 | 0.2 |
| Retail trade | 2 | 0.2 |
| Health care and social assistance | 1 | 0.1 |
| Financial and insurance services | 0 | 0 |
| Information media and telecommunications | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 194 | 1.5 |
Work-related injury and disease
Safe Work Australia compiles the National Dataset for Compensation-based Statistics (NDS) which comprises information on workers’ compensation claims provided by each of the jurisdictional workers’ compensation authorities.
Data in this report refers to serious claims only. Serious claims include all accepted workers’ compensation claims for an incapacity that results in a total absence from work of one working week or more, excluding fatalities and journey claims. Data for 2019-20 are preliminary (denoted by a ‘p’) and subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised. Further explanatory notes on the data can be found in the National data set for compensation-based statistics for Safe Work Australia.
Serious claims statistics, 2019-20p*
*preliminary data subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
** the median includes serious claims where the payment made was greater than zero.
Serious claim rate, 2000-01 to 2019-20*
*preliminary data subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
Serious claims by gender, 2019-20p*
| Gender | Number of serious claims | Frequency rate (serious claims per million hours worked) | Incidence rate (serious claims per thousand employees) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 44,982 | 5.4 | 7.6 |
| Male | 75,240 | 6.6 | 12.0 |
| Total | 120,355 | 6.1 | 9.9 |
*preliminary data subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
** the median includes serious claims where the payment made was greater than zero.
Serious claims by age group, 2019-20p*
| Age group (years) | Number of serious claims | Frequency rate (serious claims per million hours worked) | Incidence rate (serious claims per thousand employees) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 20 | 3,981 | 6.9 | 6.0 |
| 20-24 | 11,155 | 6.3 | 8.9 |
| 25-29 | 12,974 | 5.2 | 8.7 |
| 30-34 | 12,265 | 4.9 | 8.2 |
| 35-39 | 11.901 | 5.0 | 8.5 |
| 40-44 | 11,882 | 5.4 | 9.5 |
| 45-49 | 14,458 | 6.2 | 11.1 |
| 50-54 | 14,515 | 7.2 | 12.6 |
| 55-59 | 14,163 | 8.3 | 13.9 |
| 60-64 | 9,243 | 8.6 | 13.3 |
| 65 and over | 3,815 | 6.6 | 8.5 |
| Total | 120,355 | 6.1 | 9.9 |
*preliminary data subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
Serious claims by mechanism of incident, 2019-20p*
| Mechanism of incident | Number of serious claims | % of serious claims | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | Male | Total | Female | Male | Total | |
| Body stressing | 16,412 | 27,970 | 44,420 | 36% | 37% | 37% |
| Falls, trips and slips of a person | 11,574 | 16,213 | 27,819 | 26% | 22% | 23% |
| Being hit by moving objects | 5,988 | 13,402 | 19,417 | 13% | 18% | 16% |
| Mental stress | 5,877 | 4,200 | 10,084 | 13% | 6% | 8% |
| Hitting objects with a part of the body | 1,964 | 6,734 | 8,713 | 4% | 9% | 7% |
| Other mechanisms of incident** | 1,532 | 2,950 | 4,489 | 3% | 4% | 4% |
| Vehicle collisions*** | 710 | 1,930 | 2,640 | 2% | 3% | 2% |
| Heat, electricity and other environmental factors | 618 | 1,054 | 1,679 | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Chemicals and other substances | 306 | 787 | 1,097 | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Total | 44,982 | 75,240 | 120,355 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
*preliminary data subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
**other mechanisms of incident include biological factors, sound and pressure, other multiple mechanisms of incident, roll over, slide or cave-in and unspecified mechanisms of incident.
***vehicle collisions include claims where the injury was the direct result of a vehicle crash. Vehicles include not only road vehicles such as cars and trucks, but also machines such as aircraft, boats, loaders, tractors and quad bikes.
Serious claims by nature of injury/disease, 2019-20p
| Mechanism of incident | Number of serious claims | % of serious claims | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female | Male | Total | Female | Male | Total | |
| Traumatic joint/ligament and muscle/tendon injury | 17,698 | 27,541 | 45,285 | 39% | 37% | 38% |
| Musculoskeletal and connective tissue diseases | 8,550 | 13,029 | 21,605 | 19% | 17% | 18% |
| Wounds, lacerations, amputations and internal organ damage | 4,689 | 14,008 | 18,729 | 10% | 19% | 16% |
| Fractures | 4,275 | 8,657 | 12,942 | 10% | 12% | 11% |
| Mental health conditions | 6,217 | 4,552 | 10,776 | 14% | 6% | 9% |
| Other injuries | 1,018 | 1,811 | 2,832 | 2% | 2% | 2% |
| Digestive system diseases | 135 | 1,956 | 2,091 | 0% | 3% | 2% |
| Burns | 620 | 1,194 | 1,821 | 1% | 2% | 2% |
| Nervous system and sense organ diseases | 577 | 732 | 1,311 | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Intracranial injuries | 507 | 588 | 1,096 | 1% | 1% | 1% |
| Total | 44,982 | 75,240 | 120,355 | 100% | 100% | 100% |
*preliminary data subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
**other injuries include those related to poisoning, electrocution, air pressure, weather conditions, unspecified injuries and injuries not classified elsewhere.
***injuries or diseases accounting for less than 1% of serious claims are not included separately, but are included in the total.
Serious claims by bodily location of injury, 2019-20p*
| Bodily location of injury/disease | Number of serious claims | % of serious claims |
|---|---|---|
| Arms/upper limbs | 29,680 | 25% |
| Lower limbs | 27,742 | 23% |
| Back | 21,842 | 18% |
| Neck and shoulder | 15,510 | 13% |
| Non-physical locations | 10,766 | 9% |
| Chest/Abdomen | 4,983 | 4% |
| Other locations** | 4,746 | 4% |
| Head | 4,539 | 4% |
| Total*** | 120,355 | 100% |
*preliminary data subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
**other locations include multiple locations, systemic locations, and trunk excluding chest and abdomen
***claims where the bodily location was unknown are not included separately, but are included in the total.
Serious claims by occupation, 2019-20p*
| Occupation | Number of serious claims | Frequency rate (serious claims per million hours worked) | Incidence rate (serious claims per thousand employees) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labourers | 28,360 | 18.1 | 24.9 |
| Community and personal service workers | 23,405 | 13.9 | 17.3 |
| Machinery operators and drivers | 16,446 | 11.4 | 21.3 |
| Technicians and trades workers | 22,454 | 7.9 | 14.6 |
| Sales workers | 5,205 | 3.8 | 4.8 |
| Professionals | 11,699 | 2.2 | 3.8 |
| Managers | 5,935 | 2.1 | 4.2 |
| Clerical and administrative workers | 5,193 | 1.9 | 3.0 |
| Total | 120,355 | 6.1 | 9.9 |
*preliminary data subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
**claims where the occupation was unknown are not included separately, but are included in the total.
Serious claims by industry, 2019-20p*
| Industry | Number of serious claims | Frequency rate (serious claims per million hours worked) | Incidence rate (serious claims per thousand employees) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agriculture, forestry and fishing | 3,893 | 9.6 | 18.6 |
| Manufacturing | 14,014 | 9.1 | 16.7 |
| Transport, postal and warehousing | 9,190 | 8.9 | 16.2 |
| Health care and social assistance | 21,603 | 8.6 | 12.3 |
| Construction | 15,567 | 8.5 | 16.3 |
| Arts and recreation services | 2,193 | 8.0 | 10.1 |
| Wholesale trade | 5,144 | 7.4 | 13.5 |
| Public administration and safety | 9,620 | 6.9 | 11.4 |
| Administrative and support services | 5,120 | 6.8 | 10.5 |
| Accommodation and food services | 6,309 | 6.3 | 7.4 |
| Other services | 3,336 | 5.2 | 8.4 |
| Retail trade | 8,589 | 5.1 | 7.0 |
| Mining | 2,555 | 5.1 | 10.9 |
| Education and training | 7,396 | 4.3 | 6.7 |
| Electricity, gas, water and waste services | 1,105 | 3.8 | 7.2 |
| Rental, hiring and real estate services | 1,150 | 3.3 | 5.6 |
| Information media and telecommunications | 489 | 1.4 | 2.4 |
| Professional, scientific and technical services | 2,263 | 1.2 | 2.2 |
| Financial and insurance services | 695 | 0.8 | 1.5 |
| Total | 120,355 | 6.1 | 9.9 |
*preliminary data subject to revision in future years as further claims are finalised.
**other industries include all other industries excluding the top seven industries by number of serious claims.
NB: For some claims information about age, sex, industry and occupation is not available. Stated totals may therefore differ from the sums of rows or columns.
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