6324.0 - Work-Related Injuries, Australia, JUL 2013 TO JUN 2014 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 19/11/2014   
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MEDIA RELEASE

19 November 2014
Embargo: 11.30 am (Canberra time)
158/2014
Work-related injuries and illnesses continue to fall

The number of people experiencing a work-related injury or illness has continued to decline, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

"Overall, the rate of injury is a bit over four per cent, and today's figures confirm that work-related injury rates have continued to fall." said Stephen Collett from the ABS.

"We've seen a fall of just over two percentage points; it was 6.4 per cent in 2005-06 and it's now down to 4.3 per cent."

"Similar to previous years, men had a higher rate of work-related injuries than women," said Mr Collett, "in 2013-14, this was driven by the large number of injuries sustained by men working in the manufacturing and construction industries.

"For women, the largest number of injuries occurred in the health care and social assistance industry, and in the accommodation and food services industry.

"The most commonly reported problems were sprains and strains, which accounted for one in three injuries, followed by joint or muscle conditions at one in five.

"Injuries most commonly occur when lifting, pushing, pulling, or bending; or by hitting or being hit by an object.

"About 60 per cent of injured workers received some form of financial assistance, just over half of which was workers' compensation.

"Most people who experienced a work-related injury or illness took less than five days off work and about 40 per cent took no time off at all," said Mr Collett.

Further details are in Work-related Injuries, Australia, 2013-14 (cat. no. 6324.0).

Media notes:
  • Information is about persons aged 15 years and over who worked at some time in the last 12 months and experienced their most recent work-related injury or illness in that period.
  • When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
  • Please contact the ABS Communications Section on 1300 175 070 for media requests and interviews.