Edition 73, December 2009

Workplace fatalities reports released

Safe Work Australia Chair, Mr Tom Phillips AM, has announced the release of two reports on workplace fatalities, the Notified Fatalities Statistical Report 2008-09 and the Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, Australia 2006-07.

The Notified Fatalities Statistical Report 2008-09 provides the most recent information on work-related fatalities which are notified to occupational health and safety (OHS) authorities across Australia during the financial year.

Some key findings of the report include: 

  • In 2008-09 there were 177 notified work-related fatalities. Of these, 151 were workers and 26 were bystanders.
  • In 2008-09, there were 158 male fatalities, 17 female fatalities and 2 where the sex was not reported.

The mining and agriculture, forestry and fishing industries experienced a considerable increase in worker fatalities. For both industries, the number of fatalities in 2008-09 was the highest recorded since the collection commenced in 2003-04.

Mr Phillips said that this report is a comprehensive source of information on notified fatalities across Australia for the financial year.

'Tragically, there were 19 more notified worker fatalities in 2008-09 than in the previous year, which is an increase of 14 per cent.

'This increase in fatalities demonstrates the need for all Australians to focus on safety in the workplace and undertake measures to improve safety standards. In a country such as Australia fatalities should be decreasing. These figures reinforce the message that safety should be everybody's number one priority,' Mr Phillips said.

The Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, Australia 2006-07 is the fourth report in a series that estimate the number of workers and bystanders killed each year due to work-related injury by examining three datasets.

These datasets include the National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics, the Notified Fatalities Collection and the National Coroners Information System. Not all traumatic work-related fatalities are notified to OHS authorities.

Mr Phillips said that the report adds significantly to our understanding of work-related fatalities. 

'By publishing data from a range of data sources, Safe Work Australia demonstrates a commitment to providing the best possible information to improve workplace safety,' Mr Phillips said.

Some key findings of the report include: 

  • A total of 453 work-related traumatic injury fatalities occurred in Australia during 2006-07. Of these, 295 died of injuries sustained while working; 93 workers were identified as having died while commuting to or from work and 65 bystanders were identified as having died as a result of someone else's work activity.
  • Just over half of all work-related injury fatalities resulted from vehicle incidents.
  • The 295 workers who died of injuries sustained while working in 2006-07 represents a 9 per cent increase from 2005-06.

To view the full reports visit www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/swa/AboutUs/Publications/FatalitiesWork-relateddeaths.htm

 

This page was generated on 16 December, 2009

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