Reports a 14% Increase in 2008-09 from Previous Year

Safe Work Australia  Chair Tom Phillips announced the release of two reports on workplace fatalities: Notified Fatalities Statistical Report 2008-09 and Work-related Traumatic Injury Fatalities, Australia 2006-07. For more Information: www.reduceyourworkerscomp.com

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 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 gender 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.

Phillips said  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%,” Phillips commented. “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”.

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

1.  The National Data Set for Compensation-based Statistics
2.  The Notified Fatalities Collection
3.  The National Coroners Information System

Not all traumatic work-related fatalities are notified to OHS authorities.

Phillips said  the report adds significantly to the 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,” he added.

Some key findings 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.  (workersxzcompxzkit)
* 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 percent increase from 2005-06. 

Full reports are available for download at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au

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