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Safe Work Australia Council Chair, Tom Phillips, recently announced the release of six reports based on an analysis of the 2005-06 Work-Related Injuries Survey (WRIS) on the construction, health and community services, manufacturing, agriculture, forestry and fishing, transport and storage and retail trade industries.
The WRIS is conducted every four years by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as a supplement to the Labor Force Survey. Safe Work Australia partially funds the survey to complement its collection of workers' compensation data. The WRIS reports explore the types and causes of work-related injury and provides information on those workers who are not covered by workers' comp such as self-employed workers. Some of the main findings of the reports include: 1. Part-time workers in the retail trade industry recorded a frequency rate of injury nearly double that of full-time workers. 2. Agriculture, forestry and fishing workers experienced the highest rate of injuries, with 109 injuries per 1000 workers. 3. Employees in the construction industry recorded a similar rate of injury to self-employed workers. Similarly there was little difference in rates of injury between those working on a contract and those not working on a contract. 4. Young workers (15 to 24 year olds) in the Manufacturing industry recorded an injury rate 44% higher than the corresponding rate for young workers in the Australian workforce as a whole,. 5. Transport and storage workers aged 35 to 44 years recorded an injury rate 75% higher than the rate recorded by all Australian workers of this age Phillips said these reports add significantly to our understanding of work-related injuries and provide information on the extent and frequency of work-related injuries that is not available using workers' comp data alone. "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," said Phillips. The next WRIS covering the period 2009-10 is currently being conducted and Safe Work Australia will publish the results of this analysis in 2011. Full reports are available for download at www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au. The ABS report on the WRIS is available on its Web site at: www.abs.gov.au
Author Robert Elliott, executive vice president, Amaxx Risks Solutions, Inc. has worked successfully for 20 years with many industries to reduce Workers' Compensation costs, including airlines, health care, manufacturing, printing/publishing, pharmaceuticals, retail, hospitality and manufacturing. He can be contacted at: Robert_Elliott@ReduceYourWorkersComp.com or 860-553-6604.
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Do not use this information without independent verification. All state laws vary. You should consult with your insurance broker about workers' comp issues.
