QUALITY DECLARATION
INSTITUTIONAL ENVIRONMENT
For information on the institutional environment of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), including the legislative obligations of the ABS, financing and governance arrangements, and mechanisms for scrutiny of ABS operations, please see ABS Institutional Environment.
RELEVANCE
Relevance relates to the degree to which statistical information meets the needs of users. It involves client liaison, program review, priority setting and assuring that the statistics produced together with the underlying concepts conform with international statistical standards. The ABS regularly reviews its statistical programs to ensure that they remain relevant to user needs. For the work-related injuries topic, this happens primarily through the Labour Statistics Advisory Group and in consultation with key clients.
The concepts, definitions and classifications used in the work-related injuries topic help to ensure its relevance to clients. Work-related injuries data are classified according to the Type of Occurrence Classification System which is maintained by Safe Work Australia for coding workers' compensation claims. This includes a classification for the injury or illness itself, and a classification for how the injury or illness occurred. Other classifications, concepts and definitions used in this publication are consistent with those used in Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0).
Data on work-related injuries were collected as part of the 2013-14 Multipurpose Household Survey (MPHS). The MPHS is a supplement to the monthly Labour Force Survey (LFS) and is designed to collect annual statistics on a small number of self-contained topics. The scope of the LFS is restricted to people aged 15 years and over and excludes members of the permanent defence forces; certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments usually excluded from census and estimated resident populations; overseas residents in Australia; and members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants). The 2013-14 MPHS excluded people living in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and people living in non-private dwellings such as hotels, university residences, students at boarding schools, patients in hospitals, inmates of prisons and residents of other institutions (e.g. retirement homes, homes for persons with disabilities).
TIMELINESS
The timeliness of statistical information refers to the delay between the reference period to which the information pertains and the date on which the information is made available. Work-Related Injuries, Australia (cat. no. 6324.0) is published approximately 5 months after the end of the enumeration period.
ACCURACY
For sample surveys, accuracy describes how close a statistical estimate is likely to be to its true value. The accuracy of statistical estimates in sample surveys can be impacted by two types of error: non-sampling error and sampling error.
Non-sampling error arises from inaccuracies in collecting, recording and processing the data. Non-sampling error may also arise because information cannot be obtained from all persons selected in the survey. Every effort has been made to minimise non-sampling error for work-related injuries by designing effective questionnaires, providing appropriate training for interviewers, and undertaking good data processing procedures.
Sampling error occurs because a sample of the population of interest is surveyed, rather than the entire population. One measure of the likely difference resulting from not including all dwellings in the survey is given by the standard error (SE). There are about two chances in three that a sample estimate will differ by less than one SE from the figure that would have been obtained if all dwellings had been included in the survey, and about 19 chances in 20 that the difference will be less than two SEs. Measures of the relative standard errors (RSE) of the estimates for this survey are included with this release.
Only estimates (numbers and proportions) with RSEs less than 25% are considered sufficiently reliable for most purposes. Estimates with RSEs between 25% to 50% are annotated to indicate they are subject to high sample variability and should be used with caution. In addition, estimates with RSEs greater than 50% are annotated to indicate they are considered too unreliable for general use.
RSEs for estimates in Work-Related Injuries, Australia (cat. no. 6324.0) are provided as an attachment to the publication in the Downloads tab. Information about how to calculate and apply RSEs is provided in the Technical Note for this publication.
COHERENCE
Coherence of statistical data includes coherence between different data items pertaining to the same point in time, coherence between the same data item for different points in time, and coherence between various jurisdictions.
Data on occupational injuries and illnesses are also compiled by SafeWork Australia using information supplied by Commonwealth, state and territory work cover authorities. Like the ABS work-related injuries data, this information is also disseminated using the Type of Occurrence Classification System. However, the population covered by the ABS estimates differs from SafeWork Australia's as it includes injuries sustained by all categories of employed workers; injuries that have been claimed under workers' compensation; and injuries that have not been claimed under workers' compensation.
Information in Work-Related Injuries, Australia (cat. no. 6324.0) uses the same standards, definitions and classifications that are used in Labour Force, Australia (cat. no. 6202.0), however estimates are not directly comparable due to differences in the scope and sample of the MPHS and the LFS.
Information in the 2013-14 Work-Related Injuries, Australia (cat. no. 6324.0) is broadly comparable to the information presented in the 2005-06 and 2009-10 issues. New or modified data items available for the 2013-14 year include: whether persons reported their most recent work-related injury or illness to someone in the work place; sector of current main job; sector of job where most recent work-related injury or illness occurred; self-assessed health status; and long-term health conditions.
International recommendations on the concepts associated with work-related hazards and risks are made by the International Conferences of Labour Statisticians (ICLS). While the terminology used in the ABS work-related injuries topic differs from that used in the international standards, the underlying definitions are broadly consistent. More information is available in Chapter 15, Occupational Injuries and Diseases, Labour Statistics: Concepts, Sources and Methods (cat. no. 6102.0.55.001).
INTERPRETABILITY
To aid in the interpretation of the data, detailed explanatory notes, technical notes and definitions are provided with the publication.
ACCESSIBILITY
Content for this publication is available free of charge in a PDF publication, in HTML format, and all tables and associated RSEs are available to download in spreadsheet form.
Additional tables may also be available on request. The Downloads tab includes a document containing a complete list of the data items available. Note that detailed data can be subject to high RSEs and is subject to confidentialisation practices. From May 2015, microdata analysis will be made available via TableBuilder.
For further information about these or related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service or the Labour Force and Supplementary Surveys Section on (02) 6252 7206 or email <labour.statistics@abs.gov.au>.
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