Safe Work Australia has released its latest statistical report in relation to serious workers compensation claims. Serious claims are defined as a claim that results in a total absence from work of one working week or
more. Serious claims are often viewed as a good indicator of general trends in health and safety, as they are less subject to manipulation than other indicators such as Lost Time Injuries (LTI’s). They are expressed as either:
- Number of claims
- Frequency Rates – number of serious claims per million hours worked, or
- Incidence rates – number of serious claims per 1000 employees.
The picture below is captured from the report and provides a few highlights. Of course if you need more detail check out the full report which can be found here.
Other interesting trends (from 2001 – 2015) not contained in key findings include:
- While the time lost and payments for serious claims are on the rise, the actual numbers, frequency rates and incidence rates have actually been falling since 2001 (by 36-38%).
- Males tend to have more serious injuries than females, however the gap is narrowing, with females rates falling slower than males.
- Community and personal service workers had by far the biggest rise in injury numbers over this period with a rise of 25%, however this may reflect the increase number of persons working in this industry.
- All occupations had falls in claim rates, however community and personal service workers had the smallest fall in both frequency and incidence rates (resulting in a higher proportion of injuries)
The report as always presents some challenges as well as some positive findings.